‘There is 0.1% chance will see new Newcastle United stadium’ Eddie Howe

Eddie Howe has been talking about the new Newcastle United stadium and state of the art training ground.

Asked about what will be the best ways to take the club forward in 2026, Eddie Howe replying: “Fundamentally, looking at the club with a broader view, you look at the training ground and the stadium, that part of the club is in limbo at the moment.”

Ahead of the eventual takeover in October 2021, fans were led to believe that these would be two top priorities for the new Newcastle United owners.

However, more than four years since that takeover and over six years since they started the process of buying the club from Mike Ashley, the Newcastle United fans are none the wiser as to what will happen, if anything.

Instead of the brand new state of the art training ground, the Newcastle United owners have been doing improvements at the existing site, to make it fit for purpose after a decade and a half of Ashley neglect.

Whilst on the subject of the much bigger Newcastle United stadium, it is a very similar story.

Fans with no idea of whether it is going to be a brand new Newcastle United stadium, an enlarged St James’ Park, or indeed, nothing changing at all.

What has made things so much worse, especially with regard to stadium plans, is that the club have repeatedly indicated, either directly from the NUFC hierarchy, or stuff fed to the media, that new is imminent on what they intend to do.

Well over a year ago, the then Newcastle United CEO, Darren Eales, said that an announcement was “imminent” on the stadium plans, then nothing happened.

Then again earlier this year in February 2025, the media fed information that a stadium announcement was imminent, with senior club staff tasked with the job, said to have presented the options to the Newcastle United owners, with the claim that the senior staff had recommended a brand new Newcastle United stadium close to the current St James’ Park site.

No public announcement followed and now most recently, one of the first acts of the new CEO David Hopkinson, was to tell Newcastle United fans that the club’s owners are nowhere even close to announcing what the plan is on the stadium, let alone starting work on it actually happening.

Craig Hope at The Mail reporting on Eddie Howe’s quotes to the media, with the Newcastle United Head Coach saying about the wait for news on stadium and training ground plans: “In terms of which direction the club is going to take, that would be a big step forward to get clarity and to take everything into the future in a really positive way. It would have a game changing effect on everything.”

Eddie Howe also includes the Newcastle United academy in the wait for key announcements on what is planned to take the club forward, the Head Coach saying about all of these infrastructure issues…“Not that I believe facilities are the be all and end all…but they are a great way of setting standards higher, showing your ambition in a clear and strong way. That would be a game changer when that happens.”

Eddie Howe admits the reality is that there is only 0.1% possibility he will still be around (as Head Coach!) to see a new Newcastle United stadium and/or training ground become a reality: “I know there is a 99.9 per cent chance that I’m not going to see either in my position, but I’m still passionate about making sure it’s there for the future generations of Newcastle, whether that’s supporters or players.”

The NUFC Head Coach says that the Newcastle United owners recognise how important this is too and he accepts that getting things right is the most important thing, whenever/if they become a reality: “If there is extra time taken to make the right decisions, so the stadium project is correct and it’s the right one for Newcastle for how ever many years, then take the extra time. It’s the same with the training ground. You need the right site and designs. I would rather it was correct than rushed.”

I think for Newcastle United fans, they understand that these are very large and expensive projects, but at the same time are frustrated at the fact that so many years on we are still waiting on essential decisions if the club are going to properly compete on and off the pitch. Without a far bigger modern stadium, it will be all but impossible to close the financial chasm that still exists between United and the half dozen Premier League clubs that made such huge financial advances, whilst we had a decade and a half of Mike Ashley. Also, with so many fans desperate to get tickets for matches, this wait for news on the stadium, makes every ballot failure even more painful.

Whilst obviously pretty much every fan would see the new state of the art training ground as far less of a priority compared to the stadium issue. I think that supporters see a lack of progress on moving forward with a new training ground and only patching up the existing facility, as a further worry on whether anything will ever happen on the stadium front. Fans understand that with the city centre location, there are so many added complications that make progress on the stadium far more difficult. Whereas with the training ground, it doesn’t have to be in a specific area and so you do wonder why nothing has been nailed down so far, especially if the Newcastle United owners see a new state of the art training ground as important.

Eddie Howe wanting to reassure fans though: “I think the ambition and drive is there…work is going on behind the scenes. There just needs to be a bit of patience to make sure it’s the right solution for everybody.”