Premier League manager begs owners not to abandon 131-year-old iconic stadium after controversial proposal

EDDIE HOWE has told Newcastle’s Saudi owners to forget about leaving St. James’ Park.

Club chiefs are looking at ways to capitalise on the substantial rise in ticket demand.

Eddie Howe has said that St. James’ Park must remain the home of Newcastle United

The club sent a survey to fans earlier this week, asking what they should do with the stadium as the Magpies face unprecedented demand for tickets.

Options include expanding the current city centre 52,000-seater ground, demolishing it and starting again or finding a new site elsewhere.

Speaking last month, CEO Darren Eales said: “We know we have this fantastic location here, the 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?”

But Howe said: “My ideal would be that we stay at St. James’ Park.

“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.

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“It’s an unbelievable place to play football so I wouldn’t want to lose that.

“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, which might be different to what the club thinks.”