The Newcastle United owners have sold St James’ Park to themselves.
We have seen numerous times other Premier League clubs using accountancy ‘tweaks’, whether by choice or necessity.
Chelsea of course the club that have done so repeatedly, creative with their accounts.
Now the Newcastle United owners jumping in the deep end themselves.
In the Tuesday 2024/25 accounts announcement on Tuesday morning, the Newcastle United owners stating:
‘The club also undertook the reorganisation of its property holdings and group structure to support future investment in infrastructure, which was accounted for in accordance with FRS102 accounting rules. The 2025 financial results reflect a profit on disposal of £133.2m, which will be slightly adjusted in Financial Year 2026 based on results of a now-concluded Premier League fair market value process.’
So what does all this mean?
A number of journalists had access to the accounts before today’s announcement and the benefit of a meeting with Newcastle United CEO David Hopkinson.
The accountancy ‘tweak’ outlined above, effectively meaning that the Newcastle United owners have sold St James’ Park to themselves.
The good news is that this appear to point to a major new stadium announcement at some point, whether that is an expanded St James’ Park or a brand new stadium. Something which is absolutely essential, both to allow more fans to watch their team, plus the ability to significantly increase revenues in order to be competitive on and off the pitch. This accountancy ‘tweak’ reported to be part of the process needed in terms of how the stadium plans will be funded.
At the same time, the accountancy ‘tweak’ also turning a large loss into a decent profit for the 2024/25 financial year, removing the possibility of falling foul of Premier League rules and a potential points deduction.
A couple of journalists who have given clarity to the accountancy ‘tweak’ by the Newcastle United owners.
Mark Douglas at i-news:
‘The financials themselves proved revealing. Newcastle recorded a chunky £34.7m profit but only did that by selling St James’ Park and land adjacent to it to another company owned by the club’s owners for a whopping £172.1m. The club say the sale, which took six months in total and had to go through the Premier League’s fair market value tests, was to smooth the process of either redeveloping the stadium or constructing a new ground.’
Mark Douglas going on to say:
‘But it is clear, and not disputed by Newcastle United, that without the sale they might have breached financial rules and faced a points deduction.’
Luke Edwards of The Telegraph:
‘A lever has been pulled to avoid financial penalty which also makes sense as the new company that owns the stadium will borrow the money to fund construction of the new one so that club is not saddled with debt.’