Newcastle United CEO Darren Eales has revealed that supporters will be consulted about what happens next with the potential expansion of St James' Park.
Eales was speaking at 'We Are United' supporter event at the stadium on Wednesday evening, where fans were given the chance to speak with Newcastle chiefs both in person and virtually. Eales was joined by Peter Silverstone and Dan Ashworth on stage, while Eddie Howe, Shola Ameobi and Becky Langley also took questions from the crowd.
Eales was asked about future decisions on St James' Park and stated they would be based on a fan survey which gives the club an idea of what the demand for extra capacity is. Eales said fans will be asked what facilities they'd like to see at St James' Park.
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Eales said: "It is clear how special how St James' Park is to you and it is a special connection to be able to be here and watch the team play. At present demand for tickets is incredibly high.
"While that means we have 50,000 happy on a match day we also know that there are many who can't be there. That leaves them feeling unhappy. Given that demand far outstrips supply it is an issue we will have to deal with. Long gone are the days where we have had to give 10,000 season tickets away. There's no system that can solve that overnight. There is not one way we can fix this."
Newcastle are set to launch a Fan Advisory Board later this week and will use feedback to help shape future decisions.
Eales added: "What we want to do is listen to feedback and continue to find a system that is fair to as many people as possible. Crucially that is what is important about the fan advisory board, it will be about talking about how our ticketing system evolves."
The former Atlanta United supremo stated that a world-renowned agency had been appointed to look into what was possible from an architectural point of view. Eales said: "Given our demand for tickets what we are doing is stadium feasibility and we are looking at what will be possible. We started that fairly recently, a formal process. I learned quickly that everybody has a view on what could be done and everyone is an amateur architect.
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"Whoever you talk to will tell you what you can do with the Gallowgate End or various parts of St James' Park. What we want to is get a world-renowned leading agency that deals with this and to have a blank sheet of paper and see what is feasible and what can be done?
"And we are going to need your feedback as that is vital. What we want to know is what is truly possible? That is going to give us that greater understanding as we look to make decisions for the Newcastle United of the future. There is going to be a supporter survey going out as part of the feasibility study.
"That is going to give the agency valuable feedback. It will give a sense of demand for ticketing and what fans want in the stadium and what facilities supporters are looking for. It will ask a number of hypothetical questions. I want to be clear, there is no decisions made yet.
"That feedback all comes in to give us the information we are looking for as we look to feasibility. The plan will be what is possible architecturally. Together with what the demand is for tickets and facilities? And that will ultimately determine the best path forward."
Newcastle's stadium was last expanded in the year 2000 when the ground went from around 36,000 to over 52,000. But no stone will be left unturned according to the CEO.
Eales said: "The whole concept is to look at the art of possible. We know we have this fantastic location here on top of the hill, cathedral on the hill but we know we have boundary issues and it's not as simple as if we had a lot of space. So what can we do?
"We really want feedback. We need to understand demand. There will be hypothetical questions, they will ask, for example: 'Imagine if there was a brand new stadium built on this site, what would you think?
"That doesn't mean we are doing that it is about building that construct and getting that information from fans on what we do going forward. I am really excited about it, there has been a lot of talk for the last 30 years. So this is our way to have a look. There is more consultation but the first thing is to see what is possible."
