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Spurs would find it 'incredibly hard' to build their stadium for £1.2bn today - which highlights the rise in construction costs that Newcastle United would face with any redevelopment of St James' Park.

That is according to Jonathan Turner, who is a non-executive director at Spurs, after the club started out with a £250m stadium design and plan that ended up coming in at a figure nearly five times that amount. The result? Spurs now boast the second biggest stadium in the Premier League, which is almost twice the capacity of the old White Hart Lane, and the Londoners have made the most of it. In fact, in 2022/23, Spurs brought in £117.6m in match income.

It is worth pointing out that the most affordable adult season ticket at Spurs has since risen to an eye-watering £856, but the club do offer some of the best stadium facilities in the country, including Europe's longest bar and an on-site microbrewery. A typical fan, as a result, will spend around £16 per game as opposed to just under £2 at White Hart Lane.

Spurs have also turned the stadium into a multi-use venue: Beyonce's five-night run last summer was the highest-grossing concert ever staged by a female artist at the time; the arena is the official home of the NFL in the UK and plays host to the world's first F1 branded electric karting experience; and the club are even building a 180-room hotel to support their conference and events business.

No wonder Turner said that the stadium is one of Spurs' 'central pieces' when it comes to 'competing with clubs with more capital' in a PSR world and that is the challenge Newcastle are now facing. Newcastle generated £37.9m in match income in the club's most recently published accounts and CEO Darren Eales has spoken about the need to be 'smart to try to grow our revenue streams'.

Newcastle, who are in the process of building a new seven-day-a-week fan zone, would ideally like to stay put at St James' and the Magpies have tasked world-leading architects to look at what could be possible on the complicated city centre site. Eales previously insisted that 'no conclusions' had been reached ahead of the club's full stadium feasibility report potentially being completed this summer.

It goes without saying that an expansion would be costly in today's climate - let alone a full rebuild - but Newcastle have the owners with the means to potentially bankroll such a project if it comes off whereas Spurs executive director Donna-Maria Cullen previously revealed that the Londoners did it on 'limited finances'. Turner elaborated further on that point.

"The stadium was financed through internally generated cash flow and also through debt," he told the Business of Sport. "The debt is on a very long-term basis.

"A lot of it is held by pension funds and other institutions who are comfortable holding long-term debt. The stadium was built in a low-interest rate environment. That may be lucky. We have a fixed rate on the vast majority of that. The service cost of the debt and the long-term nature of debt was an incredible financing package that would not be available today.

"It would be incredibly hard to build the stadium today for the cost that it was built....if you were going to do it today, construction costs are higher. Inflation is higher. The cost of interest is higher. It was pretty hard to do in the first place, but I think it would be a harder exercise."

After standing firm to get the deal they wanted regarding Dan Ashworth's departure to Manchester United, Newcastle United moved swiftly to confirm the appointment of Paul Mitchell as the club's new sporting director. Mitchell arrives with a strong reputation across the game, and was even a target for Man Utd at one stage having most recently worked as a sporting director at AS Monaco following a spell as technical director at Red Bull's global football division.

For football fans in this country, Mitchell will be best known for his time spent at Southampton and Tottenham Hotspur. The 42-year-old was involved in Tottenham's transfer strategy when Kieran Trippier, Dele Alli, Son Heung-min and Toby Alderweireld were brought to north London, but clashed with chairman Daniel Levy and like Ashworth, found himself on gardening leave before eventually leaving the club.

So, what can we learn from his time at Spurs and how was Mitchell viewed by the fans in North London? We spoke to Alasdair Gold from our sister title football.london, to get the lowdown on Newcastle's new man.

Ali Gold verdict on Mitchell

"Paul Mitchell's stay at Tottenham was a short and initially sweet one before it all went rather sour. Mauricio Pochettino had a close relationship with the head of recruitment at Southampton, which is why he was poached as a 33-year-old a couple of months after the Argentine's arrival in 2014.

"He would last less than two years though with transfer successes in Son Heung-min eventually and Toby Alderweireld, as well as Dele Alli, although the latter was pushed by former manager David Pleat, while Victor Wanyama was a good signing until injuries took hold of his time at Spurs.

"There were also plenty of flops like Vincent Janssen, Clinton Njie and Georges Kevin-Nkoudou, although reports when Mitchell resigned in August 106 suggested that he struggled to work with Tottenham chairman Daniel Levy and that a failed move for Michy Batshuayi was the straw that broke the camel's back.

"Mitchell then served six months of a 16-month notice period before being placed on gardening leave. His time at Spurs is often looked back on fondly as it coincided with Pochettino's prime years, but the transfer record on reflection was mixed. He may well suggest that is skewed because he was unable to sign the players he wanted."

Morgan Gibbs-White should ignore interest from Tottenham Hotspur and join a Newcastle midfield that will 'compliment' his talents.

That is the verdict of former Newcastle and Tottenham star Chris Waddle who feels he would fit perfectly into the Magpies' XI alongside Joelinton.and Joelinton.

Newcastle have long been linked with a move for the Nottingham Forest midfielder but Forest would want to see a profit on the £25million they paid to sign him from Wolves two years ago.

He has since established himself as one of Forest's most important players and Waddle feels Gibbs-White would only improve if he made the move to St James' Park.

"I’ve watched Morgan Gibbs-White quite a lot over the last few years, and I like what I’ve seen of him," Waddle told Genting Casino.

"Nottingham Forest paid a lot of money to take him from Wolves after he wasn’t really playing, but the potential has always been there.

"When he was on loan at Sheffield United, I spoke to a couple of guys at the club who only had positive things to say about him. They said he was a very good pro and was very confident, which is something you don’t always get from younger players.

"The potential is definitely there. I would love to see what he could do playing for a top six or seven club, no disrespect to Nottingham Forest. If you put Gibbs-White into a team with better players, then he’s only going to improve. At times, he’s carried the burden of a poor Forest team, and that can take its toll.

"If he had to choose between Newcastle United and Tottenham, then I think Newcastle would be a better fit for him. He primarily plays in that number ten role or supporting the strikers, and I think he would compliment Newcastle’s midfield of Bruno Guimaraes and Joelinton.

"With Maddison at Tottenham, I can’t see him playing in the role that he would want. Do Tottenham see Gibbs-White as more of a squad player or someone that can play in a number of positions?

"I can’t see him sitting on the bench at his next club, and there’s a danger that would happen if he joined Spurs. For me, he wouldn’t get into the team over James Maddison."

Richarlison has described claims that he was included in a cash-plus-player offer for Newcastle United star Alexander Isak as 'fake'.

Isak has been linked with both Spurs and Chelsea this week, but Newcastle have no plans to sell their record signing, who still has four years left to run on his current deal. Isak, for his part, has repeatedly stressed that he is happy at St James' Park and the Sweden international could not have been any clearer last month when he said he 'did not want to entertain these types of questions and rumours'.

That has not quelled the speculation elsewhere, however. Reports in Italy suggested that Newcastle had rejected a cash-plus-player offer from Spurs for Isak, which would have seen Richarlison move the other way. Richarlison, who scored twice against Newcastle last season, felt moved to respond on Instagram and simply commented: "Fake."

Newcastle are planning for next season with Isak in the side and losing their star striker would set the club back considerably given the rebuild that would be required. While there will be departures this summer, holding onto prized assets like Isak feels important for Eddie Howe's team to prove they can continue to match the 24-year-old's ambitions - even with financial restrictions.

"When you're in the position that he's in and he's scoring goals, you get used to people talking about you and possibly creating rumours that maybe are true, aren't true, I've got no idea," the Newcastle boss added last month. "For us, we're just focusing on our future with Alex. We're focusing on trying to build our team with him in it.

"We signed him knowing he was young and he wanted to develop his talents and give him an opportunity to showcase what he could do. For me, that was a long-term thing that we started with him, a long-term journey hopefully.

"I've just seen him flourish this year. He's enjoyed the environment. He's enjoyed the team that he's played in and hopefully he does that for many years to come."

Newcastle United striker Alexander Isak has been touted as a possible transfer target for Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur ahead of the summer window

Newcastle United will take on Ange Postecoglou's Tottenham Hotspur in Melbourne on May 22

Newcastle United will take on Ange Postecoglou's Tottenham Hotspur in Melbourne on May 22

Newcastle United are currently carrying out a stadium feasibility study to see what is possible at St James' Park as the Magpies bid to increase revenues and Spurs have led the way in the field

Newcastle United are currently carrying out a stadium feasibility study to see what is possible at St James' Park as the Magpies bid to increase revenues and Spurs have led the way in the field