MickA
Player Valuation: £10m
I know Newcastle very well having lived there for years. They have been a beneficiary of the PL bubble at just the right time as Keegan got them fearless (if ultimately useluess). SJP was worn down and crowds were not great but that all changed. Now with a revamped stadium they fill it more often than not (add in away day no-shows to the figures) and they have a massive local area to draw from.I was watching the Newcastle match the other night and the commentator was commending the atmosphere and saying "he couldn't hear himself at times".
The Newcastle ground holds 52,000 fans and it got me wondering where all the arguments for a 60,000 seat EFC stadium come from.
I mean, what is the rationale? Where do the people who come up with that figure get it from?
* Is it just a magical figure to match some London clubs?
* Is it ego,? Do we just want to have a larger capacity than the RS?
* Is it wishful thinking, heart over head? "I just FEEL it should be 60,000".
* Or do they genuinely think we have enough support to get 60k every home game?
Being the geek head that I am I thought I would do a little research on the subject. First off I needed to find the closest club to us in as many categories as possible. I chose Manchester City as they are a club in a northern city which has a more successful, higher supported neighbor. In spite of this City have certain advantages over us as they have a bigger fan base from a larger population and have been much more successful than us recently. So let's look at their pre covid attendances.
Etihad Stadium capacity = 55017
18/19 Season Average PL attendance = 54130 Times ground sold out = 0
17/18 Season Average PL attendance = 53812 Times ground sold out = 0
16/17 Season Average PL attendance = 54019 Times ground sold out = 1
In fact with a modern stadium with a capacity similar to our new stadium, playing Champions League football, winning premierships, and playing great football only sold out the ground twice since 2014.
Incidentally, Newcastle, a single club city with an attendance of 52,338 and famed for their fanatical support, only sold out their ground 5 times since 2014
We will have a State of the art stadium with a capacity just shy of 53,000. Personally, I think that figure is about right, and I think the faceless beancounters hired by the club have come to that conclusion after much more research than I have done.
So where do the 60k club think those supporters are coming from? bearing in mind the seating difference would be the most expensive part of the build by far and not viable financially for the club
Newcastle have a one club (regional capital) city and have taken supporters from Co Durham, which were traditionally Sunderland, and they also have all of Northumberland. Whatever the past record they are here to stay as a 50k+ club.