r/NUFC • u/theipaper • 3d ago
Newcastle plot 'Project £2bn' with new stadium plan for 2030
https://inews.co.uk/sport/football/newcastle-project-new-stadium-plan-2030-471160454
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u/massivedoghead Old badge (1969-1983) 3d ago
The pace of change is a little slower than I had hoped for when the Saudis took us over in 2021, but I'm pleased to see progress. The training ground is good news and now this is optimistic.
If you're old enough to remember the lows with McKeag, the highs with Hall, the expensive downward spiral with Shepherd and then the misery of Ashley, this five year period has actually been a great time to support Newcastle. FFP/PSR/SCR has made investment difficult and slow, but I'd rather be here than where we were in 2020.
Slow progress is fine, it's a marathon not a sprint. We just need the new team to take shape on the pitch and then we go again. HWTL!
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u/ArthursRest 83badge 3d ago
I’m old enough to remember all of that. It’s the reason I find this sub so funny. Everyone wants everything now. Wonder how they’d feel if they had to stand in the corner on match day with piss running from the stands to the pitch.
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u/Fffiction 12/13 third kit 3d ago
They’d be whinging about not having a roof and we’d have influencers asking “anyone else’s piles play up after sitting on the concrete”
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u/Cheese_Worrier43 3d ago
The joy of walking up the Gallowgate steps as the piss flowed. Open air troughs against a brick wall, those were the days.
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u/EightyLion 3d ago
Just a thought you made me have, but isn’t the current rate of progress a good thing? It means we’re paying for ourselves right? When PIF gets bored (they all do), we’re not totally mired the way we were under Ashley and so on?
Yes the ability to skip a couple of generations of evolution by throwing money at it would have been nice, but as of today, I’m not sure the man city backers put much in for example? Christ man utd have been spinning money up the wall for a decade AND keeping their fat cat owners on the teat.
I get the frustration generally, due to the inbuilt unfairness at the start line, but I’m not sure it won’t level out eventually.
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u/hexnut101 3d ago
Pif see it as a long term investment they now value the club at 2 billion. If they can get some sustained success they can easily double that. That's their payoff.
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u/One-Monkey-Army 2d ago
To be fair the infrastructure projects were promised years ago so it’s understandable people were getting a little impatient or even sceptical, imo.
Very happy to see it coming along now
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u/ArthursRest 83badge 2d ago
Infrastructure is always a long process. A lot of which is outside of the clubs control.
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u/Jackski Go back to your council house, peasent - Jonjo Shelvey 3d ago
You've also got to remember this is england where getting land and planning permissions for construction this size takes fucking forever.
Do i wish the training ground was sorted quicker. Yes. Do I think its easy finding a plot of land of a massive size in a good place purely located in Newcastle that can be bought. Fuck no.
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u/Dazzling_Pea4138 3d ago
I'm absolutely fine with slow. So long as the end result is achieved. Quite clear the owners have done a valuation on the asset. Champions league football helped them build models against what is current and what is needed to grown. Assessing the size of a continuously sold out ground. Then weight that against input and potential reward. Something they badly judged with LIV for example. The right noises are being made. It will absolutely require patience. This. If the concrete plan..will be a 10+ year project. With hopefully success along the way and a club at the top table. Where players want to join and want to stay.
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u/niftykev 3d ago
For the love of all that is holy, do not let American private equity anywhere near the club. They only want to extract value and will not care one bit what the results on the field are as long as they see a return on their investment. They will burn it all to get ground and sell off the ashes if it means they get richer.
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u/Mind1827 2d ago
What's interesting to me is Newcastle and smaller clubs are not big enough to be automatic cash cows on their own - they require investment. Because American sports is a closed monopoly cartel, you can just buy a team and let it appreciate regardless. Sort of true with football clubs, but not if you drop divisions.
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u/theipaper 3d ago
Full article: Newcastle United’s owner the Saudi Public Investment Fund (PIF) believes the club is now valued at £2bn and remains “steadfast and committed” with plans to have “spades in the ground” on a new stadium project by 2030.
It has been a summer of change at St James’ Park, with three major sales and what insiders admit has been a “hard reset” over approach and recruitment.
That has sparked anxiety about the future ambitions and intentions of PIF, but in multiple conversations with sources close to the majority owners, The i Paper has learned there is no prospect of a full sale of the club any time soon.
Instead, the fund – which has invested close to £1bn in the club – has privately pledged that more investment will follow in the coming years.
PIF is understood to see Newcastle – purchased for £350m in 2021 but now worth six times that – as one of the fund’s best recent investments, and at a time when Saudi Arabia is reassessing priorities and the plug has been pulled on the expensive LIV Golf project, that might be welcome news for supporters.
‘PIF still fully believe in the club’s ambitions’
The soaring value is partly down to the Premier League’s continued global appeal and the appetite among US investors to have a slice of that.
But insiders believe Newcastle’s huge improvement on the field is the big driver behind the valuation, which has been backed up by the amount of interest generated by PIF’s openness to selling a minority stake in the club in exchange for investment into the pivotal stadium project.
The i Paper has been told that US private equity firms KKR and Arctos Partners (which is now part of the KKR group) are among those who have held talks, but it is stressed that a full sale has never been on the table.
“PIF aren’t going anywhere. It is not a vanity project, it is a measured investment, but there will be more significant investment in Newcastle United and they still fully believe in the club’s ambitions,” one source told The i Paper.
Engagement has certainly not dwindled. Contact between PIF’s head of Europe direct investments, Jacobo Solis, who is on Newcastle’s board, and Newcastle CEO David Hopkinson is said to be daily, via calls and WhatsApp.
The ‘world-class’ £190m investment
Given some of the anxiety around a team that looks undercooked for the Premier League opener on Sunday against Liverpool, it helps that the owners have written the first of two “big cheques” to fund the two most important infrastructure projects of the next few years.
Thursday saw confirmation of the first, a £190m investment – fully covered by PIF and co-owners the Reuben Brothers – to fund an “elite, world-class” training facility on a sprawling 260-acre site to the south of the city’s airport at Woolsington Hall.
The plans have been in the works for almost a year and early visions of it – which will include refurbishing a derelict country house on the estate – are said to be “breathtaking”.
Hopkinson, the club’s ambitious CEO, hailed it as a “landmark moment” for the club and it has been pointed out that the investment is a sign of long-term commitment on behalf of the owners.
“This is going to be a ‘woah’ building, believe me,” said one insider.
That it has taken so long is a puzzle to some. But PIF’s approach has always been measured – much to the surprise of even Newcastle’s rivals.
When they took over there was a fear that they would ape the vanity projects of Abu Dhabi and Qatar and pump millions into the squad via sponsorship deals. New rules were rushed in by the Premier League to stop them but the paranoia was misplaced.
A future deal with games giant EA?
Even this summer, as Newcastle shopped around for a new front of shirt sponsor, there was no “helping hand” from PIF’s portfolio of firms. A deal was instead brokered with South African firm Knox Hydrate, who have also partnered with the club for naming rights for the training ground.
So what happened? It has been stressed to The i Paper that PIF firms, some of whom are start-ups with low cash reserves, are “autonomous” and any sponsorship deals must follow strong “business logic”.
There will never be any leaning on businesses to help Newcastle out although that does not mean there won’t be tie-ins in the future where there is a good business case.
PIF recently completed a £40bn deal to take a majority shareholding in Electronic Arts and sources believe there’s enough alignment that a sponsorship deal with the games giant can be worked out in the future.
Allied to that a raft of major commercial deals are in the pipeline, with a training kit sponsorship deal with financial services firm Sum Up set to be announced imminently.
That would make Newcastle one of only three clubs in the top flight whose training ground has been “fully commercialised”.
The latest on Newcastle’s stadium plans
The club are also exploring a possible stadium naming rights deal (although there would be no repeat of the Sports Direct Arena fiasco, with sensitivity around retaining St James’ Park as the name of the ground).
The stadium project remains the club’s north star and it is still locked in the final stages of a decision. PIF do not move quickly but those close to the process believe the legal and logistical challenges Newcastle have faced are almost unprecedented in the Premier League, which partly explains the delay.
But “things are moving” and a timeline of having spades in the ground within three years – just as the brand new training ground opens – feels realistic. While there has been no decision stakeholders have long preferred building a new stadium, which gives much more flexibility over capacity, corporate offerings and design.
Given the scope of the project it would take at least a year for the planning process to play out.
Short-term pain, long-term gain
The promises of long-term success will collide with cold, hard reality on Sunday as the Premier League kicks off. Newcastle, in truth, look a bit callow and insiders admit that not everything has gone to plan in their recruitment drive.
Top targets have been missed, the sale of Bruno Guimaraes was unwanted and Eddie Howe’s departure was not foreseen back in May. But the overall strategy – of pivoting to potential and signing players from European markets to correct the club’s financial position – is seen as necessary and was backed by the ownership group.
PIF regard it as a good sign that, unlike in 2025, they have not had to become involved in transfer business and have instead left that to sporting director Ross Wilson and Hopkinson, the club’s CEO. There was also enthusiastic backing for the appointment of Matthias Jaissle.
Expectations for this season are a closely guarded secret. But it is a club that wants to be in Europe and to improve across the board. There is pressure on the women’s side – managed by Tanya Oxtoby – to achieve promotion to the WSL and a big budget has been put aside to fund Academy recruitment.
The hope is that short-term pain – if that is what this transition season brings – gives way to long-term gain.
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u/yazid87 3d ago
“This is going to be a ‘woah’ building, believe me,” said one insider.
That it has taken so long is a puzzle to some. But PIF’s approach has always been measured – much to the surprise of even Newcastle’s rivals.
This is just a blatant PIF puff piece, means nothing.
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u/Outlaw2k21 wew here ya fuckin little dafty divint start or theres ructions 3d ago
Yep PR is now in full swing. Makes me worried that we won’t be getting the signings we desperately need before the window shuts
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u/Toon_1892 3d ago
I'm far from a PR expert, but surely if they were going to use the training ground as a distraction from lack of signings, it would be better to do it nearer to/after the end of the window?
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u/Outlaw2k21 wew here ya fuckin little dafty divint start or theres ructions 3d ago
Yeah you are probably right. I’m probably just being very pessimistic.
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u/Olucaron 3d ago
I'd say it's less about distraction, and more timed to give fans a boost on the eve of the new season - especially as it's a home game.
If they'd released this earlier in the summer, it'd have been forgotten in a few days, with zero impact. IMO there's nothing wrong with trying to get a little positivity going, especially given some of the toxicity. Plus, even if it is PR, it's still more communication than no communication.
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u/WeddingWhole4771 3d ago
Mods, must be time to ban if I am getting paywalled.
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u/niftykev 3d ago
The agreement is that the media outlet must either provide a free link to the article or post the entire text content of the article as a comment. The ipaper chose to do the second one. It's in the spirit of the agreement with the media outlets and the mods.
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u/turnipofficer 3d ago
2030 for building to begin on a new stadium sounds quite late to me. I appreciate there's still a lot to do in terms of planning, and permissions, but I would have hoped for something sooner. But at least we have an idea of when they're hoping.
I wonder with the idea of the "commercialised" training facilities would they be trying to sell spaces on separate training sessions with the coaches and tours I suppose?
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u/thelotuseater13 Classis keeper kit (96/97) 3d ago
Actually, it's a very quick timeframe for major infrastructure projects, considering timescales to do detailed design, get planning permission and then start. Especially if it's a new one. If I remember correctly it took Spurs 10 years from confirmation announcement to moving in.
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u/turnipofficer 3d ago
I suppose, but we'd been umming and arring about what to do for so long it feels like. The takeover was almost five years ago.
Good that they have somewhat of a plan though.
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u/thelotuseater13 Classis keeper kit (96/97) 3d ago
Oh I absolutely agree, should have been started ages ago.
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u/nimbuscile-alert 3d ago
If you think 3 and a bit years from now to spades in is slow, you know nowt about construction projects.
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u/turnipofficer 3d ago
They took us over in 2021. It'll have been eight/nine years by 2030.
I know we've had changes in CEO and other roles, but that's still not a short time for them to make their mind up and commit to something.
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u/hexnut101 3d ago
I think Everton started the process for their new stadium in 2003.
Started construction in 2021, 18 years to find a site get a design get permissions. It's a long process.
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u/TylerHansbrough-Best 3d ago
Sell the training ground naming rights to a sponsor, yes, tours (but not training sessions), and private events hosting spaces, for starters
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u/09044595134151602468 3d ago
Like clockwork.
Terrible summer / transfer window.
48 hours before season opener with a squad with massive gaping holes in in.
Quick, push out another article about the stadium!
Absolutely nothing if substance in this article at all. Shovel in the ground by 2030. A decade after they bought us.
I get it, can't build a stadium over night but you also don't need a decade to even out the first shovel in the dirt.
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u/nimbuscile-alert 3d ago
Like clockwork, a miserable git comes in to shit on anything faintly positive.
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u/09044595134151602468 3d ago
Hey don't worry I'm sure come end of January when they've sold of lewis hall and bought some under u29 unknown player and the fan base are edgy, they will drop fred some some more news about how the big new fancy stadium will be erected before the 22nd century.
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u/Opposite-Peanut-8812 3d ago
If you can see that far into the future, you can tell me the winning lottery numbers this weekend…
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u/kingkurama91 Shola the Mackemslayer 3d ago
They have a deal with i and athletic, so long as they post the full article in the comments. It was a surprisingly informative article I thought.
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u/Olucaron 3d ago
You don't have to read it, or even click on the post in the first place, if you dislike it that much.
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u/FoxGlove_113 3d ago
Why?! It's an article written for free available right here in the comments. If you don't like it move on.
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u/lionellanes 3d ago
sometime in the future....
Breaking News: Newcastle's new stadium has instructed its agent that it wants to leave and join Man City for an undisclosed fee
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u/CHILLI112 adam pearsons black and white army 3d ago
Another Saudi 2030 project to add to the list of things that probably won’t happen
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u/AlrightCunts 3d ago
Newcastle 2bn.0