Darren Eales makes St James Park admission as Newcastle United consider next move

Darren Eales has described St James Park as ‘a special site’ and insisted Newcastle United are doing everything they can to remain at their historical home.

The Magpies have enjoyed a stunning turnaround in fortunes since a PIF-led consortium completed a prolonged takeover in October 2021 and put the wheels in motion to transform the club from relegation candidates to Champions League contenders.

The renaissance under Eddie Howe has brought a spike in demand for matchday tickets with the sold-out signs going up at St James Park on a regular basis. That has led to talk of a possible move away from Gallowgate and there have been reports suggesting the Magpies owners are considering a number of other sites.

However, a feasibility study is being carried out in conjunction with strategic management firm CAA Icon to explore possibilities to extend St James Park and go some way to meeting the sizeable demand for tickets.

The study is focusing on possible increases in the capacity of the Gallowgate End and East Stand, with both bringing significant issues due to listed buildings and the Metro station located in close proximity to St James Park.

The possibility of moving away from St James Park has understandably provoked intense debate amongst the Magpies support - and CEO Eales has insisted their preferred option would be to extend their long-term home.

He told talkSPORT: “What we're actually doing is getting world leading experts to look at what the possibilities are. So the whole idea is blank sheet of paper, what is possible in terms of St James' Park.

"If there's a way we can expand it, that's what we'd like to do. We're 52,000 at the moment, we've got a huge demand, way more demand than we have supply, so we'd love to be able to do something perhaps what like Liverpool are doing with Anfield and extend the stadium where it is."

“When you're doing the stadium feasibility, the whole point of that was to go out there, look at the art of the possible. We’ve gone out to the fans and said some hypothetical questions in terms of what facilities they'd like in the stadium.

"We're going through that process now. I'm really excited to see what the experts say because that's the first thing we've got to do, know exactly what we can do architecturally with our current site because you know, it is a special site."