ticket hall carries artwork depicting a timeline of the history of Newcastle United
Early history The site of St. James' Park was originally a patch of sloping grazing land, bordered by Georgian Leazes Terrace, and near the historic
Town Moor, owned by the Freemen of the city, both factors that later affected development of the ground, with the local council being the landlord of the site. Leazes Terrace was built c1830 by notable Newcastle residents, architect
Thomas Oliver and builder
Richard Grainger. Once the residence of high society in Newcastle, it is now a Grade I
listed building, and, recently refurbished, is currently being used as self-catering
postgraduate student accommodation by
Newcastle University. The site was also near the
gallows of the city, last used in 1844, lending the Gallowgate End its name. They moved to a ground at
Byker in 1882, then returned briefly to St. James' Park in 1884 before folding that year.
Newcastle West End took over the ground in 1886. West End were wound up in 1892 and effectively merged into their rivals
Newcastle East End, who took over the lease of St. James' Park and became
Newcastle United later that year. On 3 September 1892, Newcastle East End played its first game on the football ground. In 1905, a doubling of capacity to 60,000, with a main stand on the Barrack Road (now Milburn Stand), and major other stands, produced a state-of-the-art facility, even boasting a swimming pool. Up until the 1960s planning difficulties continued, culminating in lack of development of the ground being cited as the reason for failure of Newcastle United to secure the right to host a group stage of the upcoming
1966 World Cup following political disputes. In the late 1960s further attempts were made to develop the site, and the council proposed a multi-use sports development of St. James' Park. This was rejected as not financially viable. Plans were drawn up by the club for a move to a stadium in
Gosforth, These plans were withdrawn in 1971 after agreement to redevelop St. James' Park was finally reached, after mediation by the then
Minister for Sport,
Denis Howell. In 1972, work started on the East Stand, 50 years after it was last permitted to be developed. Further development was again shelved for lack of finance.
Sir John Hall era Until the early 1990s, the ground had achieved only modest expansion under various owners, with plans dogged by disputes and lack of finance due to poor on-field performances. In January 1992 businessman Sir
John Hall, who had led the
Magpie Group consortium in a hostile takeover of the club, was installed as chairman. Sir John used his experience in property development to rapidly gain approval and invested heavily in the stadium but it led to political debate eventually gathered a 36,000-petition signature, equal to the then-current stadium capacity. Opposition also came from a conservation group
Friends of Leazes Park led by Dolly Potter. The club proposed to mitigate the loss of the moor land with proposals for a land trade-off with landscaping of land freed up by scaling down of the existing stadium restoring the views of the historic park from Leazes Terrace. It became clear that the relocation plan would not gain planning permission without a potentially long-running public enquiry. To quickly satisfy demand, the club decided to expand the current St. James' Park instead.
Freddy Shepherd era In 1997 Sir John Hall stepped down as chairman (remaining as a director until 2007, now life president of the club), and existing shareholder and board director
Freddy Shepherd became chairman.
1998 expansion Following the withdrawal of the Leazes Park plan, the club proposed expansion of St. James' Park to over 52,000 capacity, through major construction of a second tier over the Milburn Stand, Leazes End and adjoining corner, adding to a structure that was itself just four years old. Ironically, after opposition from local residents to the relocation plan, the expansion of the current ground at the Leazes End has further reduced the view of Leazes Park from Leazes Terrace, although this is now student accommodation.
Save Our Seats campaign The 1998 redevelopment caused controversy when the club informed 4,000 season-ticket-holding fans that their seat prices would be increased to corporate rates, with the option of paying these or being moved to seats in the proposed expanded sections. Half of these fans were 'bondholders', who had paid £500 in 1994 which they asserted guaranteed them an option on their specific seat for 10 years.
Casino plans In late 2003, preempting the
relaxation of the UK gambling laws, the club signed a deal with
MGM Mirage to hand over the land above St James Metro station, behind the Gallowgate End, in return for an equity investment, to build a jointly run complex centred on a
Super Casino. These plans failed when the proposed number of super casinos was reduced to one in the UK, and in January 2008 £5 million was repaid by the club to MGM.
Gallowgate additions In 2005 the Gallowgate was redeveloped, with a new bar being built beneath the upper tier of the Gallowgate End, named "''Shearer's'''" after Newcastle player
Alan Shearer. During excavation underneath the stand during building work, the builders uncovered the original steps of the old Gallowgate End stand, which had simply been covered up when the stadium was fully renovated in 1993. These steps were removed for Shearer's Bar. The completion of the redevelopment of the Gallowgate saw the creation of Shearer's Bar, an expanded club shop, a club museum and a new box office.
2007 proposed expansion It was announced on 2 April 2007 that the club intend to submit plans for a new £300million development of the stadium and surrounding areas, to include a major conference centre, hotels and luxury apartments. The proposals also include a plan to increase the Gallowgate End, eventually taking the capacity to 60,000. This expansion would be funded by the city council and linked to the redevelopment of the land behind the stand and over the Metro Station, which had previously been earmarked for the casino project. Expansion of the Gallowgate end involves difficulties due to the proximity of a road, Strawberry Place, and issues surrounding reinforcement of the underground St James Metro station.
Mike Ashley era The 2007 redevelopment plans announced under the previous regime were put on hold following the takeover of the club and its plc holding company by owner
Mike Ashley. One of the first noticeable changes in the stadium in the new era was the removal of advertising mounted underneath the roofs (facing the crowd) for Shepherd Offshore and Cameron Hall Developments, companies associated with the previous regime. A large advertising sign for
Sports Direct appeared on the lip of the roof of the Gallowgate, visible from the pitch. A full review of the club performed by the new management team concluded that stadium expansion was not a priority. For the start of the 2008–09 season, the away section was moved from the corner of the Leazes stand/Milburn stand to the other end of the Leazes stand, where it abuts the East stand, at the same upper level. The area of seats designated as the family enclosure were expanded, and certain corporate areas saw increased pricing. The first home game of the 2008–09 season, at 3 pm on a Saturday, saw the lowest-ever
Premier League attendance at the expanded ground, of 47,711, resulting in cash turnstiles. It was speculated at the time that this was due to the
Great Recession; however, with the shock departure of
Kevin Keegan before the next home game, future changes in attendances would be hard to attribute to this alone. The first game after Keegan's resignation, a league fixture against Hull on 13 September 2008, registered a crowd of 50,242 amid protests against Ashley and Dennis Wise. This was followed by an attendance of 44,935 on 27 September in a league fixture against
Blackburn Rovers, which followed a record low attendance of 20,577 on Wednesday, 24 September in a League Cup fixture, the lowest ever attendance for a competitive first-team match since the
1993 promotion to the top flight, and a drop of over 4,000 from previous lows. Although Newcastle's crowds inevitably fell in
2009–10 as a result of their relegation and the fact that Britain was
still in recession, the Magpies still attracted a modern-day record average attendance for a club at this level with their attendance for the season averaging at 43,383. They also became the first championship club to attract a league attendance of more than 50,000 at this level in the modern era, and ended the season promoted as champions of the
Football League Championship. In October 2014, a scoreboard was installed in the far corner of the Sir John Hall Stand. The scoreboard was used for the first time on 18 October during a Premier League tie against Leicester City. However the game was delayed one hour, due to damage caused by strong wind to the paneling surrounding the scoreboard. Newcastle United later stated on their website: "Supporter safety was of paramount importance."
Renaming of the stadium On 10 November 2011, Newcastle United announced that the stadium would officially be renamed
Sports Direct Arena, as a temporary measure to "showcase the
sponsorship opportunity to interested parties", whilst looking for a sponsor for possible future stadium re-branding. According to the club, the St. James' Park title was dropped as not being "commercially attractive". Previously, in 2009, the club had announced plans to sell the naming rights for the stadium. After protests about the possible loss of the name of the stadium, which included the tabling of an
early day motion in Parliament, the club clarified the following week that the move would not involve the loss of the name St. James' Park altogether, citing the example of 'SportsDirect.com@StJamesPark' as a potential stadium rights package. The following day, the club announced that the stadium would be known as ''sportsdirect.com @ St James' Park Stadium'' temporarily until the end of the season, to showcase the idea behind the package, until the new sponsor was announced. The stadium's official renaming as the Sports Direct Arena, or SDA, caused considerable perturbation amongst supporters of the team. On 9 October 2012,
payday loan company
Wonga.com became Newcastle United's main commercial sponsor and purchased the stadium naming rights. They subsequently announced that the St. James' Park name would be restored as part of the deal.
Saudi-led era Following the
takeover of
Newcastle United, the new ownership would remove the Sports Direct sponsorship all over the stadium with co owner
Amanda Staveley claiming she was "looking forward" to removing the Sports Direct branding to get new sponsors with the signs being removed on 6 December. With the removal of the sponsor in the stadium former owner Mike Ashley would take legal action against Staveley and her husband Mehrdad Ghodoussi after Ashley alleged that both Staveley and Ghodoussi breached their agreement to continue to sponsor the stadium until the end of the
2021–22 season. Prior to the beginning of the 2024–25 season, the "Newcastle United" signage, located above the East Stand, was restored to the original font that was used prior to the Sports Direct sponsorship. ==Stadium description==