Newcastle chiefs are exploring a SECOND city centre site for a new stadium, Confidential can reveal.
Feasibility work continues around Leazes Park, the club’s preferred choice, but senior staff are now considering and will visit an alternative. An inhabitation of bats is one of the challenges they face at Leazes Park.
Confidential can reveal that a senior PIF delegation are scheduled to meet with the club’s executive team, led by CEO David Hopkinson, at Matfen Hall later this month. Stadium plans will be at the top of the agenda during the key summit and progress is expected over whether a new home or a renovation of St James’ Park is the ownership’s preferred direction of travel.
One major development in recent weeks is the emergence of an alternative plot to Leazes Park, should the Saudis sanction a new build. Sources have stressed that this site would still be in the city centre.
Leazes Park, just north of St James’, has long been identified as the ideal setting for a new super-stadium. One issue encountered is the presence of bats, although club chiefs are confident of navigating this and several other factors involving plant and animal life.
A specialist firm have been consulted for surveys on how to relocate the bats, while legal requirements are being considered. It is a criminal offence to intentionally disturb or kill bats.
Leazes Park is Newcastle’s preferred site for a new stadium, but the club are exploring a second site after an inhabitation of bats was discovered
Chief executive David Hopkinson will meet a senior PIF delegation at Matfen Hall this month for a summit on the club’s future
Meanwhile, Hopkinson and chief operating officer, Brad Miller, are working around the clock to present all viable options to the ownership this month.
Hopkinson told Confidential: ‘My job is to develop true optionality. That is why this process takes so long. It’s very easy to say, “Oh, just build it there”. But what needs to happen for that to be possible? It’s labour intensive and very expensive. There are legal, government, heritage, environment and residential considerations. You can’t build somewhere just because you want to.’
Alternative sites within the city area could include Hunters Moor, north of Leazes Park, or the nearby Nuns Moor Park. North East mayor Kim McGuinness is also said to be keen for investment and regeneration in the Arthur’s Hill area, which is only a mile from St James’.
As reported last year, supply-and-demand modelling has shown that a new-build would need a capacity of at least 65,000, but no more than 70,000. An expansion of St James’ could not go beyond 60-62,000 because of architectural limitations.
Will Saudis’ Toon project LIV on?
PIF’s impending withdrawal from their LIV Golf venture will NOT impact Newcastle United.
Rather, sources insist they remain fully committed and that the club falls under their ‘strategic’ portfolio.
The planned presence of PIF’s top brass on Tyneside later this month will reinforce that message and an announcement on a new £200million training ground at Woolsington is set to follow.
The intense discussions over a new stadium or St James’ Park renovation that will take place during the Matfen Hall summit, as reported above, are also an indicator of PIF’s long-term intentions, it is claimed. CEO Hopkinson has been entrusted by the ownership to deliver on those big off-field projects and new commercial deals.
Yasir Al-Rumayyan (left), chairman of Newcastle and the PIF, with LIV’s former chief executive Greg Norman
The PIF have sold 70 per cent of Al-Hilal (star striker Karim Benzema pictured), in a planned move
Meanwhile, PIF’s sale of 70 per cent of Saudi Pro League club Al-Hilal to the Kingdom Holding Company does not indicate a withdrawal from football investments. Sources say it was always PIF’s objective to take their four Saudi-owned clubs so far before stepping aside.
The importance of Newcastle, not least because of its seat at the Premier League table, means it retains a key standing in the PIF investment portfolio.
Bruno boost for Bournemouth clash
Bruno Guimaraes has a chance of returning to the Newcastle squad this weekend.
It was expected that the Brazilian would almost certainly miss the visit of Bournemouth after Eddie Howe revealed his comeback from a hamstring injury had been delayed after he contracted mumps.
However, Confidential understands there is hope that Guimaraes could at least make the bench, and that would be a huge lift given how badly his absence has been felt. More will be known in the next 24 hours.
Meanwhile, Newcastle will NOT be selling their captain to a Saudi-owned club, despite reports in Brazil linking him with a move. There is no appetite to lose the midfielder and no incentive to sell any player to a club associated with PIF, given UEFA spending rules do not allow for profit to be calculated in such deals.
Were, in the future, Al-Hilal or any Saudi club to come under full ownership of a non-PIF related party, then sales would become more viable.
Bruno Guimaraes has a chance of returning to the Newcastle squad to face Bournemouth this weekend
The truth about Gordon’s future
The 11th-hour collapse of Anthony Gordon’s proposed move to Liverpool in 2024 would likely be a factor in easing his passage out of Newcastle this summer, should he communicate a desire to leave.
As it stands, the England winger has not told club chiefs or football staff of a want to go. Sources insist he remains committed to the club and has four years left on his contract.
There is interest from a host of clubs, some of it longstanding, and were Newcastle not to make the Champions League (they are 10 points off the top five with six games remaining) then offers would be anticipated. Bayern Munich are among the admirers but, so far, there has been no club-to-club contact with any would-be suitor.
It was in the summer of 2024 that, amid Newcastle’s PSR panic, club chiefs spoke to Liverpool about a deal for Gordon. That looked set to happen and the player, away with England at Euro 2024, believed he was on his way, only for Newcastle to pivot and sell Elliot Anderson and Yankuba Minteh in their effort to avoid a Premier League points deduction.
However, the impact on Gordon was lasting – he admitted last year that thinking he was being sold took a mental toll – and Eddie Howe and his staff had to work hard to ‘bring him back in the building’. There is a feeling among some that a repeat would best be avoided, were he keen to go.
But unlike Alexander Isak last year, the 25-year-old has not indicated he is looking elsewhere. Sources have also stressed that some of the fees quoted in recent days, around the £60m mark, are way short of the club’s valuation of a player who will likely start for England at the World Cup this summer.
For now, Gordon is focused on the last six games of the season. His future will likely be revisited once Newcastle’s final league position and transfer plans and budgets are finalised.
As it stands, Anthony Gordon has not told club chiefs or football staff of a want to go. Sources insist he remains committed to the club
Howe’s new title
Andy Howe’s title within Newcastle’s recruitment setup has changed.
The 31-year-old, who is the manager’s nephew, is now a senior football executive, having been the club’s assistant head of first-team recruitment.
However, Howe’s role remains the same and the tweaking of titles is more to do with sporting director Ross Wilson tidying up the structure within St James’ Park.
Harrison to leave Newcastle
Alfie Harrison signed from Manchester City in 2024 but did not make a senior appearance for the club
Finally, Alfie Harrison is set to leave Newcastle this summer.
Signed from Manchester City in 2024 in a deal almost exclusively made up of performance-related add-ons, there was much excitement around the midfielder.
However, with his contract set to expire, Harrison will be moving on.
Despite being around the first-team squad during summer friendlies, the 20-year-old will depart without making his competitive debut.
