Newcastle United’s financial report for the 2024/25 season confirmed the club had sold St James’ Park to a subsidiary company last June.
The club effectively selling the stadium and surrounding area to itself generated a £133.2million profit on the books. Without the stadium lease and land sale, a record loss of £98.4million would have been posted by the club but instead a pre-tax profit of £34.7million was reported.
The sale is understood to have helped Newcastle comply with Premier League Profitability and Sustainability Rules for the 2024/25 campaign. But the club defended its decision with the justification that it was made with the future of the stadium as a priority.
The sale was described by one source as an “enabler for what we may or may not be doing in the future”. A decision on whether to expand at St James’ Park or build a new stadium is yet to be formally decided.
In the meantime, the 72-year stadium lease has been transferred to PZ Holdings Ltd, a company owned by the club’s shareholders.
“The motivation was very much to reorganise our property assets and get them into the correct legal boxes to allow us to go forward with our potential development, either at St James’ Park or for a new stadium, and to facilitate that with financing and other similar items,” said chief financial officer Simon Capper.
“There may be more similar transactions to come in the future, depending on what we end up doing, but the profit calculation that had to be done is then a consequence of the detail of the accounting rules that the Premier League require us to follow in doing any transaction with a company that is associated with us. So it does create a very significant accounting profit because of that.”
It marks a fresh twist in the long-term debate surrounding the future of Newcastle’s stadium, with a St James’ Park expansion previously considered and a 70,000 capacity new-build on Leazes Park also floated.
Secondly, Bosio proposes moving the pitch altogether, allowing for further wiggle room in the Gallowgate and East Stand. The final design shows how a new stadium could be built that encroaches into Leazes Park - a possible nightmare for local preservation groups. Check out all three propositions below.
This would involve building over the road and into Strawberry Place.
1. Expanding the Gallowgate Stand
This would involve building over the road and into Strawberry Place. | Bondibot
The concept design involves removing the Gallowgate Stand roof and starting the expansion across the road to allow traffic to continue passing through.
2. Removing the roof
The concept design involves removing the Gallowgate Stand roof and starting the expansion across the road to allow traffic to continue passing through. | Bondibot
The East Stand, listed buildings and Leazes Conservation area would remain undisturbed by this expansion.
3. One stand expansion
The East Stand, listed buildings and Leazes Conservation area would remain undisturbed by this expansion. | Bondibot
The Gallowgate expansion concept would raise the stand to the same level as the Milburn and Leazes stands.
4. A significant expansion
The Gallowgate expansion concept would raise the stand to the same level as the Milburn and Leazes stands. | Bondibot