Manchester City unveiled new plans for their North Stand, giving Newcastle fuel for thought.
Newcastle United executives at the Etihad Stadium had a clear picture of what CEO Darren Eales referred to as “the art of the possible” when planning to renovate St James’ Park originally began. That was the exact term Eales used when addressing the club’s feasibility report, which has now been finished and insiders have seen the two possible futures.
The new stand at the Etihad is soaring into the grey Manchester skies and it will have a hotel and a casino to boot as clubs become creative to get ahead in the PSR driven world we are now living in. A new fan zone and club merchandise stalls will also be thrown in as City look to take things to the next level.
Ahead of next month’s fan advisory board meeting along the corridors of power, in which the plans to either stay at St James’ and improve it or move to a shiny new stadium will be shared with supporters for the first time, Newcastle’s top brass can only have been impressed by what their rivals Man City have been able to achieve on their current site.
The one big advantage that Man City have had over Newcastle is that they have had significantly more room to play with. Unlike the Magpies they are not hemmed in to a specific area. As United chiefs try to get their head around the listed buildings next door to the East Stand, the Citizens have had plenty of space to manoeuvre since first moving into the stadium back in 2003 after the Commonwealth Games.
I was fortunate enough to go to the old Maine Road and get to stand on the old Kippax Stand where the away section was positioned back in 1994. That day Newcastle lost 2-1 to Man City as around 20,000 fans on the old terrace along the side of the pitch made up a big chunk of the 33,774 capacity.
That day, the atmosphere crackled as Kevin Keegan’s side went down in a shock result for the Entertainers. With the City fans sectioned on the other side of the fence in the Kippax, home fans sung Blue Moon before a riposte of: “You’ve only got one song” from the travelling Newcastle faithful.
As fans spilled back on to the streets of Moss Side and back on to the buses, City fans taunted their Newcastle counterparts as they headed home to Tyneside. Later that season City just scraped to survival and Newcastle qualified for Europe.
It would be easy to wheel out the old cliche of the decades flicking by in the blink of an eye, but the truth is Newcastle and City fell on hard times. Man City dipped all the way to the third flight and was very much humbled by Wycombe, Lincoln, and York City, but they bounced back up the divisions and a walk down the corridors of the Etihad show the roller-coaster ride the club has genuinely been on with images starting with their play-off win over Gillingham in 1999 at Wembley to lifting the Champions League under Pep Guardiola!
At Newcastle, it has also been something of a white knuckle ride, two relegations under Mike Ashley, defeats at Scunthorpe and Blackpool, a host of early cup exits, derby defeats and the stadium plastered with Sports Direct logos. There was not one, but two stints of power from ex-Wimbledon boss Joe Kinnear and not only a lack of ambition but also a lack of common sense curtailed the club’s progress.
Despite a slight drop off from Man City this season, if just pushing for the FA Cup and a Champions League place can be described as such, both clubs now have lofty ambitions. A glance to the left of the Press box at Man City offers a glimpse of the future as the new North Stand rises. That will take the capacity up to 60,000 at Man City and beyond Newcastle’s current 52,305.
Looking up at City’s new stand brings back memories of the last big development at St James’ as Level 7 was constructed either side of the millennium. It’s thought that former chairman Freddy Shepherd had dreams of boosting the capacity further but complications at the Gallowgate End never made this a possibility.
It was Sir John Hall who led the charge to transform the old SJP from crumbling terracing into a stadium fit for major tournaments in the space of just four years. But now it is close to the next big significant step on the timeline.
A City spokesman said: “Once construction is complete, the expanded North Stand will increase the Etihad Stadium’s capacity to more than 60,000, with the stand itself featuring a broad range of seating options, including a large rail-seating area. The expanded North Stand will also feature family areas, ringfenced tickets for younger generations of City fans, and new and redeveloped concourse areas.”
“The Club will also introduce a minimum of 3,000 rail seats as part of the expansion, with the option of increasing this allocation ahead of opening should there be further demand. In doing so, the noise created by the expanded North Stand will complement the rest of the Etihad Stadium, with rail seating sections at opposite ends of the pitch creating an electric atmosphere.
“In addition to the atmosphere, the expanded North Stand will create a legacy by establishing new pathways for the next generation of Manchester City fans to enjoy matches at the Etihad Stadium. To achieve this, we will ringfence a significant number of tickets specifically for fans aged 21 or under.”
A walk around the Etihad campus, with the club’s training ground, women’s stadium and reserve team stadium all on site, is mind blowing and shows what can be done. But the big positive is that Newcastle should soon be sharing some exciting plans of their own.
As one insider told me on the future of St James’ Park it will be a “win, win” situation for supporters. If Man City’s plans are anything to go off, we are in for a treat.
