Earlier this year, the Newcastle City Council approved plans to relocate the Alan Shearer statue inside the boundaries of St James’ Park.
After removing the Sports Direct signage from the stadium, among other things, Amanda Staveley and Mehrdad Ghodoussi focused their attention onto the Shearer statue, and there has now been progress.
What’s the story?
Well, after the Newcastle City Council approved Staveley and Ghodoussi’s plans in March, work has now begun to relocate the statue.
As you can see above, a team is now working on removing the 10ft statue of Shearer from the ground on Barrack Road.
Once removed safely, it will then be relocated to sit opposite the statue of Sir Bobby Robson on the steps of the Gallowgate West corner outside St James’ Park.
Hopefully, the relocation is done carefully, as the statue is believed to cost £250,000 – in truth, it’s not like the Magpies can’t afford to replace it!
According to the BBC, it was paid for by the family of ex-chairman Freddy Shepherd, although it is said that Mike Ashley refused to have it inside the boundaries of St James’ Park.
Newcastle fans will be pleased
This isn’t the only Shearer-related thing Staveley and Ghodoussi have done.
Before work began on the statue, the Newcastle co-owners restored the Nine Bar outside of St James’ Park to its original name – Shearer’s.
According to the Daily Mail, there was outrage when the bar’s name changed following the appointment of Joe Kinnear as Director of Football.
Now, it may only seem like a small thing, but gestures like this from Staveley and Ghodoussi will go a long way in making the Newcastle fans feel like they have their club back.
Now, once the statue is relocated, the pair must get to work in the transfer market – hopefully, they can find someone to follow in Shearer’s footsteps.
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