Throughout 2025, it felt like we were waiting and waiting for the club to announce plenty of big decisions and unveilings in regards to growth and infrastructure.

A brand new stadium, training ground and kit sponsor have long been talked about, but plans for whatever reason haven’t quite yet come to fruition.

It was widely expected that the celebration of the Carabao Cup final win earlier last year was going to be the start of the next ‘phase’ of the Newcastle United project by the PIF, but instead we’ve had to wait until 2026 for things to really accelerate.

And if the latest report is true, then it’s a move that would put near the very top of the footballing world in terms of infrastructure and what we can offer to players.

World-class training base to be announced

According to The Mail’s Craig Hope, Newcastle United look set to announce plans to construct a new state-of-the-art training complex, which will hopefully be opened in 2028.

It’s the first major piece of infrastructural development provided by the PIF since the 2021 takeover, and it’s said to be situated in Woolsington, with Toon chiefs all set to purchase the land ahead of building a £200m facility.

The site will be located close to Newcastle airport and just five miles from St James’ Park, keeping it in close proximity for the players and staff.

Hope lists how the world class complex will boast indoor and outdoor pitches, leisure spaces, accommodation, as well as a mini stadium: the entire complex being likened to Real Madrid’s Sports City at Valdebebas.

Similar to our plans with the new stadium, the decision makers have consulted leading firms like Populous, who were behind the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, to get plans into motion. Construction should hopefully start this year with a two year timeline for completion.

During construction, Eddie Howe and the lads will continue to train at Benton, though the prospect of training at the new facilities in the future should prove very tempting for both current players to want to stay and attract new stars to join.

Another win for Hopkinson and Wilson

Whilst the blueprints for the new training facility have been worked on for over a year, the impending announcement shows that CEO David Hopkinson and sporting director Ross Wilson truly mean business.

Hopkinson’s commercial expertise is proving crucial, as is his prior experience working at Real Madrid, and it looks like the new training facility will be just the start of the rapid growth we look set to undertake off the pitch in 2026 and for the rest of the decade.

Once these plans have been announced, the next step seems obvious: finally providing some clarity on what the current stadium plans are. The sooner it’s announced that we’re going for either renovation or relocation, and put those plans into action, the sooner we’ll be able to reap the financial rewards that come with having both a state-of-the-art training facility as well as an improved stadium with an increased capacity.