Mike Ashley has been accused of “flogging off the club’s future” after it emerged he was off-loading a city centre asset.
Club officials have placed the Strawberry Place site, next to St James’ Park, on the market with a multi-million-pound price-tag.
The 1.62-acre plot of land is being sold by Newcastle United Holdings Ltd in a move that has angered supporters who claim Ashley was “locking the club into its current capacity”.
Currently a car park, the land is seen as the only possible location for expansion for the Tyneside club. It’s understood the site could be developed into a hotel, student accommodation or a retail outlet once sold.
A spokesman for the Newcastle United Supporters’ Trust: “Selling this land illustrates the cramping lack of commitment and ambition there is from Mike Ashley towards Newcastle United, while it is also a cap on the capability of future owners of the club to develop the club further.
“None of this looks like being part of a strategy to have a growing, sustainable football club that is doing everything it can to increase its own income and thus its sporting competitiveness.
“It looks very much like part of a plan to asset strip NUFC and make short-term decisions that are in the interests of the owner, rather than the long-term future of the club.
"What can be done now to oppose the sale is unclear but the NUST will be seeking to explore how we can oppose any future applications from potential developers.”
Newcastle United snapped-up a 125-year lease of the site in 1998 before it was transferred to Newcastle United Holdings Ltd six years later.
The site is currently leased to Newcastle City Council at a rate of £82,400 a year but that agreement ends in September 2014. Bidding for the location opened at the end of 2013 and applications for the Strawberry Place site have now closed.
During Freddy Shepherd’s reign at St James’ Park plans were unveiled to carry out a £300m development of the stadium to expand the capacity to at least 60,000 and add a conference centre, hotels and luxury apartments to its facilities.
Those plans, including efforts to build a casino, never came to fruition.