As reported by The Times‘ Martin Hardy, Newcastle are ‘looking at the possibility’ of extending the East Stand of St James Park in order to increase the capacity to around 62,000.
There have been talks for a while now over a possible extension given the high demand for tickets and sheer size of the fanbase; now more so than ever with European nights returning.
There were even more rumours about the extension after it was confirmed that we had bought back the Strawberry Place land behind the Gallowgate that was previously sold by Mike Ashley.
A few months on, it’s believed ‘serious discussion’ has taken place over a glasswork redesign that would allow the grade II-listed buildings behind the East Stand receive enough light.
Here’s a snippet from The Times’ piece:
The Times has learnt that the possibility of increasing the capacity of the East Stand is now under serious discussion. Newcastle built the stand in 1972 and it is now dwarfed by the more recent extensions of the Milburn Stand and the Leazes End because of restrictions involving the listed Georgian buildings behind it on Leazes Terrace.
Those buildings are grade II-listed and a limit was put on the size of the stand when it was built because of issues regarding light. However, advancements in engineering and architecture mean there is the possibility of a redesign that would use more glasswork and allow extra light to go through the stand, potentially leading to a significant capacity increase.
With the demand for tickets overtaking the supply, it’s great to hear the club are looking into this, highlighting more of the great work we’re doing off the pitch this summer.
We would certainly not have a probably filling a 62,000 seater stadium, which would help the club financially and be a huge boost to the extra 10,000+ unable to get tickets each week.
It would be a start if true. Followed by the Gallowgate with an extra 8k seats A new ground would be better value
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