St James' Park is an all-seater stadium in Newcastle upon Tyne, England. It is the home of Newcastle United Football Club, and the oldest and largest football stadium in the North East of England. It is the sixth largest football stadium in the United Kingdom with a football spectator capacity of 52,409. Located in the centre of Newcastle, its white cantilever roof is visible across the city, and is the largest cantilever in Europe.
Occupied by the Toon Army fan-base in the Milburn Stand, the East Stand, the Leazes End and the Gallowgate End, the ground has been the home ground of Newcastle United since 1892, and been used for football since 1880. Throughout its history, the desire for expansion has caused conflict with local residents and the local council. This has led to proposals to move at least twice in the late 1960s, and a controversial 1995 proposed move to nearby Leazes Park. Reluctance to move has led to the distinctive lop-sided appearance of the present-day stadium's asymmetrical stands.
Besides club football, St James' Park has also been used for international football, will be used as a football venue for the 2012 Olympics, and will also be used as a rugby venue for the 2015 Rugby World Cup. In addition to professional football, the stadium has hosted charity football events and rock concerts, and been used as a set for film and reality television.
The stadium was first used by Newcastle United in 1892 after the unification of Newcastle East End and Newcastle West End, although football had been played there since 1880. Local residents opposition to football being played at St James' dated back to the first games in the Football League following the building of the first small stand at the Gallowgate End. A redeveloped Gallowgate and further stands followed in 1899, bringing the first official capacity to 30,000 (standing).
While the stadium is now synonymous with the Black and Whites, Newcastle United actually played in red and white at St James' Park until 1904. 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.
The second-ever rugby league test match, and first test victory by Great Britain, was played at the ground in 1908 against the touring Australian Kangaroos side on 23 January 1909.
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, or even a groundshare with Sunderland A.F.C. in a new stadium on Wearside. 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. In 1978 the Leazes End was demolished, but relegation and financial difficulties meant the new stand was not built.
Investigations following the Bradford City stadium fire in 1985 identified a need to replace the ageing West Stand, which was demolished in 1986. Its replacement, the Milburn Stand, was named in honour of Jackie Milburn and opened in 1987. Further development was again shelved for lack of finance.
Leazes Park was historically part of the Town Moor, owned by the Freemen of Newcastle, and protected by the Newcastle-upon-Tyne Town Moor Act 1988. The City council initially invited the planning proposal amid suggestions that the club might move to a site in Gateshead, a 75,000-seat stadium next to Gateshead International Stadium, but it led to political debate and opposition. A pressure group "No Business On The Moor" 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.
This expansion would be funded by the city council and linked to redevelopment of the land behind the stand and over the Metro Station previously earmarked for the casino project. Expansion of the Gallowgate involves difficulties due to the proximity of a road, Strawberry Place, and issues surrounding reinforcement of the underground St James Metro station.
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 on to the East stand, at the same upper level. The area of seats designated as the family enclosure would be expanded, and certain corporate areas would see markedly increased pricing, balanced by the creation of a singing section with reduced prices.
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 credit crunch; 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 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.
However, despite this being the stadium official name to the current day, it is rarely called this, even in official publications from the club itself, such as the match day programme, the stadium is still referred to as St.James' Park.
The 'Shearer Banner' was erected on the Gallowgate end of St James' Park at the end of the 2005/06 season to mark the end of the career of Alan Shearer. Shearer played 303 games for Newcastle United scoring 148 between a 10 year span between 1996-2006. He managed Newcastle United at the end of the 2008/09 season. During his time managing the club they were near to relegation from the Premier League. They were relegated after a 1-0 loss to Aston Villa on the last day of the season.
The Official name of the Stadium is SportsDirect.com @ St. James' Park Stadium but it is more commonly known as St. James' Park, with James
The full stop after the St giving St James' Park is both included and omitted by many sources, including the club's official website address information.
Post-millennium it has been debated both whether the written name should include an apostrophe mark after St James, and, if it does, whether the official written form should include an extra 's' after the apostrophe. Pronunciation of the name with a second 's' sound or not differs between both the local public and journalists, and is similarly debated.
In May 2008 BBC Look North examined the case for adding an extra 's', to denote the ground is "the park of St James". The club stated that the ground is named after its neighbouring street, St James Street, which predates the ground, although it was pointed out the road sign of that street, and that of the adjacent St James Terrace, did not feature apostrophes. The BBC stated that both local newspapers The Evening Chronicle and The Journal write the name with a second 's', reinstating it partially in response to reader complaints after a period of publishing stories without it.
The club insisted the name is pronounced without a second 's', while it was asserted by the BBC that older fans, in particular, pronounce it with two 's's.
A professor of applied linguistics of Newcastle University stated that if a second 's' was added to the name, it has to ultimately be pronounced in speech. The BBC went on to state that according to the Apostrophe Protection Society, if the ground is named as the "Park of St James", the name of the ground is correctly written as St. James's Park, with the second 's' pronounced.
Commenting on the written form on Radio Newcastle a week after the BBC story, a different senior lecturer in applied linguistics also of Newcastle University stated that if the name is to denote "the park of St James", the written form should feature an apostrophe, but the use of an additional 's' after it is optional and both are correct.
Match-day programmes printed up until the late 1940s have written the name as St. James's Park. According to the club historian, the oldest memorabilia in the club museum refers to the ground as being pronounced without a second 's'. However, a match-day programme dating from 1896, reprinted in the match-day programme of a recent home match against Derby County F.C. (23 December 2007) depicts the stadium name as St. James's Park.
Other sources also support the idea that the name should have no apostrophe as found in the name of the adjacent St James Street
St. Jakob-Park (St James in English) is also a stadium in Basel home to FC Basel.
As a light-hearted aspect of the footballing rivalry between Newcastle and Sunderland A.F.C., supporters of Sunderland sometimes refer to St James' Park as 'Sid James' Park', in reference to comic actor Sid James of the Carry On films.
Behind the seating terraces of the stands, the Milburn/Leazes structure contains 4 concourse levels, the Gallowgate End has three concourse levels, and the East stand has two concourse levels.
The stadium has a lop-sided asymmetrical appearance from the air and from some angles from ground level, due to the discrepancy in height of one side and end of the ground, compared to the others. The height difference of the Leazes/Milburn complex over the other stands allows views of the city centre from many seating positions inside the ground. Further expansion of the Gallowgate End could potentially produce a more balanced horseshoe arrangement of equal height stands, similar to that of Celtic Park.
The Milburn stand and Leazes end are double tiered, separated by a level of executive boxes; The East Stand and Gallowgate End are single tiered, with boxes also at the top of the Gallowgate. The three newest sides, the Milburn Stand, Leazes End and Gallowgate End are of structural steel frame and pre-cast concrete construction. In common with many new or expanded British football stadiums, the traditional box shaped 'stands' were augmented in the 1993 expansion by filling in the corners to maximise available seating, up to a uniform height. The Milburn Stand and Leazes End now rise higher than this level, up to Level 7, inclusive of the joining north west corner, covered by a one piece catilevered glass roof. A further smaller stand section rises above this level behind the Gallowgate End.
The 1998 built steel truss cantilever roof above the Milburn/Leazes complex is the largest cantilever structure in Europe at 64.5 metres, eclipsing the 58 m cantilevers of Manchester United's Old Trafford.
Away fans for league matches are usually accommodated in the upper level, in the north west corner, which can hold a maximum of 3,000 fans. However, plans were made at the end of the 2007–2008 season to relocate the away supporters to the far end of the upper level of the Leazes End. This location has attracted criticism due to the poor view offered by being so far from the pitch due the height of the stand, and the 14 flights of stairs to reach the upper level. For FA Cup matches the lower section of the corner is also used.
The traditional home of the more vocal fans is considered the Gallowgate End, in the same vein as The Kop for Liverpool FC. The Gallowgate End is the end that the team attacks in the second half if they win the coin toss. In recent years there has been unofficial fan movement to create a singing section in the Leazes End upper tier, partly to counter the away fans, and partly to recreate some atmosphere lost since the recent expansion over 36,000. This group of fans call themselves the 'Toon Ultras'. Level 7 of the Milburn Stand houses the official Family Enclosure.
The stadium houses premium priced seating areas designated into clubs, each with their own access to a bar and lounge behind the stand for use before the match and at half-time. The Platinum Club, Bar 1892, Sovereign Club and the Black & White Club are in the Milburn Stand, and the Sports Bar is in the Leazes End
The Gallowgate End houses Shearer's Bar, effectively another city centre nightspot in Newcastle, accessible only from the exterior of the ground, named in honour of former player Alan Shearer. The Gallowgate also houses a large club shop, a police station. The Milburn stand houses the main box-office. In the south west corner there is also a cafe and a club museum.
The stadium has a maximum football stadium seating capacity of 52,387, making it:
Developments since 1993 have ensured the lower tier of seating of the ground still forms a continuous bowl around the pitch, below the level of the executive boxes. This gives a rough illustration of the size of the 1993–98 interior of the stadium, seating approximately 36,000.
As a conservative estimate, the ground has a theoretical maximum seated capacity of approximately 84,000, ignoring planning and design constraints, if the East and Gallowgate stands were raised to the height of the redeveloped stands. This is still low compared to the club record attendance of 68,386 in 1930 against Chelsea, when standing was allowed in the top two divisions of English football.
The stadium was one of several venues used as temporary home grounds for the England team while the redevelopment of Wembley Stadium took place.
St James' Park is set to host some football matches in the 2012 Summer Olympics.
Date !! !! Result !! !! Competition | ||||
18 March 1901 | 6–0 | | | British Home Championship | |
6 April 1907 | | | 1–1 | British Home Championship | |
15 November 1933 | | | 1–2 | British Home Championship | |
9 November 1938 | | | 4–0 | Friendly | |
10 June 1996 | | | 0–1 | UEFA Euro 1996>Euro 1996 | |
13 June 1996 | | | 1–0 | UEFA Euro 1996>Euro 1996 | |
18 June 1996 | | | 3–1 | UEFA Euro 1996>Euro 1996 | |
5 September 2001 | | | 2–0 | 2002 FIFA World Cup qualification (UEFA)>World Cup 2002 Qualifying | |
18 August 2004 | | | 3–0 | Friendly | |
30 March 2005 | | | 2–0 | 2006 FIFA World Cup qualification (UEFA)>World Cup 2006 Qualifying | |
On 26 July 2009 St James' Park hosted the Sir Bobby Robson Trophy match, in aid of the Sir Bobby Robson Foundation, in which the famous Italia '90 World Cup semi-final loss against West Germany, in which Robson's England team were beaten 4–3 on penalties after a 1–1 draw, would be replayed featuring players from the original World Cup squads and other special guests.
Category:Newcastle United F.C. Category:2012 Summer Olympic venues Category:Olympic football venues Category:UEFA European Football Championship stadiums Category:Football venues in England Category:Premier League venues Category:Buildings and structures in Newcastle upon Tyne
ar:ملعب سانت جيمس بارك az:Sent Ceyms Park be-x-old:Сэнт-Джэймз Парк ca:Saint James' Park da:St James' Park de:St. James’ Park et:St James' Park es:St James' Park fr:St James' Park gl:St James' Park ko:세인트 제임스 파크 hr:St. James' Park it:St James' Park he:סנט ג'יימס פארק (אצטדיון) nl:St. James' Park ja:セント・ジェームズ・パーク no:St James' Park pl:St James' Park pt:St. James' Park ru:Сент-Джеймс Парк simple:St James' Park sr:Сент Џејмс парк fi:St James' Park sv:St James’ Park th:เซนต์เจมส์พาร์ค tr:St James' Park zh:聖占士公園球場This text is licensed under the Creative Commons CC-BY-SA License. This text was originally published on Wikipedia and was developed by the Wikipedia community.
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