Like most NUFC fans I was horrified by the old signage at SJP being taken down and replaced recently, and consequently felt sickened this evening when news broke of the stadium itself being renamed.
But after the initial dismay, you have to have some perspective and admit that this is what top flight football in this country is becoming. History and tradition is a commercial asset now, which unless you are backed by a sovereign state will almost certainly be sold. Even then it's no guarantee for keeping a football club's long-standing identity sacred.
In many ways the surprise was that it wasn't done sooner and let's face it, the stadium is so covered already in Sports Direct advertising/propaganda that the place was already unrecognisable to the one in our hearts.
In tough financial times sports sponsorship is becoming a tough business and this is being done to make the club more competitive on that level. We won't profit from Sports Direct, but this is a move to showcase a package that could see the stadium name change with the duration of a contract. It's a sad, horrible reality that ALL clubs in this big league must swallow. More ironically it will only get worse the more successful the team is on the pitch, the more new fans are drawn to club and the more we get positive exposure or games shown on Sky. So before all the inevitable baiting comes in from rival fans keen to wind us up and spark a backlash that kills our season, fans of all teams who value club heritage should stop and think. This is just another very sorry nail in the coffin for what football in this country once was, but we can't have it all ways.
Anyway let's be honest, the stadium has been St.James' Park in numerous guises for well over 100 years and that isn't about to change with a press release. We won't refer to it with any other name and the change will not stick â this isn't a new stadium build, it's a historical landmark locally and globally. Good luck changing all the road signs and maps! I have a sneaky feeling commercial sponsors won't take the option because this will only prove the change won't work, but we'll see.
The fact is, I'll still call it St. James' Park and you'll still call it St. James' Park because that is it's name. If it must have a temporary nickname, let's settle for 'fortress' after this season eh?
(Oh yeah and Mike â it wouldn't have taken a creative marketing genius to have opted for 'Sports Direct Park' instead. But I guess that might have been a slightly easier pill for us all to swallow...)