Newcastle United Football Club (often abbreviated to NUFC) is an English professional association football club based in Newcastle upon Tyne. The club was founded in 1892 by the merger of Newcastle East End and Newcastle West End, and has played at its current home ground, St James' Park, ever since. The ground was developed into an all-seater stadium in the mid-1990s and now has a capacity of 52,405.[1][2] The club has been a member of the Premier League for all but two years of the competition's history, and has never dropped below English football's second tier since joining the Football League in 1893. The club has been owned by Mike Ashley since 2007, succeeding long term chairman and owner Sir John Hall.