CRAIG HOPE: Surely Newcastle cannot leave their St James’ Park cauldron… or can they? The ground has been the city’s heartbeat, but the new ownership will have an eye on growth with a Saudi-backed super stadium

• A fan survery shared on Monday floated the idea of leaving the storied ground 
• Eddie Howe stated his preference for staying at St James’ Park earlier this week 
• There’s a lot of anger at Man United – it’s them against the world! Listen to It’s All Kicking Off

In an underground comedy club this week, a few hundred Newcastle United supporters were split. The source of the discord could yet turn the streets above into a battleground. Leaving St James’ Park is no laughing matter.

Mail Sport was among a panel of journalists at True Faith Live on Tuesday, a sold-out event organised by the popular fanzine.

But sell-outs are the problem. At 52,300, there is not a spare seat to be had at St James’ and tens of thousands more are locked out every week.

What is causing battle lines to be drawn is a survey sent to fans by the club on Monday. In it, for the first time, the idea of building a new stadium was floated. It has sunk like a stone with many, but not all. When the audience were asked to stand if they wanted to stay, 75 per cent of the room shot to their feet. This mattered.

Full disclosure — I stood up, as did another colleague. Two others remained seated. Divisive, you see, but fascinating, too.

On Monday, Newcastle circulated a survey which floated the idea of a move away from St James’ Park

The idea has mostly sunk like a stone – but not every one has turned their nose up at the idea

The Magpies have played at their historic home for over a hundred years (pictured in 1987)

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Afterwards, in the bar, it was all folk wanted to talk about. Could the Cathedral on the Hill one day become the Cathedral on the Quayside? Or, unpalatable to almost all, the Cathedral in the Countryside?

What makes St James’ unique, we all agree, is its location — think Wembley dropped on Trafalgar Square. Manager Eddie Howe certainly thinks so. He joined the debate on Wednesday, admitting he may not be on message with his Saudi-led paymasters.

‘My ideal would be that we stay at St James’ Park,’ he said. ‘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.’

Arrive in Newcastle by train and your eyes are conflicted — look down at the bridges and bright lights of the Quayside, or up towards the floodlit home of the football club, dominating the horizon? Newcomers can be blinded by the beauty of it all.

The 10-minute walk from the station to the stadium is breathtaking and not just because of the incline, through cobbled streets and past myriad watering holes, winding up at the finest of them all, The Strawberry, in the shadow of the Gallowgate End, its muralled walls celebrating heroes such as Kevin Keegan, Alan Shearer, Malcolm Macdonald and Jackie Milburn.

But it is the things you cannot see that are also fuelling those who vote remain. The memories, good and bad. For some, the pain of yesterday will only be put to bed by the success of tomorrow, and to do that at St James’ — the site of so much torment — would be like confronting the demons of the past and declaring “we won!”.

To leave St James’ before a trophy arrives would leave behind unfinished business. There is a danger, too, that a new stadium comes to represent a new club. Especially when, in effect, it is owned by a foreign state. Just look at Manchester City.

Eddie Howe is keen to stay at St James’ Park, calling the storied ground the city’s ‘heartbeat’

The journey to the stadium is speckled with watering holes including the legendary Strawberry

Would Bob Moncur forever remain Newcastle United’s last trophy-winning captain if, when silverware was achieved, it came in the Saudi-funded surrounds of a new super stadium, home of Newcastle United 2.0?

Because, in Newcastle, the connection between supporter and St James’ is like an umbilical cord that was never cut. Together, they are the club, an opinion held far beyond Tyneside. Separation risks taking a sledgehammer to identity and not just those old Gallowgate walls.

Demand for tickets exists, yes, because Howe and his team have created a tidal wave of euphoria, but also because it is washing over a place like St James’, where there is a desire to be part of the spectacle, to feel the noise in a monument of history and renown. You would rather see Shakespeare’s Hamlet at the Globe, wouldn’t you?

The scenario where almost everyone wins — we don’t know what the PIF chiefs in Riyadh want, they like building skyscrapers, don’t forget — is the expansion and redevelopment of St James’. But that, because of strict boundaries and structural challenges, could be a losing battle.

A feasibility study has been commissioned and the key plot behind the Gallowgate purchased. But it would, say some, take a feat of engineering genius to build on land with a Metro station beneath.

And what would the optimum capacity be? Over dinner in Atlanta in July, chief executive Darren Eales told us that a stadium has to sell out every week to protect demand. The moment you have one unsold seat, the business model falls down.

It made perfect sense, even if the need to keep some on the outside may sound imperfect to others. At Tuesday’s event, journalists put this number at about 65,000. Fans would have it higher — more seats, more chance of getting in.

But Newcastle being in Atlanta was significant, too. This was where Eales built, from start-up, the MLS franchise Atlanta United, including the multi-purpose, 75,000-capacity Mercedes-Benz Stadium. It is an awesome arena, a mini metropolis, and it made you wonder, is this why the Saudis hired Eales? It is, undoubtedly, the jewel on his c.v. and the Saudis like jewels. Do they want a reworked St James’ still bound by its limitations? Or a high-spec, high-tech venue to house boxing, NFL and live concerts, no doubt sponsored by a Saudi brand? The Saudia Airlines Arena, anyone?

Fans watch from the top of the back wall of the Leazes End during a 1992 tie against Southend

New grounds such as the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium have quickly found fans in those who might have been sceptical about leaving White Hart Lane

Remember, infrastructure investment falls outside financial fair play rules. Money is not an issue here. Rather, the club would have to win hearts and minds, and some minds are already open.

‘I’d much rather stay at St James’ Park,’ said Alex Hurst, True Faith editor. ‘But, if it isn’t possible to add 20,000 seats, plus massively improved facilities — ours are completely outdated — they will have little choice but to move.

‘I’m more open to that than many, if we retained a city-centre location. Imagine a black-and-white wall with safe standing for 25,000 and the atmosphere that would generate. A bigger family section to protect the next generation of fans and enough space for the corporate areas to maximise revenue to compete on the pitch. Why wouldn’t you want to have one of the biggest and best stadiums in the world?

‘There would be resistance, but when you start winning games and making memories in a new stadium, you’d quickly move on. You don’t hear many fans pining for Highbury or White Hart Lane. I would rather those memories were made at St James’, yes, but if reality gets in the way, the club have to move.’

And move where? Leazes Park, behind St James’, was explored in the late 1990s but conservationists won 1-0. Time for a rematch?

Perhaps, but another site by the River Tyne is the most viable, next to the Utilita Arena and on the fringe of the city centre.

Knocking down St James’ and starting again is another option. However, there is nowhere else for the team to play. Lots of questions but, right now, few answers. The fan survey was also revealing in that heated seats, sushi and prosecco were explored. The Toon Army prefer to march on Brown Ale and steak and ale pasties, but there is an acceptance among many that the club need the corporate silver to put something just as shiny in the trophy cabinet.

Not everyone agrees. Thomas Concannon, of Wor Flags, is against leaving St James’. He helps organise the pre-match displays that are being seen and saluted the world over. For him, it is an emotional attachment that cannot be measured on a balance sheet.

‘Newcastle United without St James’ Park isn’t worth thinking about,’ he said. ‘We are the envy of the country because of where the stadium is situated.

There is an intense emotional connection between Newcastle’s fans and their long-held home

Supporters may be hesitant that the club has more to lose than to gain in a move away

‘Constant talk of corporate sections and hypothetical questions of £12,500 seats, that doesn’t appeal to any normal, match-going fan. I fear we would lose far more than we could gain by moving.’

Earlier this year, Concannon told us: ‘I’ve helped to arrange scores of our displays and I still get the shivers. It’s like, “Wow, we’re in here alone”. Often, when we finish, we just sit in the stands and reminisce — goals, games, players, looking out at the empty pitch and all around us. It is an honour.’

There you have it. Concannon is right. To work, play or follow your team at St James’ is a privilege. I have been to the stadium perhaps close to 1,000 times and want to go 1,000 times more.

That is why I stood up on Tuesday night, and why I will continue to stand up for St James’ Park.

IT’S ALL KICKING OFF! 

It’s All Kicking Off is an exciting new podcast from Mail Sport that promises a different take on Premier League football, launching with a preview show today and every week this season.

It is available on MailOnline, Mail+, YouTube , Apple Music and Spotify

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