St James' Park

[pedro111]

1 hour ago, TheGuv said:

Even with a title challenging Newcastle, I don't think we'd need more than 60,000. 

 

If you're getting into the realm of 65,000+, I think you'll see a lot of empty seats for less important games. Surely we want people fighting to get in, but enough chance for people to get in. 

 

I'd be overjoyed if they keep SJP where it is, but extend over the Gallowgate. I'm sure they can make it happen, and it will cost a hell of a lot less than relocating. 

 

I wonder what crowd a consistently successful Newcastle could attract? It's clear over 10k fans have walked away including myself and all my mates yet we still get 40 odd thousand. 60 to 65k is a good shout but even then cup and European games would probably see thousands of empty seats. But who knows what effect success could have. There could be another 15k casual fans on top who suddenly want to start going once we are on a roll. So, I don't know It's a bit of  mystery.

[ToonTastic]

In the long and distant past you could buy the bond to go with your season ticket. It not only guaranteed your seat (ha!) but also allowed you cup tickets if I remember rightly. It didn't happen with the Champions League football but I think that was after the bond. I'd be more than happy to pay extra a season for my seat for all cup games including Europe. Club you'd assume would be happy as if they did crap or majority away games, it's free cash but if they do well, it's full stadium. 

[jackyboy]

The bit about the SD signs being here for a short while was announced the day of the takeover so more regurgitating

[wormy]

10 minutes ago, pedro111 said:

 

I wonder what crowd a consistently successful Newcastle could attract? It's clear over 10k fans have walked away including myself and all my mates yet we still get 40 odd thousand. 60 to 65k is a good shout but even then cup and European games would probably see thousands of empty seats. But who knows what effect success could have. There could be another 15k casual fans on top who suddenly want to start going once we are on a roll. So, I don't know It's a bit of  mystery.

 

Does anyone recall how long was the season ticket waiting list in the '90s peak? I remember hearing it was pretty insane but of course would need to bear in mind that peak was before the expansion to 52k.

[Wandy]

21 minutes ago, Jackie Broon said:

 

Yeah, as much as I'd like to see a 65,000+ capacity stadium full for big games, when we were playing in the champions league we struggled to fill the stadium. Even the first time round when we had 36,000 capacity it was easy to get tickets for those matches, even Barcelona.

 

 

 

Crowd sizes for Champions League games should have no bearing on making a decision on what capacity stadium we should have. Its the domestic competitions that count, and the simple fact is a Newcastle United challenging for domestic honours every year will, at the very least, fill a 70K stadium every week.

[pedro111]

70k at the very least? That's optimistic.

[LFEE]

3 hours ago, STM said:

Sure it's been mentioned before but NUFC don't own the land that SJP is on, it's currently leased to them by the freemen of Newcastle.

 

I presume their would be no objection on their part but bare that in mind.

The Freeman at the time where all for the ground re-build on the Leazes and would like to think we would still be as supportive if put to us.

 

I’d say my only ever so slight concern would be is the makeup of the membership of the Freeman has changed a lot since then. So when it was originally proposed for example ALL Freeman were male due to how the whole purpose of it was meant to originally work (I.e. keep the family name of those families that defended the City walls in short) and in turn a very very high degree of interest in NUFC. Over a decade ago they opened up the Freeman to woman and the membership I’d say is more 50/50 which for the long term was important as ultimately it would slowly diminish and die out due to modern day smaller families and obviously the 50/50 chance of having a girl so would not end at those who just had one girl for example.

 

Obviously that shouldn’t mean a thing a probably won’t and certainly shouldn’t as the original plans were fantastic when they were brought to us. I certainly don’t want to come across sexist but the fact of that matter was originally you would’ve had an extremely high percentage of match goers at the time of the the vote whereas I wouldn’t think that’s the case now that’s all as more and more are living out of the region.

 

Hope that helps.

[Wandy]

7 minutes ago, pedro111 said:

70k at the very least? That's optimistic.

 

We will fill a 70K stadium easily if we are turned into an elite club. It's not even up for debate.

[ToonTastic]

1 minute ago, Wandy said:

 

We will fill a 70K stadium easily if we are turned into an elite club. It's not even up for debate.

Kinda is though. Newcastle only has a population of 260,000. Man Utd average 72,000 and they have a population of 500,000 plus. Granted its split between two clubs but it's still asking for a lot of people to come to the area and help fill the stadium. 

[et tu brute]

3 minutes ago, ToonTastic said:

Kinda is though. Newcastle only has a population of 260,000. Man Utd average 72,000 and they have a population of 500,000 plus. Granted its split between two clubs but it's still asking for a lot of people to come to the area and help fill the stadium. 

 

That's just Newcastle though, then you have all the surrounding areas. Man Utd could easily get 100,000 + if Old Trafford had that capacity

[wormy]

27 minutes ago, wormy said:

 

Does anyone recall how long was the season ticket waiting list in the '90s peak? I remember hearing it was pretty insane but of course would need to bear in mind that peak was before the expansion to 52k.

 

Found this random Google result that indicates there was a 20,000 strong waiting list before the expansion from 36,000.

 

If the club becomes a true challenger and, dare I say it, wins a trophy any time soon, I could see a 65k seater being regularly full. I think the sheer optimism alone would've broken the 60k barrier this Sunday if it was doable.

[pedro111]

2 minutes ago, ToonTastic said:

Kinda is though. Newcastle only has a population of 260,000. Man Utd average 72,000 and they have a population of 500,000 plus. Granted its split between two clubs but it's still asking for a lot of people to come to the area and help fill the stadium. 

Fuckin hell, catchment areas! feels like a discussion from 1998! 😁

 

But its not just Newcastle though is it? Gateshead and the rest of Tyneside is about 890k iirc. Tyne and Wear is about 1.2 million. Then add Northumberland and County Durham. Shared between 2 clubs.

 

 

[Wandy]

 

1 minute ago, ToonTastic said:

Kinda is though. Newcastle only has a population of 260,000. Man Utd average 72,000 and they have a population of 500,000 plus. Granted its split between two clubs but it's still asking for a lot of people to come to the area and help fill the stadium. 

 

Is that the city of Newcastle upon Tyne? So not including Gateshead, North & South Tyneside, Northumberland & parts of County Durham?

 

Newcastle United is the team that represents all of Tyneside and the surrounding areas. Something that seems to escape certain people that just live on the north side of the Tyne. I would not be at all surprised if there were more season ticket holders outside of the city boundaries than within it.

 

This season we have been getting near capacity crowds. 10,000 have walked away over the last two years and God knows how many before that. Now factor in that we may about to become one of the biggest clubs on the planet. The potential for crowd sizes is monster-sized.

[LFEE]

36 minutes ago, Jackie Broon said:

 

Yeah, as much as I'd like to see a 65,000+ capacity stadium full for big games, when we were playing in the champions league we struggled to fill the stadium. Even the first time round when we had 36,000 capacity it was easy to get tickets for those matches, even Barcelona.

 

 

The issue with the lower take up was that the club originally forced you to buy the tickets as a group of 3 up front at a marked up price for all the group games. Fans had already stumped up money for Bonds and STs and believe it or not but Barcelona are seen amongst fans now a much bigger deal then they did then. It was the glamour team of the group I agree but it also fell on the same night as the biggest British band there’s been since arguably The Beatles were playing half a mile away for the first time at the Arena (Oasis).

[AyeDubbleYoo]

30 minutes ago, LFEE said:

The Freeman at the time where all for the ground re-build on the Leazes and would like to think we would still be as supportive if put to us.

 

I’d say my only ever so slight concern would be is the makeup of the membership of the Freeman has changed a lot since then. So when it was originally proposed for example ALL Freeman were male due to how the whole purpose of it was meant to originally work (I.e. keep the family name of those families that defended the City walls in short) and in turn a very very high degree of interest in NUFC. Over a decade ago they opened up the Freeman to woman and the membership I’d say is more 50/50 which for the long term was important as ultimately it would slowly diminish and die out due to modern day smaller families and obviously the 50/50 chance of having a girl so would not end at those who just had one girl for example.

 

Obviously that shouldn’t mean a thing a probably won’t and certainly shouldn’t as the original plans were fantastic when they were brought to us. I certainly don’t want to come across sexist but the fact of that matter was originally you would’ve had an extremely high percentage of match goers at the time of the the vote whereas I wouldn’t think that’s the case now that’s all as more and more are living out of the region.

 

Hope that helps.

I’d be in favour of some kind of expansion but I’d also not want to sacrifice too much open space and green land. Newcastle doesn’t really have much green space in the centre of town. 

[madras]

53 minutes ago, ToonTastic said:

In the long and distant past you could buy the bond to go with your season ticket. It not only guaranteed your seat (ha!) but also allowed you cup tickets if I remember rightly. It didn't happen with the Champions League football but I think that was after the bond. I'd be more than happy to pay extra a season for my seat for all cup games including Europe. Club you'd assume would be happy as if they did crap or majority away games, it's free cash but if they do well, it's full stadium. 

I had a bond. Dont forget you had your name on your seat as well.

[Sima]

Anyone mentioned us being hindered by the dead, wedding season and the North Sea with regards catchment areas?

[LFEE]

4 minutes ago, AyeDubbleYoo said:

I’d be in favour of some kind of expansion but I’d also not want to sacrifice too much open space and green land. Newcastle doesn’t really have much green space in the centre of town. 

That was the beauty of the plans. The open space would’ve been more central and visible so I’d argue used more regularly as people would pass through it to get to the ground at least never mind it being based nearer shops and pubs etc. As it stands it’s in no mans land. Lived in the area all my life and I hardly ever frequent it currently.

[manorpark]

4 minutes ago, AyeDubbleYoo said:

I’d be in favour of some kind of expansion but I’d also not want to sacrifice too much open space and green land. Newcastle doesn’t really have much green space in the centre of town. 

 

Our main City Centre Park is the Town Moor, it is huge and stretches from the City Centre to various parts of Newcastle (from West to East) Fenham, Kenton, Gosforth and Jesmond.

 

Some areas of Town Moor have been landscaped into defined 'Victorian Style' City Centre parkland, namely Exhibition Park and Leazes Park (all 'Town Moor' land).

 

So, we are very well off for green spacwithing the City Centre, though we could do with more Public Squares, like Old Eldon Square. The Reuben Brothers are planning some of these withing their EPS ('East Pilgrim Street') proposals.

[manorpark]

3 minutes ago, LFEE said:

That was the beauty of the plans. The open space would’ve been more central and visible so I’d argue used more regularly as people would pass through it to get to the ground at least never mind it being based nearer shops and pubs etc. As it stands it’s in no mans land. Lived in the area all my life and I hardly ever frequent it currently.

 

This is a view of the 1997 proposed new stadium, thowing the walk to it through open space and landscaped extension to Leazes Park . . . 

[Rich]

I wouldn't call that the "centre of town", mind.^

Could the stadium not just be nudged a bit north and pivoted a little bit over the site of the existing council car park to run more in line with Barrack Road?

 

Does it have to be some massive lock-stock move up to the arse end of the Moor?

[manorpark]

4 minutes ago, Rich said:

I wouldn't call that the "centre of town", mind.^

Could the stadium not just be nudged a bit north and pivoted a little bit over the site of the existing council car park to run more in line with Barrack Road?

 

Does it have to be some massive lock-stock move up to the arse end of the Moor?

 

Our City Centre is currently rapidly expanding outwards, as can be seen in all the tower cranes around Stephenson Quarter, and Newcastle Helix, etc.

 

Our City Centre open spaces will naturally become a more obvious part of that, such as the "Castle Leazes" area of Town Moor.

[Rich]

I can see the Helix from where I'm sitting. I wouldn't necessarily say we're expanding "rapidly" outwards, like, in our four years of being based here there's hardly been rapid urban sprawl occurring out of our window. We might just have different definitions of "rapid", of course.

 

Would love to get some thoughts from @ponsaelius in terms of how he'd do it.

[Wullie]

You mean @ponsaelius

[Chris_R]

I dunno, maybe he'd really like to hear from the alias of Pon?