Match Day Thread Official stadium name change; Sports Direct Arena

Everything is going swimmingly, the fans are behind the team, and then Fat ****ing Mike decides that he wants everyone to focus on him. The fans will spend the whole ****ing match against Chelsea booing him now and not getting behind the lads. The lads will suffer because of this.

It's ****ing obvious why he decided to do the half price season ticket thing now isnt it? Because everyone would have ****ing boycotted again and now hes got all our ****ing money.

The man is a total ****ing ****. He managed to finally get lucky because of Pardew drilling in a great team ethic and Graham Carr finding quality players and attracting them to the team. Now this again.

****ing fuming. Total ****.

 

Never knew MA was on Duke Nukem

please log in to view this image

 

Why do you care? You're still gonna call it the same thing you have been for however long you've been a fan. We all know what the place is, and what it says on the sign is irrelevant.

 

He never said he was going to ****ing boycott, he's pissed off that the stadium is going to be renamed and he has a right to feel this way. There's being in touch with the modern world, and there's loving your home club heritage.

The sports direct ****e I could deal with but I don't want our historic stadium renamed to what ever ****e that comes in and bids for it.

 

No who said that we were gonna boycott and protest? In fact , I can't remember a game we ever boycotted so get your facts right

There is a difference between getting in touch with the modern world and pure greed. You obviously don't know Ashley well enough to know that he's a greedy bastard and the only thing of interest to him is his back pocket.

Tradition > Money.

 

I find the i don't care what he calls the stadium attitude pretty bad as well Eventually the next generation of Newcastle fans will only know it as whatever latest corporate sponsor is emblazoned across it, It's disgusting.

 

from nufc.com:

Name and shame


Almost two years to the day that a "rebranding" of St.James' Park to "sportsdirect.com @ St James' Park" was announced and with related signage only recently erected, a further change now looms, after details of Thursday's club press release were leaked online.

Prepare for:

Sports Direct Arena

This is not a wind up.

Having made significant strides in PR terms this season and seen their popularity rise in tandem with progress on the field, this looks like yet another own goal by NUFC.

Just when "Peace in our Tyne" looked to have been achieved after another tumultuous period of player (and managerial) departures and other distractions, this seems both ill-advised and avoidable - running the risk of opening up old wounds for no guaranteed reward.

If commercial investment in the club from third parties is to be forthcoming though, then surely that would be driven by the continuing good form of the team and the resultant full stadium and content fan base?

Handing a cause to the bedsheet brigade - and risking a return to the "toxic brand" days of 2008 hardly seems likely to attract inward cash and again, throws up a subject that will inevitably cause division among fans.

The announcement is timed to maximise the period before our next home game and give any dissent and protests ample time to blow themselves out before Chelsea head to Tyneside on the first Saturday in December.

The best chance of convincing a justifiably distrustful fan base that a stadium rename is for genuine commercial reasons remains someone walking up Barrack Road clutching a big cardboard cheque with lots of zero's on it.



Making fans believe that this rename is a trade off for the financial investment of the owner though is a much harder sell - perhaps if Ashley just came out and admitted that, then acceptance might come easier. Perhaps if he spoke at all in public then it might help on a general level.

While the notion of renaming stadia with sponsors names is a familiar one, the other current Premier League examples tend to be newly-built venues where naming rights were sold "off-plan". We have to be different, apparently and give the impression of jettisoning decades of history to anyone with a spare bag of swag.

In a cock-eyed way though, that precedent of trying to change the name of an established stadium may turn out to be the one saving grace - and a cast-iron reason why trying to sell those rights to a third party is futile.

The Emirates Stadium is the Emirates Stadium, it's never been anything else, except a plan of a hole in the ground once called Ashburton Grove - it has no other name.

Newcastle United however play at St.James' Park and always have done. Everyone knows that and will continue to know that - regardless of what irritating branding is applied to it. You won't call it that and neither will we.

It's an interesting dilemma: moan about calling it the Sports Direct Arena sufficiently and it will stay as that; allow it to pass comparatively un-remarked and increase the chances of it becoming a 52,000 seat billboard for an airline or a credit card company. You want to leave it the way it's been since 1880? Then buy it.

And of course, any negativity from fans as a result of this renaming attempt that transmits itself to the team (as happened in the relegation season) will then become the sole explanation for any consequent downturn in on-field fortunes - regardless of whatever else happens.

Final thought for now: there's nothing to stop someone buying the naming rights and coming up with their own version of callitafterourcompany @ St.James' Park.

PS: back to that 2009 announcement, following which NUFC MD Derek Llambias was asked if the name St James' Park would always remain as the official stadium name.

His reply was simple:

"Absolutely. In our reign, absolutely."

PPS: Has anyone told Nexus about this change?

 

It is a worrying site when we, Newcastle fans, are treating this as lightly as this. This man has broken us down so much that he is going changing the NAME OF OUR STADIUM! It has been our name since 1892! And this man is changing it, for the simple fact that it will attract new investors. This means a couple of things. One being that he is still intending to sell the club, and another being that when the new owners arrive, they will change the name of the stadium. The name of the stadium is a part of our identity. This is disgusting. He might as well call us Sports Direct FC...oh crap, he might actually do that!

 

Yep, this opinion is going to go down well. Do you actually think that saying 'Get over it' immediately after we've all just been served this **** sandwich is not going to piss everybody off?

 

It's a name. I'm going to call it St James' park regardless.

Get the **** over it it affects the team and our position in no way.

 

it'll be ****...journos need something to derail our season

 

He's a business man. Like most modern owners, the club is just a way to make money. It's sad but it's the way the world is. Ashley's ahead of most of the pack though.

Tradition is all well and good but it doesn't pay the bills.

Why would I care if it does piss you off? You all know I'm right.

 

Why did you feel the need to make a new article when we already have one with over 4 pages?

 

Despite the sportsdirect.com@stjamespark thing, everyone still calls it St James' Park, but now when we see the live ford football special, we'll here the Martin Tyler say something like "Newcastle vs Sunderland, at the walkers crisps stadium... and it's live!".

This is getting a bit silly now.

 

Still think players will say 'the feeling is amazing running out to 52,000 Geordies at St James' Park' don't think they will ever stop saying that

 

Because I didnt comment on that one and after 4 pages I felt it was too late to get in on the action.

 

We're nearly debt free. We don't need this extra 8m.

The fact you say it's sad that these stuff happen is why are angry.

It's not like it will be reinvested in the club either.

 

which is why it'll always be known to everyone as St James Park

 

*sharpens pitchfork*

 

It will always be St James' to me.