Darren Eales says that Newcastle United will be in a position in the “near future” to announce the club’s stadium project.
So far, Toon chiefs have only floated ideas for either staying at St James’ Park and revamping the current stadium or moving to a new venue for “option two” where there will be “more seats” to accommodate fans. But when addressing one of the big questions of what comes next for supporters in terms of a new home, following a wall of near silence in 2025 so far, Eales, speaking after the release of the club’s new accounts, told reporters: “Firstly we appreciate your patience on this matter. It’s a huge decision for the club, something we’ve spoken about as being a once-in-a-generation decision. It’s something we want to get right.
“Having lived it at Tottenham, Atlanta, there’s a lot of work that goes on in the background to be able to make the correct decision. It’s a bit like the swan: there’s furious scurrying going on in the background.
“So I think we’re at a situation where we did the initial feasibility, we followed that up, we’ve discussed it with our ownership and we want to make sure we have got everything right, all our ducks in a row.
“We said that we’d talk with the fans and the Fan Advisory Board, but this is an opportunity, and ownership is very much looking to make this investment; we just want to make sure it’s the right investment, strategically for the club, the city, the region and that takes us doing a lot of work, due diligence and making sure at the right time that we go to those external stakeholders as well and get everyone aligned.
“We’re looking to get something done in the near future but I can’t really say anymore than that. Work is going on and I think you’ve seen it from just the general discussions we’ve had it is something we’re taking very seriously because it’s a hugely important decision.”
Eales underlined the fact that PIF are committed to potentially building a new 70,000 stadium that could cost £1.2bn sums up the type of ambition on show at United.
Eales said: “It goes back to the ambition of the ownership and the ambition of this club and what we want from all of us, which is to be a club that’s competing there at the top level, in Europe and in the Premier League.
“We have to find some way to increase the capacity of the stadium, whether that’s a new build or a refurbishment of St James’ Park, to get us to those levels of revenue that we need to be able to compete in this PSR or squad cost environment.
“Also, we’ve got this massive demand, so we want to get more people to be able to watch Newcastle United.”
The CEO also insisted that PIF remain serious in their financial investment to the Magpies, Eales said: “We are talking about a stadium project. We have to define what that looks like. But whichever path we go down, that is a huge investment that is going in.
“So the fact the ownership are taking that very seriously and looking to invest considerable sums shows their ambition. As for the training ground, we’re still making ongoing investments in the short term to our current spot.
“We are looking to the medium term for a new training ground. That again speaks to their commitment. Since the takeover, the rate that we have grown is unprecedented in football.”
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