Newcastle are planning to extend the capacity of St James’ Park to 65,000 with extensions to the Gallowgate and East stand, according to The Telegraph.
Although the work is still at an ‘early stage’, Luke Edwards reveals that we’ve begun a ‘feasibility study’ on how both stands can be extended to the height of the Leazes and Milburn.
The added 13,000 seats would make St James’ Park the second largest stadium in the Premier League, just behind Man United with 74,000.
We are currently waiting to hear back from specialist architects to work out the structural design and cost, and nothing is to be decided until we have those reports.
The East stand may prove to be the most difficult with the listed buildings directly behind it, but there have been suggestions made to raise the stand using glass so residents will still have natural light.
We have recently bought the land behind the Gallowgate, but plans have already been made to build a fan zone on that site, so the short-term objective is to start on the East stand.
On the idea of increasing the capacity, manager Eddie Howe said: “I’d love to see it expanded. If it can be done, I’m sure the club will do it at some point.
“That’s very much the club’s philosophy. If we can push things forward and improve things for the supporters, for everybody, the club will do it. But it’s not simple, it’s not a simple process but we would love to get more supporters inside the stadium.”
