This season’s visit to Newcastle United is a rare Saturday afternoon 3pm kick-off, as it’s not live on TV. You’ll find St. James' Park on the north-western edge of the city centre.

If you’re driving in you need to follow the A1(M) till the end, then continue on the A1 and then the A184 towards Newcastle. Continue along this road, bearing left onto the A189. Continue over the River Tyne on the Redheugh Bridge, from which the ground can be clearly seen. Carry on straight up the dual carriageway (St James Boulevard) and you can’t miss it.

As the ground is central parking is limited nearby, but there are a number of pay and display car parks in the area. The club operate a park-and-ride service from the MetroCentre, which is close to the A1 to the south-west of the city and costs £2 return, while the parking itself is free.

Another option will be to park south of the river in Gateshead and cross the city by the Tyne and Wear metro, which is “part of everyday life” according to it’s own website. A direct line leads to Monument station, which is only a short distance away, though you can change onto the other line and travel one station further to St. James', which as the name suggests is right outside the stadium.

If you’re going up by train then it’s going to take quite a while, as engineering work means that you’ll have to use a rail replacement bus between York and Darlington. At least once you finally get to Newcastle Central Station you’ll only be about half a mile from the ground. To get there you need to cross the two zebra crossings outside the station and then head up the pedestrianised Pink Lane.

Then cross Westgate Road at the top. Then up pedestrianised Bath Lane with the old city walls on your right. Turn right onto Stowell Street (Chinatown). At the end of Stowell Street bear left up St Andrews Street by Rosie’s Bar, under the ornate Chinese arch. Then left up Gallowgate. St James is on your right.

The best pubs for away fans are usually the ones around the Station, including the 'A Head Of Steam' 'The Lounge' and 'The Newcastle Tap'. But some of these bars will only admit fans if they’re not wearing colours, and it remains to be seen if they will be open for our visit. There is also a Wetherspoons called ‘the Union Rooms’ nearby, while hardcore real ale fans can head for the CAMRA-listed ‘Bodega’ on Westgate Road.

For the first few years after going all-seater the capacity was only 32,800 and the home areas were sold out to season ticket holders, with a waiting list of 10,000 others, yet when the club wanted to build a larger new stadium on the nearby Leazes Park a protest group ensured they were denied planning permission. This left them to develop St. James' Park at a cost of £42m, putting huge extra tiers on top of two of the stands, including the largest cantilever structure in Europe, bringing the current capacity up to 52,405.

We have an allocation of 2,847 seats on level 7 at the top of the Sir John Hall Stand. Getting there invoices a climb of 14 flights of stairs and you end up a long way from the action, so it’s not recommended for anyone who suffers from short-sightedness, vertigo or problems with climbing that number of stairs.

On the plus side there is plenty of legroom and a good selection of pies from the tea bars. Ticket prices are £30 for adults, with different categories of concessions at £27 and £22. While the adult price is capped at £30 by Premier League rules, the concession prices have gone up by £5 and £3 respectively since last season. Fans under 13 years of age must be accompanied by an adult.

It’s no surprise that they have already sold out, or that the home tickets have also been snapped up, given how well Newcastle are doing. If you’ve been lucky enough to find a Geordie who was prepared to get you into one of the home stands, you will need to avoid drawing attention to yourself. On their website it says “the sale of these tickets is strictly for the use of home supporters only and breach can result in the cancellation of your season ticket and/or membership”.

The Club have announced plans to of the stadium. The plans which also include the construction of a new conference centre, hotel and residential apartments, would see the overall capacity of the ground increase to around 60,000. The plans are subject to local authority approval and as of yet no formal timescales as to when this might take place have been announced.

Various plans for stadium redevelopment have been discussed in recent years, mostly involving the redevelopment of the Gallowgate End. But the latest proposals, are that the pitch could be rotated and about 20,000 would be added to the final capacity. That sounds like it would cause an extended period of disruption while the rebuilding took place, but at least the cost wouldn’t be a concern for the current sportswashing owners of the club.

Some of this stuff came from www.footballgroundguide.com .

Reuters

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