The Magpies insist they have plans to move away from Benton despite pumping millions into the training ground in its current format
Newcastle's players will be working on an enhanced and extended training facility next season
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Newcastle United chiefs have made it clear that the club WILL build a new training ground in the next exciting phase of development.
The Magpies are currently working around the clock to improve the shell of a training ground that PIF inherited from Mike Ashley after years of no investment. Since the takeover more than £20m has been injected into the Benton complex but Newcastle want to follow in the footsteps of Liverpool and get a £50m HQ.
Speaking openly and honestly about Benton, CEO David Hopkinson said: "When you look at the facility you have today, let’s talk straight with each other, it’s probably a seven out of ten.
"It gets the job done. I don’t think we have a lot of world-class talent that say, ‘I want to stay here because of the training ground’ or ‘I want to go to Newcastle because of the training ground’.
"Even with the renovation we’re doing, which will make it better, we probably only get to an eight. We don’t get to a 10. We can’t get to a 10 on the current footprint, which is the reason why we’re considering – not considering, planning – a very big investment to go and build a 10.
David Hopkinson with performance director James Bunce as he visits Newcastle's first team training centre
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"If you look at the arms race that training grounds have become – in the Premier League, in football, in North American sports – the players are spending an inordinate amount of time there and the expectations have changed and evolved from simply where we train to ‘yeah, that’s where I drop the kids off because they’re being babysat while I’m training’ or ‘this is where the car is being looked after’ and ‘this is where I get my haircut’.
"This is what’s happened in North American sports, and now there are changing expectations here, too, of what players are going to want in order to choose to come here or stay. Those are the investments we’re going to have to make to get to a world-class level."
Sporting director Ross Wilson has arrived at the club in the last few weeks, taken a look around the Benton base and concluded it is not 'world class'. That suggests there is room for improvement but Wilson confirmed Hopkinson's stance a new building is part of the plan.
The former Rangers supremo also revealed that there are 10 other Premier League clubs looking to enhance their training grounds so keeping pace with them, so that they can still attract top players despite the competition, is key.
Wilson said: "There’s probably two things there. I think everyone knows we’re extending the existing training ground – that’s being built right now.
"It’s coming out of the ground now, and it will be a significant enhancement to what we’ve got. But the training ground is not world-class today. What’s happened here in recent times is that it’s significantly better than it was before, definitely, no question.
Newcastle United sporting director Ross Wilson wants to see a new training centre
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"The extension, which will effectively double the footprint of the physical building, will make it even better again. But a new training ground is part of our plans as well.
"The expansion of the current training ground is happening now, and that’s really, really important. The new training ground is absolutely part of the plan, and there’s a lot of detailed work going on with that right now.
"But one of the things I’m really clear on, having known the Premier League really well, is that a lot of the conversations we’re having, other clubs are having as well. So, we’ve got to keep raising our bar because everyone else is raising theirs at the same time.
"There’s maybe 10 other clubs in the Premier League looking at their training grounds and saying, ‘This is maybe seven out of 10, it might become eight out of 10, but we need it to become 10 out of 10’.
"The challenge we’ve got here is to make sure we’re right at the forefront of that all the time because other clubs are moving forward."