St James' Park

[LFEE]

53 minutes ago, duo said:

Out said on a new training ground? Which I'd argue is more pressing

Why do you think that?

[Magic Rat]

2 hours ago, Colos Short and Curlies said:

On the naming I was 100% in the not going down the Everton route with a local law firm (Hill Dickinson indeed).

 

Bit then the Hadaway and Hadaway stadium has a nice ring to ot

The biggest law firm in Newcastle is Womble Bond Dickinson.  The "Womble" stadium?

[Danh1]

7 minutes ago, Magic Rat said:

The biggest law firm in Newcastle is Womble Bond Dickinson.  The "Womble" stadium?

Muckle LLP up there.

 

”The Muckle Stadium”

 

Class. 

[duo]

31 minutes ago, LFEE said:

Why do you think that?

Because it's dated / miles behind even some mid table PL teams. 

[r0cafella]

So basically our owners wont be funding it.

4 hours ago, GeordieT said:

 

[JT24]

58 minutes ago, r0cafella said:

So basically our owners wont be funding it.

Why would they? They're only worth billions. 

[Lucky]

Well at least it sounds like they know how much it will cost, I found those comments quite positive actually. Sounds like they’ve made a decision too.

 

Not worried at all about the part financing, it’s backed by PIF, they’ll be looking for a line of cheap credit.. billions are still billions even if you have 800 of them. They just won’t want to spend it directly from their own pocket in one go given that increased costs are usually likely in any project this size. Flexibility to add more in as needed is what the project needs.

[Mountain]

My worst fear is they would do an Arsenal/Tottenham and do this oh so impressive "state of the art" stadium and it's like 60k. 

 

I want 80k, I want a beast.

 

70k minimum.

 

Otherwise, why even bother.

 

 

[JT24]

1 hour ago, Lucky said:

Well at least it sounds like they know how much it will cost, I found those comments quite positive actually. Sounds like they’ve made a decision too.

 

Not worried at all about the part financing, it’s backed by PIF, they’ll be looking for a line of cheap credit.. billions are still billions even if you have 800 of them. They just won’t want to spend it directly from their own pocket in one go given that increased costs are usually likely in any project this size. Flexibility to add more in as needed is what the project needs.

Does it?

[Keegans Export]

4 hours ago, Lucky said:

Well at least it sounds like they know how much it will cost, I found those comments quite positive actually. Sounds like they’ve made a decision too.

 

Not worried at all about the part financing, it’s backed by PIF, they’ll be looking for a line of cheap credit.. billions are still billions even if you have 800 of them. They just won’t want to spend it directly from their own pocket in one go given that increased costs are usually likely in any project this size. Flexibility to add more in as needed is what the project needs.

 

3 hours ago, JT24 said:

Does it?

I think the wider board has made a decision but crucially PIF (for whatever reason) haven't yet rubber-stamped it.

 

[Magic Rat]

8 hours ago, r0cafella said:

So basically our owners wont be funding it.

This is bad news.  If the owners put in share capital they get their return by an increase in value of the club, which they realise by selling - one day, someday, never.

If they do it by loans the club will be expected to service the loans, paying interest and repayments, or endless refinancing and interest.  So it comes out of the club's money.  Sounds all a bit like a private equity style arrangement to me.

The club also needs to own the ground.  A 70000 seater stadium in Newcastle is no use to anyone else.  Bar the occasional pop concert it has no other use. So if someone else owns it they can only use it as a way of taking money out of the club.  So less hope any financial arrangements are mainly done through an increase in the owners equity holdings.

[Teasy]

Basically nobody in business pays wholly for large projects out of pocket.  In fact most things aren't paid for like that.  Cheap loans are usually used to keep money aside either for emergencies or other projects. That doesn't mean PIF will expect interest for the loans to be paid out of club revenue.  They're juggling with PSR to attempt to be able to spend more.  They aren't going to deliberately limit that further.

 

 

Edited December 2, 2025 by Teasy

[bobbydazzla]

Now I'm not Gordon Gecko, but I do understand why sovereign wealth funds would use finance to fund a large scale multi £bn construction project.

 

Just because they've got capital doesn't mean they won't use finance, especially when borrowing rates are relatively low and building a stadium isn't going to generate a short term return on the capital invested.

 

They don't want billions of their capital tied up in a multi-year construction project, when those billions could be spread across a range of investments, some with much quicker and higher returns than a footy stadium.

 

 

Edited December 2, 2025 by bobbydazzla

[LFEE]

12 hours ago, duo said:

Because it's dated / miles behind even some mid table PL teams. 

 

Could say the same about the stadium surely? 

 

Always think too much is made of training facilities TBH. Yes you can make them more luxurious and more pitches maybe but ultimately when it comes down to it what we have currently is sufficient whereas the ground is clearly too small already.

[Stifler]

3 minutes ago, LFEE said:

Could say the same about the stadium surely? 

 

Always think too much is made of training facilities TBH. Yes you can make them more luxurious and more pitches maybe but ultimately when it comes down to it what we have currently is sufficient whereas the ground is clearly too small already.

I think that’s the point though.

The players we are after will want a more luxurious training ground. I’m sure PSG have apartments in theirs so players don’t even need to buy a house anymore.

[LFEE]

2 minutes ago, Stifler said:

I think that’s the point though.

The players we are after will want a more luxurious training ground. I’m sure PSG have apartments in theirs so players don’t even need to buy a house anymore.

Think you are targeting the wrong type of player if that’s their priority 

 

Think a player would choose to play in the best stadium over/rather than train at the best training facilities. Obviously both would be great. 

[Stifler]

3 minutes ago, LFEE said:

Think you are targeting the wrong type of player if that’s their priority 

 

Think a player would choose to play in the best stadium over/rather than train at the best training facilities. Obviously both would be great. 

I don’t know. Players these days are pampered. Let’s say we are trying to get someone in from PSG or Real Madrid, if they have an option of us or someone else who can offer a better training ground, where do you go? Obviously wages will be a big part of that conversation.

I think we need to be the best we can be in all areas, an if that mean the decor of the training ground is better than it is now, then we need to do that, just as much as we need to sort our stadium out.

[Crimson Cardigan]

11 hours ago, r0cafella said:

So basically our owners wont be funding it.

They were never going to fund all of it. I think the realistic hope is they fund half of it.

[LFEE]

2 minutes ago, Crimson Cardigan said:

They were never going to fund all of it. I think the realistic hope is they fund half of it.

Correct.

[Lucky]

46 minutes ago, LFEE said:

Correct.

The only thing that matters is that they guarantee it.

[Whitley mag]

A 70k new stadium might look a bit sparse looking at the number of re-sales that haven’t shifted tonight. Might be a perfect storm of pre Xmas, lots of games and expensive prices but makes you think if things turned to shite.

 

I do think they’ve now maxed out general admission prices this season though and might just have finally priced out a good few.

[Kanj]

i dont even really care about a new stadium, i love St James Park. 

[Wallsendmag]

9 minutes ago, Whitley mag said:

A 70k new stadium might look a bit sparse looking at the number of re-sales that haven’t shifted tonight. Might be a perfect storm of pre Xmas, lots of games and expensive prices but makes you think if things turned to shite.

 

I do think they’ve now maxed out general admission prices this season though and might just have finally priced out a good few.

 

Still around 150 tickets left on resale. £58 in the Leazes and Gallowgate, £75 in the East Stand and £75/£97 in the Milburn. Those prices are a piss take for a midweek televised match 3 weeks before Xmas with another home game to follow in 4 days time.

 

I'm on nightshift tonight so can't go anyway but even if I hadn't been I think I would have swerved this one like.

[bobbydazzla]

Close to 200 tickets available to buy currently by my estimates and am sure there’ll be others with ST’s who don’t bother using the resale and just won’t turn up.

 

First time in a long while we’ve struggled to shift all our tickets against top flight opposition. 

[El Prontonise]

Was a spare seat next to me at the bottom of the gallowgate.