Newcastle United are ready to launch ‘Project 2030’ as they move into the second phase of the club’s quest for growth under Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund.
After last month’s board meeting, led by chairman Yasir Al-Rumayyan, there will be a renewed push over the next five years to establish Newcastle as a powerful force in English and European football, with insiders labelling it ‘Project 2030’.
Rather than suggest PIF’s interest in Newcastle is waning, Al-Rumayyan insisted it remains committed to turning the club into one of the leading football operations and has challenged all department heads to deliver a plan to get there.
Sources have told Telegraph Sport the chairman was full of enthusiasm for the project and believes a five-year timescale is a realistic one to turn them into a club who compete for silverware every season, regularly play in the Champions League and eventually compete for the Premier League title. The ambition also extends to the women’s team with the aim to achieve promotion to the WSL.
The 2030 date is a loose deadline and is not cast in stone, but the intention is to continue to close the revenue gap on the traditional “Big Six” and strive to build a squad who are competitive in the latter stages of every competition they play in.
Having freed themselves of their constraints related to profit and sustainability rules (PSR) over the last 12 months with some difficult player sales, Newcastle are in a position to not only strengthen their squad, but also keep hold of their big-name players like in-demand striker Alexander Isak.
Sporting director Paul Mitchell is yet to sign a marquee player after replacing Dan Ashworth in July last year, as he has had to deal with the club’s PSR issue first. That meant moving on the likes of Miguel Almiron and Lloyd Kelly in January to give them more flexibility to spend in the next transfer window.
But an ambitious summer is being discussed which will see Newcastle strengthen their squad in every department.
In turn, Al-Rumayyan has also praised the job done by manager Eddie Howe and has once again reaffirmed that they see the 47-year-old as a long-term appointment and the man to help build the team into a trophy-winning side.
Key pillars of Project 2030
Winning a trophy
When Howe was interviewed for the job in 2021, he insisted the League Cup was the most realistic target as a first trophy for the new regime. Newcastle have reached the final for the second time in three years and he deserves a huge amount of credit for that.
Newcastle face a daunting test at Wembley on Sunday and will have to beat the best team in the country in Liverpool if they are going to end a 70-year wait for a domestic trophy.
But there is quiet confidence behind the scenes that the players and staff will be better equipped to succeed after their experience of losing to Manchester United two years ago.
The occasion arguably got to them in 2023, with all the excitement of reaching a first cup final since 1999, but things have been a lot calmer this time around. Winning a major piece of silverware will be a huge step towards becoming regular trophy winners in the same way that Manchester City did by winning the FA Cup in 2011.
New stadium
The release of designs for Manchester United’s new stadium this week has whetted the appetite on Tyneside for details of Newcastle’s own plan to modernise.
The internal preference, as revealed by Telegraph Sport, is to build a new home adjacent to St James’ Park, using an overlapping footprint, that will mean the new stadium is built on some of the land currently occupied by the club. The capacity will be about 68-69,000 and it will cost in the region of £1.5billion.
Work has been going on behind the scenes for some time, although they are still considering a back-up option, which would modernise and expand St James’ Park to a capacity well in excess of 60,000, at an estimated cost of £800 million.
The club continue to insist a final decision has not been made, but the idea is to have completed construction of either project in the early 2030s.
Rejuvenating and strengthening squad
There has long been a view that this Newcastle team have almost reached the end of their shelf life and are in need of an overhaul.
The core of the squad is the same as the one that successfully escaped from relegation immediately after the takeover in 2021, with Kieran Trippier (34), Callum Wilson (33), Fabian Schar (33), Dan Burn (32) and Martin Dubravka (36) in the latter stages of their careers. Others like Sean Longstaff, Joelinton and Joe Willock were part of the team under former manager Steve Bruce.
Mitchell has a track record in recruitment and he will look to reduce the average age of the squad in the summer, signing young talent from abroad, as well as one or two more established domestic talents.
Player trading will remain important, although there is a desire to keep all their big names in the summer.
Closing revenue gap
Newcastle have made good progress and revenue has grown to a club record £320 million a year according to the latest set of accounts. But that is still some way short of the established Big Six.
Arsenal’s revenue was £616.6 million in 2024, Liverpool’s stands at £614 million, while Tottenham Hotspur’s is £539.6 million for the same period. Manchester City’s is a whopping £715 million with Manchester United boasting revenue of £661.8 million.
The gap remains a huge one. Until Newcastle can spend as much money on wages and transfers as the richest clubs in the country it will severely hinder their chances of success on the pitch.
PIF has seemed reluctant to pump extra money into the club through related-party (APT) sponsorship deals from Saudi Arabian companies and there will be huge pressure on the commercial team at Newcastle to turbo-charge external investment into the club.
Whether Manchester City’s ongoing legal battle with the Premier League over APT sponsorship rules encourages PIF to announce more deals with companies they are also linked with remains to be seen. But it would be the quickest and easiest way to close the revenue gap.
