Newcastle
St James’ Park replaced by far bigger stadium at Castle Leazes
Castle Leazes Moor has been proposed for the site of our new stadium, as a potential alternative to redeveloping St James’ Park.
Back in the 1990s, Sir John Hall, the freemen and our council were all in agreement but after receiving 30,000 objections, the plan was shelved and instead St James’ Park was expanding to its current 52,000+ capacity.
So today there would probably be an equal amount of objections to the capacity of a new stadium or even beyond. Most of them would come from environmentalists up in arms over one of our green spaces being sacrificed in the name of football.
I used to work in Leazes Park and The Exhibition Park in the 1970s and grew up near Nuns Moor Park.
Back then they were kept in immaculate condition and there was plenty of money in the coffers to pay for their upkeep, but now Urban Green, an independent charitable organisation, has taken over their management. Like many other charities they struggle for funding and the parks are now overgrown shadows of what they were back then.
So how do we move our stadium to Castle Leazes without objections?
The answer is simple – the Newcastle United owners provide Urban Green with unlimited funding. This would provide jobs, apprenticeships and training. State of the art equipment and the reinstatement of the once beautiful flower beds and all the football pitches, bowling greens and tennis courts would receive a new lease of life. This would encompass the whole of the city within the scope of Urban Green.
So the objections would evaporate and support for the building of our new stadium would be massive. Nobody would want to prevent the preservation and development of our green spaces.
So we have all seen images of what our new stadium could potentially look like but they are soulless and generic and do not draw on our history and heritage.
A stadium should be built in the form of the castle that gave our city its name. Four towers on each corner flying the flags of our club and our city’s coat of arms. The outside would be clad in stone and like the castles of old it would present an image of power and intimidate those who come in opposition.
Instead of overpriced vapid tasteless beer and food, local craft breweries and bakers produce should be sold for the same price they can be had for in our pubs and shops. This would enable these sectors to develop and provide more jobs and revenue in the local community.
So let’s build a New Castle which will become our city’s beating heart, where local beer and food will be offered with pride and the Mighty Magpies will soar to new heights.
Howay The Lads and Howay The New Castle!
