Blasphemy!! Newcastle rename St James' Park

[Jimbuna]

Newcastle rename St James' Park the Sports Direct Arena

Absolutely disgraceful....Why can't Mike Ashley simply sell up and go back to the area his beloved Tottenham Hotspur play?

Cockney (unprintable word)!!

Newcastle United have renamed St James' Park the Sports Direct Arena after owner Mike Ashley's company.
The club say the change is a temporary measure to "showcase" the sponsorship opportunity to "interested parties".
However the St James' Park title has been dropped as the club does not think it is "commercially attractive".

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/15668207.stm

[Alex]

[Herr-Berbunch]

@Neal - can you change Jim's name to SportsDirect, although thinking about it maybe JJB would be better!

If Sports Direct is more commercially attractive than St. James' Park then I feel for you. Sports Direct, in my mind, is associated with cheap tee-shirts, cheap trainers, and huge advertising in the windows for 24/7 sales -

[papa_smurf]

Poor Newcastle...... You get a name change, and Fergie (Alex Ferguson) gets a stand named after him for 25yrs in charge.

Although I do agree that Ashley should bugger off, he is a bit of a twonk.

[Jimbuna]

Originally Posted by Herr-Berbunch

@Neal - can you change Jim's name to SportsDirect, although thinking about it maybe JJB would be better!

If Sports Direct is more commercially attractive than St. James' Park then I feel for you. Sports Direct, in my mind, is associated with cheap tee-shirts, cheap trainers, and huge advertising in the windows for 24/7 sales -

We've wited years for a billionaire to come along and put the club to the heights it's supporters deserve.

So along comes said billionaire who promptly starts stripping the clubs assets and uses it to promote his other business ventures

Originally Posted by papa_smurf

Poor Newcastle...... You get a name change, and Fergie (Alex Ferguson) gets a stand named after him for 25yrs in charge.

Although I do agree that Ashley should bugger off, he is a bit of a twonk.

Oh I can think of far more descriptive names for the anchor

[nikimcbee]

Originally Posted by Herr-Berbunch

@Neal - can you change Jim's name to SportsDirect,

I dunno, Herr-Berr, that's a lot of letters to type?

Well, look at the bright side, It could be called:" Heinz Spotted dick field."

[TarJak]

Commercial naming of stadia gives me the Tom Tits. We've had one stadium with 5 names in the last 10 years FFS.

I'm supporting the name change proposed for Jimbuna though

[Gerald]

Additionally, someone who is tight with money and can make up for any renovations,

[frau kaleun]

Originally Posted by TarJak

Commercial naming of stadia gives me the Tom Tits. We've had one stadium with 5 names in the last 10 years FFS.

The are many "iconic" venues here in the States that I don't even know are being discussed any more when big events happen there because they are now called "Product X Stadium" or "Product Y Arena" and I can't keep track of what places those names refer to year in and year out.

I don't know how many times they've changed the name of the Riverfront Coliseum downtown, and I don't care. Nobody's paying ME a million dollars a year to call it something else.

[Egan]

It's a disgusting trend in British football. Can you imagine someone at Barca suggesting that the Camp Nou be renamed? Or the Bernabau?

Coming so recently after the scandalous nature of Man City's utterly transparent use of the same maneuver to get around UEFA's upcoming changes to team funding and competition entry (made worse by the fact that Man City don't even own their stadium,) it makes you aware of how little so many of these owners care about the fans.

The Toon deserve something far better than Ashley's repugnant hustling. What's the alternative, though? The entire sport is dieing. See FIFA's reaction to England's request to wear poppies on their shirts for the game at the weekend.

[vienna]

We've wited years for a billionaire to come along and put the club to the heights it's supporters deserve.

So along comes said billionaire who promptly starts stripping the clubs assets and uses it to promote his other business ventures

You should see the situation here in Los Angeles. A wealthy East Coast millionaire named Frank McCourt came to LA, bought the Dodgers baseball team, carved the organization into various fragments, siphoned off money from the business to support an extravagant lifestyle (e.g., he and his wife [they are now divorcing] actually had adjoining mansions/beachhomes in Malibu while still married), reduced security at the ballpark resulting in a near-fatal beating of a fan from another team, and generally screwed-up the entire Dodgers organization. The team and McCourt are now in bankruptcy and Major Leaguge Baseball is selling off the team to the highest bidder. I'm quite sure the Dodger fans (which I am not, BTW; I'm a San Francisco Giants fan) feel just the same as your situation...

[Jimbuna]

Originally Posted by Egan

It's a disgusting trend in British football. Can you imagine someone at Barca suggesting that the Camp Nou be renamed? Or the Bernabau?

Coming so recently after the scandalous nature of Man City's utterly transparent use of the same maneuver to get around UEFA's upcoming changes to team funding and competition entry (made worse by the fact that Man City don't even own their stadium,) it makes you aware of how little so many of these owners care about the fans.

The Toon deserve something far better than Ashley's repugnant hustling. What's the alternative, though? The entire sport is dieing. See FIFA's reaction to England's request to wear poppies on their shirts for the game at the weekend.

^

[papa_smurf]

Originally Posted by Egan

It's a disgusting trend in British football. Can you imagine someone at Barca suggesting that the Camp Nou be renamed? Or the Bernabau?

Coming so recently after the scandalous nature of Man City's utterly transparent use of the same maneuver to get around UEFA's upcoming changes to team funding and competition entry (made worse by the fact that Man City don't even own their stadium,) it makes you aware of how little so many of these owners care about the fans.

The Toon deserve something far better than Ashley's repugnant hustling. What's the alternative, though? The entire sport is dieing. See FIFA's reaction to England's request to wear poppies on their shirts for the game at the weekend.

If Old Trafford ever changes name, I'm off to join the Green and Gold of FC United (Green and gold colours were the original colours of Newton Heath, before changing to Man Utd)

[Jimbuna]

Originally Posted by papa_smurf

If Old Trafford ever changes name, I'm off to join the Green and Gold of FC United (Green and gold colours were the original colours of Newton Heath, before changing to Man Utd)

Yeah...I was in a Manchester pub a little over a year back and a few people were wearing them as well as replica shirts (tie straps up to front collar).

I asked what they were wearing and got the history about the resistance to the Glazer family etc....very interesting, there are a lot of them worn at home matches apparently.

[Herr-Berbunch]

They're all at it now!

I've just hear that Norwich City's Carrow Road is to become the Hovis Stadium.

Probably because they're all in-bred.