Yasir Al-Rumayyan has been presented with brand new Newcastle United stadium plans – Decision awaited | OneFootball

The long awaited presentation of new Newcastle United stadium plans has been made to Yasir Al-Rumayyan and other senior figures.

The presentation given at a Northumberland hotel by the employed NUFC hierarchy, who had been tasked with preparing the options.

The Newcastle United Chairman, also Governor of the Saudi Arabia PIF, having flown in with others to watch United defeat Nottingham Forest 4-3.

Top of the agenda at Monday’s meeting was the new Newcastle United stadium, with the Newcastle United Chairman and others presented with plans for a brand new ground, as well as a redeveloped St James’ Park as the alternative.

As The Telegraph and others report, Monday’s presentation is understood to have seen the brand new Newcastle United stadium presented as the preferred option by senior club staff, who had been tasked with exploring the options.

The planned new stadium would appear to tick pretty much all boxes, satisfying both the Newcastle United owners and the fans.

The ability to get far more fans in to watch their team, with a capacity up to around near the 70,000 mark compared to the current 52,000, whilst the plans for a redeveloped St James’ Park would fall somewhere in between.

If going ahead, the brand new Newcastle United stadium would be state of the art and able to generate far more money, including the ability to be used for many other events, both other sports and music. The extra cash of course is essential if the Newcastle United owners are going to grow the club to its potential.

The clincher for myself and many others, is that the new Newcastle United stadium plan would see the home of NUFC not really move, as the plans would see it built on some of the land already occupied by St James’ Park, using an overlapping footprint.

The location being like a diagonal shift away from the listed buildings that make the redevelopment of the current St James’ Park so difficult.

If this brand new stadium gets the go ahead, it would be set to cover part of the land that the current Leazes End sits on. With potentially that being the last part of the proposed new stadium to be developed, allowing the current capacity of St James’ Park to be maintained for as long as possible.

The innovative plan could/would see the south/bottom end of the new stadium starting where the current Leazes End is (roughly the half of it furthest away from the Leazes Terrace listed buildings), then continuing northwest and building over where the current club land is, which is occupied by a multi-story car park, then continuing on further into land that is currently part of Leazes Park.

Reporting on Monday’s meeting, The Telegraph say that if the brand new Newcastle United stadium goes ahead:

‘…a new green space will be built where St James’ Park is.

That would mean the listed buildings situated behind the East Stand – which is one of the main obstacles to rebuilding St James’ Park – would overlook the new park.

The building of a modern green area is likely to make the loss of some of Leazes Park more palatable to Newcastle City Council…’

This kind of balancing act is used regularly when proposing developments, compensating for the loss of some green space by providing alternative new green space and/or additional investment in the wider area.

For example, Spurs have recently been backed by Enfield Council, with their plans for a new training complex for their women’s team going through on current parkland, with Tottenham providing additional investment and so on to improve the area for the wider local community.

If going ahead, this planned brand new stadium would mean that Barrack Road (the road running up behind the current Milburn Stand) would remain open as well, further limiting the impact on the city centre disruption.

As previously reported, the new stadium would be higher than St James’ Park, making it an even more imposing feature of the city’s skyline. Obviously with the location remaining almost exactly the same, it mean match going fans could have their same pre and post-match routine. The idea of moving to an out of town location would have been impossible to stomach for most.

It certainly appears to offer many positives, in terms of balancing the needs of the Newcastle United owners and fanbase, along with that of Newcastle City Council, The Freemen, local residents and businesses.

The location would surely be seen by fans and local businesses who thrive on matchday traffic as the best possible alternative to the current site, especially with part of the new stadium could overlap on the existing SJP.

The ballpark costings are said to be up to around £1.5billion if the Newcastle United owners go with the brand new stadium that has been presented as the preferred option, with a cost of around £800m if redeveloping the current St James’ Park.

An official stadium announcement isn’t expected in the very near future as the Newcastle United owners plan their strategy for the long-term, with this stadium decision a huge part of that.

The Telegraph though say that their sources have told them that they are confident that the new stadium proposal will eventually get the green light from the Newcastle United ownership.

It is claimed that a brand new Newcastle United stadium would take up to around seven years before it was completed and ready to use. However, I am assuming that this is a worst case scenario and if the Newcastle United owners decide to go ahead with it, then if everything went to plan there could be at least a year or two knocked off that.

As well as the brand new Newcastle United stadium discussions, also on the agenda on Monday, were plans moving forward on other aspects of the club, especially the upcoming summer transfer market and how ambitious the club can be whilst staying within the FFP/PSR restrictions.

Of course, a far bigger brand new stadium will be a key factor for the club moving forward long-term and challenging the usual suspects, on and off the pitch, as the gaping financial chasm remains between the ‘big six’ and Newcastle United.