Newcastle owners have already made stadium decision that new Chelsea owner will have to confront

It was not so long ago that the previous regime had to resort to effectively giving away 10,000 half season tickets to fill up St James' Park. Now, you can't even get a seat for Newcastle United's home game against Brighton on Saturday. In fact, that fixture sold out more than a fortnight ago.

Newcastle have been a club transformed since the takeover last October and, as obvious as it sounds, that is never more apparent than on a match day. Even Kieran Trippier admitted the atmosphere is 'something I've probably not experienced in my career'.

Rather than being daunted by that passion, as some managers bizarrely have in the past, Eddie Howe has rightly viewed it as the club's main strength. Whether it is desperately wanting to build a team the fans will enjoy watching or leading his players on a lap of appreciation after every game, Howe has tapped into support from the terraces in recent months.

It is far from a coincidence that Newcastle have only lost one Premier League game at home under the head coach and, even then, that defeat came against champions Man City. Since Howe took charge, Newcastle have picked up 65% of their points at St James'.

Yes, Newcastle's infrastructure needs a hell of a lot of work - the hierarchy are looking at sites to build a new a new training base for the first team, academy and women's team - but the club's new owners already know they have a unique stadium right in the heart of the city. As part-owner Mehrdad Ghodoussi put it, in a recent interview with the Athletic, leaving St James' would be 'like tearing your soul out'.

Newcastle will instead look to exhaust every possible avenue to expand St James' and it is worth noting that fellow part-owner Jamie Reuben and his family already