Why Newcastle United & Exeter City’s St James Park are different after big Barcelona error | OneFootball

A Barcelona fan accidentally made his way to Exeter rather than Newcastle on Tuesday, and FLW has taken a look at the difference between the grounds.

On Tuesday evening, Exeter City faced promotion-chasing Lincoln City at home in League One, with the Devonshire outfit looking to increase their gap over the bottom four after a difficult few weeks. However, it was the Imps who took victory.

While on the surface, this looked to be a standard fixture between two sides fighting it out at opposite ends of the third tier table, for one spectator, it was a game that they were not expecting to be watching after arriving in London earlier that day.

In the north-east, Newcastle United were hosting Barcelona in the first leg of their UEFA Champions League round of 16 tie, with the Magpies looking to shock the La Liga leaders with a victory. However, it was honours even, and they will face one another in Spain on Wednesday knowing that a victory will see either side into the quarter-finals.

A Barcelona supporter had departed his plane and followed directions to Exeter's St James Park, rather than Newcastle's home ground that has the same name. While he was given a free ticket for the League One fixture, Football League World has taken a look into the distinct difference between the two grounds.

Why Exeter City's ground is called St James Park

The Grecians have played at St James Park ever since the club was established in 1901. However, the stadium itself has gone through multiple name changes, and has been known as 'St James Field', 'St James’s Park' and ‘St James’ Field'.

Yet, the origin behind the current iteration of its name comes from the Second World War. While the EFL (known as the Football League at the time) was suspended due to the outbreak of war, the pitch was still used and a charity game took place between two different sides from the US Navy.

In the matchday programme, the stadium was called St James Park, without an apostrophe. From then on, Exeter have kept the name and the US Navy has played a vital role in the history of the football club, as well as a vital role in the journey that the Barcelona fan took on Tuesday.

While St James' Church was demolished after it was hit by a bomb in 1942, the club has ensured that they remember their origins and the earliest days of the professional game in the city.

Newcastle's stadium name, meanwhile, is explained on their club website: "A hospital and chapel – named St. James’ – once stood near to where the Hancock Museum now stands in Newcastle. In 1542, the master of St. Mary’s and St. James’ granted a lease of land, with plots that extended to Castle Leazes.

"St. James Place was later built on the site, and areas around what became known as St. James’ Park – including St. James Street, St. James Terrace and Leazes Terrace – continued to develop in the early 19th century.

"At either end of the ground stand the Leazes End and Gallowgate End. The former is named after the neighbouring Leazes Park and Leazes Terrace, while the latter takes its name from the city’s infamous gallows, which were last used in 1844."

The subtle difference between the name of the two grounds is the simple apostrophe the Toon Army's home stadium has.

Newcastle United's St James' Park has an incredible capacity compared to Exeter City's St James Park

The capacity of the two stadiums is vastly different, with the success that Newcastle have enjoyed over the last several decades allowing them to bring in huge crowds. The Magpies' home can welcome 52,258 spectators, and regularly averages attendances of over 52,000.

Meanwhile, Exeter's St James Park can host 8,830 supporters, and this season they have averaged 6,544 fans throughout a difficult League One campaign.

Newcastle's style with two huge stands is extremely different to that of the Grecians' old-school stands, which are not fully enclosed and are not all connected.