Newcastle boss Eddie Howe admits it would be his ‘ideal’ scenario for the Magpies to STAY at ‘iconic’ St James’ Park… as the club canvasses opinions from fans over potential plans to build a new stadium

• Newcastle boss Eddie Howe admits he wants the club to stay at St James’ Park
• The club has been speaking with fans about a relocation from the stadium  
• Anthony Gordon has gone from immature kid to Newcastle’s lightening rod – Listen to It’s All Kicking Off

Eddie Howe wants Newcastle United to remain at St James’ Park, after the club canvassed opinion among supporters about building a new stadium.

Fans were sent a questionnaire on Monday and it has been the talk of Tyneside ever since, especially given the subject of stadium expansion and a ‘hypothetical’ new ground.

St James’ currently has a capacity of 52,305 and is selling out for every match. The owners have commissioned a feasibility study into increasing the number of seats on the current site, but that is not easy because of space and engineering challenges.

Mail Sport revealed this year that the club had bought key land behind the Gallowgate End with a view to developing that stand, although the area will be used as a ‘Fan Zone’ for now.

And when asked for his opinion on the club’s future home, Howe said: ‘My ideal would be that we stay at St James’ Park. The stadium is iconic and where it’s situated in the city, there is nothing else like it. It’s the heartbeat of the city.

Newcastle are canvassing opinions from their fans over whether to re-develop St James’ Park or move away from the iconic stadium

But their manager Eddie Howe has claimed that he wants the club to stay at the 52,305 capacity football arena

Howe added that he would ‘like a bigger stadium’ but said ‘space was a problem’ 

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‘It’s the thing you can see more than any other. Personally, I wouldn’t want to see that change. We would like a bigger stadium though, we’d like more people to be able to come and see us, so redevelopment would be my ideal.

‘That’s my opinion, without discussing it with anyone. It’s an unbelievable place to play football, so I wouldn’t want to lose that. 

‘Space is a problem with where it’s situated in the heart of the city, but ideally there are things we can do to get more people in.’

Newcastle could, in theory, rebuild in the current location or move to a site near the River Tyne just beyond the city centre. The alternative would be to move out of town.

Howe said: ‘I wouldn’t want to see the stadium move out of the city, it would lose something. Those are my own personal feelings, that might be different to what the club thinks.’

Chief executive Darren Eales spoke to supporters recently about plans for accommodating more of them for home matches.

‘The whole concept is to look at the art of the possible,’ he said. ‘What we want to know is what is truly possible? 

Newcastle could rebuild on their current location or move to a site near to the River Tyne

Newcastle have won seven of their eight Premier League fixtures at St James’ Park this season

‘We know we have this fantastic location here, the cathedral on the hill, but we know we have boundary issues and it’s not as simple as if we had a lot of space. So, what can we do?

‘There will be hypothetical questions. They will ask, for example, “Imagine if there was a brand new stadium built on this site, what would you think?”. 

‘That doesn’t mean we are doing that, it is about building that construct and getting that information from fans on what we do going forward.

‘We need to understand demand. I am really excited about it, there has been a lot of talk for the last 30 years, so this is our way to have a look.’

IT’S ALL KICKING OFF! 

It’s All Kicking Off is an exciting new podcast from Mail Sport that promises a different take on Premier League football, launching with a preview show today and every week this season.

It is available on MailOnline, Mail+, YouTube , Apple Music and Spotify

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