Alan Shearer offers up ‘ideal’ St James’ Park proposal amid Newcastle United update
Alan Shearer hopes to see development and expansion of the current St. James’ Park rather than moving into a new stadium – although the Newcastle United icon will be receptive to all proposals.
Debate surrounding the development of St. James’ Park has been ongoing for several years but intensified more recently, with Newcastle needing to invest in order to join the European elite long-term. A feasibility study into the future of the ground recently took place and reportedly concluded that an expansion to 60,000 would be possible.
Claims that expansion could cost up to £1billion have led to suggestions in some sections of the fanbase that Newcastle could better prepare themselves for the long-term by building a brand new stadium, as Tottenham Hotspur recently did. But St. James’ Park remains an iconic ground in English football and one of its heroes is keen to keep it that way.
“I think in an ideal world they’d stay at St James’ Park,” Shearer told The Magpie Channel TV. “Where it is works, it’s in the middle of the city. If they can extend, great and that would be the ideal. It has so much history behind it. Everyone would understand and listen to whatever is put forward, but for me in an ideal world we’d stay at St James’.
“I wouldn’t even entertain an 80,000 stadium. I don’t know what size they would need, whether that is 65,000 or a bit more. We have to look at every idea. We all want Newcastle to get better and to do that they have to look at other sources of revenue. St James’ Park holds so many memories for everyone, so if it was up to me I’d stay there.”
At a meeting with the club’s Fan Advisory Board (FAB) this week, Newcastle chief operations officer Brad Miller provided an update on the situation. He said: “We know what a transformed St. James’ Park would give us and we now have a significant amount of data and feedback on our stadium footprint and surrounding area, so we are several steps forward.
“But it is also clear that this option has several risks associated with it, so we need to fully analyse those risks against the opportunities to reach truly informed and intelligent outcomes. Part of the process is also to understand alternative options so that we see the bigger picture and, again, find the right balance between risk and opportunity. This is a once-in-a-generation investment, so we don’t want to look back in years to come, as a club or as a city, and regret an opportunity missed.”
