Is anyone else finding the continual renaming of some football stadiums both confusing and rather soul-less ? When I was a kid (back in the good old days!) I knew where every team in every league played off by heart. Now it's a case of the stadiums being named after a brand, which usually has nothing to do with football, aside from the money these sponsors are paying to see their names on stands or on the seats. Take good old Bolton Wanderers for example. They played at Burnden Park for 102 years and everyone in football knew the name of the ground and which club which it was associated with. Then they sold up and moved out of town in 1997 to the Reebok, as it was believed to be too difficult to convert Burnden Park to an all seater stadium following The Taylor Report. People eventually got used to the new name, but now the same stadium is called the Macron. But that's only a 4 year deal which was signed in 2014, so it's likely to change yet again in 2 years time. Then there is the Emirates, and The Etihad that have influenced major clubs such as Arsenal and Manchester City to surrender a major part of their identities, presumably for huge amounts of money from Middle Eastern airlines. Even clubs like little Chesterfield are at it. Saltergate had been their spiritual home since 1871 up until 2010 when they moved to the B2net Stadium, which has now been renamed the Proact Stadium. Others include Derby (Baseball Ground, then Pride Park followed by it being renamed the iPro Stadium on a 7 year deal signed in 2013), Leicester (Walkers Stadium, now renamed the Kind Power Stadium) And so it goes on. I sincerely hope our team are always known throughout football as playing all of our home games at Ashton Gate.
Probably only a matter of time, however, Newcastle's attempt to rename theirs seemed to be overlooked by the fans
Agreed. Not only that, but there are some proper crap stadium names anyway, Spotland, Millmoor (I know it's gone), etc for example. We're lucky in that Ashton Gate is a great name for a ground imo.
I believe there is apparently some logic here Wiz. Due to some history of trade between Rotherham and New York in the dim and distant past, hence the (rather grandiose!) naming of the stadium.
It's all about money isn't it? Another current trend is for players to have their first names on the back of their shirts so I suppose it's only a matter of time before we see a team sheet like this: 1. Bob A 2. Bob B 3. Bob C etc,etc. The world's gone mad and if they elect any president down south of here then look out!!!!
Most Canadians were shaking in their boots yesterday and now we have to face the reality of an American president saying he will tear up all existing trade deals in favour of the Excited States and that will include the U.K. after your brexit decision. Americans were tired of the status quo, rather like most Brits fed up with being bossed around by Merkel and her Brussels allies, and so they have elected someone who will possibly right some wrong, but when a Canadian pundit stated that Trump was only in the game for his own financial advancement it was a snapshot of who he is and where his basic instincts lie. Watch this space EH.
The Brexit vote and the election of Trump simply proves how dissatisfied the general public world wide are with decades of inept, impotent and powerless governments. Wait for the next French and German elections and you may well see the same again.
