Newcastle United chief issues update on the future of St James' Park - it's an unpopular answer

Newcastle United are “not ready” to decide on the future of St James’ Park, according to CEO David Hopkinson.

Four years into the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia-led takeover and the Magpies are yet to announce whether they plan to expand St James’ Park or build a new state-of-the-art stadium, with Leazes Park touted as a potential site.

Newcastle previously promised an update in early 2025 but as we approach 2026, there has been no further communication.

David Hopkinson issues St James’ Park update

Indeed, Hopkinson is refusing to put a timescale on a “grand announcement”, insisting there has been no final decision on whether to stay or go.

Speaking at the We are United event at St James’ Park Stack on Monday night, Hopkinson said: “I don’t know. We’re not going to lie to you. What’s clear, and I am telling you clearly, is to win consistently and be at the top consistently, you have to grow your revenues and that means you need world-class facilities.

St James’ Park, in December 2025, is incredible and I think there are still big opportunities. Whether that is that renovated or reimagined or a new stadium, we have not made that decision.

“We’re working on it every day. What is so interesting though, I know there is a lot of pressure of ‘when, when, when’. Well, I don’t know when that will be. It’s not today and I don't think it’ll be next week either but it doesn’t mean we’re not working on it.

“The complexity around finances, project planning, this is unbelievably complex project that will be the most ambitious this club has taken on. Grand announcements? We’re not ready for that. To be ahead of ourselves before the formalisation of the plan is actually counter-productive.

“I don’t think that’s going to be the most popular answer, I’m aware of that”

What Brad Miller said on St James’ Park in 2024

Hopkinson’s comments come over a year after chief operating officer Brad Miller labelled the stadium investment a “once-in-a-generation” opportunity.

Miller said: “What I will say is the product you see today, the STACK, this is just an indication of the ambition and the commitment and the dedication that the ownership and everybody within the club has got, not just to Newcastle United, but to the region as well.

"We hope it's representative and a little bit of a hint to what we're hoping to achieve into the future.

"The stadium investment it is genuinely a once-in-a-generation opportunity and we want to make sure that we get that right. And I think we're doing that against the backdrop of, in the UK, we haven't got a great track record of delivering really big projects and delivering on time and successfully and making sure they work right from the absolute outset.

"So there's a lot for us to think about and that's why we are, maybe frustratingly for people, taking our time to make sure that our next steps are going to be the right ones. Because whilst we've got the ability to invest and the commitment and the ambition to invest from the ownership, we only want to write that cheque once, so we want to make sure we get it absolutely right for everybody that's involved with the club."