'My ideal' - Eddie Howe reacts as Newcastle United owners consider big St James' Park plans

Newcastle United boss Eddie Howe has provided his view on the potential redevelopment of St James' Park.

A "specially commissioned survey" was sent out to supporters on Monday evening which asked "a number of hypothetical questions" that "could help to shape the club's future stadium facilities". One of the questions that provoked discussion among fans was the possibility of demolishing St James' Park and building a new state-of-the-art stadium on the same site.

Magpies' co-owner Mehrdad Ghodoussi has previously said the aim is to increase the capacity to at least 60,000, however there major complications given the stadium's city centre location, the proximity of the Leazes Conservation Area, access to the Royal Victoria Infirmary and more - which were detailed to NewcastleWorld by local architecture firm Sadler Brown.

Howe, like thousands of other supporters, hopes there are ways to expand St James' Park how it is, although admitted he wouldn't be against a new stadium on the same site if the former is not possible.

"My ideal would be that we stay at St James’ Park," said Howe, "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, 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."

Asked if he was in favour of a rebuild on the same site, Howe replied: "Yes, depending on what you can and can’t do. That’s been the issue. 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.

"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."

Increasing the capacity would enable Newcastle to spend more money in the transfer market and in turn stay within Financial Fair Play guidelines. As revealed by sporting director Dan Ashworth last month, the Magpies' commercial streams remain significantly behind the so-called 'top six'.