St James' Park is BACK :)

Merge this with the WONGA thread, according to sky they've given the naming rights of the stadium to the fans .

 

Good move, defuses the tension a bit and relinquishes a portion of the original stigma. Still wish another company had come in and done this.

 

It will always be Sports Direct Arena to me.

 

Classic!

 

Haha REP!!!

 

Always said you're a class act!

 

Best post I've seen in ages

 

Now now James.

 

The Wonga Arena it is then

 

I know it was always St James' Park in the eyes of the fans but still unbelievably happy to have it back officially

 

It confirms what I said in the first place which was that nodoby would want the stadiums naming rights because of how old it is, a top class brand or business would want a new staduim and a ****ty one like Wonga know it would have the piss taken out of it and has the opposite effect.

Nice bit of PR from both NUFC and Wonga.

This will get the fans totally back on side before the January sales.

 

Indeed, and it saves MA from having to admit it ws a stupid idea or that no one would want to buy the rights. He has "sold" them after all. In 4 years, hopefully the whole subject will be quietly forgotten

 

I'm starting a petition for the REP ARENA... who's in?

 

I'm gonna miss being able to tell the lass I'm off to ASDA, not for the shopping but to see a game of football

 

Brilliant

 

Now there's a company with a marketing dept that gets it.

What's everyone's problem with Wonga? They're a pay-day lender - this 4000% horsecrap is speculative and false, you can only borrow a nominal amount (<£1k) for less than one month, the end. Would you rather it was AIG, who make millions from poverty in the third world and who are in part to blame for your shopping bill now regularly exceeding £200 a fortnight? Or perhaps we'd be better off with Bet365, 12Bet or Red32...though I probably don't have to highlight the issues with gambling, right? Or the murky sponsorship by Etihad?

£8m a year, pure profit to hit the bottom line. And the stadium becomes SJP. Win-win.

 

2 wrongs don't make a right. An unethical company is an unethical company.

The person that deserves most credit for the name going back to St James Park is Mike Ashley - He's basically made someone pay money to name the stadium the same thing as it's been called for years - money for nothing - it's almost genius.

 

I think the point being made is that half the Premiership clubs are sponsored by unethical companies (as is the premiership itself) and so we need feel no greater shame than average. That's probably true, though I wish it didn't have quite so tacky a name.

As for making money for the naming rights, I don't think that happened. Wonga paid money for the shirt sponsorship and Ashley took the opportunity to abandon a stupid idea. It's not a stroke of genius, though recognising when it's time to give up on a bad idea does deserve some credit.

 

You're not suggesting he as taken a step down from his original position without actually taking a step down are you? You know in a billionnaire massive ego owner type way?

 

well said that man.
The Wonga deal means we don't have to sell the stadium name just now which is a decent offset in my eyes.