Rename St James’ Park?? How ****ing dare you…

Posted on October 27th, 2009 | 88 Comments |

Untouchable surely?
Untouchable surely?
Of all the loathsome, inept and baffling decisions made and actions taken by Mike Ashley and his useless merrymen running the show on Barrack Road, he’s finally gone where I thought he could never go.

Having announced the decision to take the club off the market and install Chris Hughton as permanent manager, the official site has put out a statement to that effect.

Almost as an afterthought, and so matter-of-factly it brings tears to a grow man’s eyes was this ridiculously callous snippet –

“The club aims to maximise its commercial revenues; this includes renegotiating its club sponsor and kit deal, which expire at the end of this season, as well as welcoming offers for the stadium naming rights for next season.”

So if you weren’t entirely sure just how badly the current incumbent had misjudged what this little toy of their’s mean to us, nor just how ignorant they are to the traditions within football that really matter to a supporter, then you do now.

We are not stupid, we understand the commercial aspects of football since it has become a business, but some things are worth more than money Mike Ashley. You can take our money, you can take away our Premiership football, you can try to take away our memories of former legends, you can even try to take a little bit of our pride because we’re stubbornly passionate and have suffered for it.

But to try and take away ‘St James’ Park’, integrally part of the essence of what this club is and what we have grown up with and learned to love, to take away the soul of our football club? Sorry mate, that’s just ****ing one step too far my friend!!

NUFCBlog Author: bowburnmag bowburnmag has written 234 articles on this blog.

Related Posts:


88 Responses

  1. Of all the insults this idiot has produced, to tag the re-naming of St James Park on the end of his official statement has to be the greatest.

  2. Is it Barrack Rd, SJP, St. James’s Park, Gallowgate, Cost cutters Stadium, or what?
    I’ve lost track already.

  3. As far as I am concerned its all about getting at the fans and if you did not believe it, believe it now

  4. Put on this thread – its more appropriate here than the last.

    “Clint – A beacon of sensibility in a mad world – The renaming of St James Park – it will always be St James Park to us – that can never be taken away.

    Ashleys 20m investment PLUS the naming rights (say 12m over) is 32m swing in our favour. I would have expected some to be a little more pragmatic and happy. I certainly am – do any of you think Mort had as much as 50 pence to put into us when he couldnt even afford to buy us?

    I see this as the bottom of the trough now and (controversially) I do like some aspects of the name change – it disassociates the old ways for a new way – a change in the tide and a change in mentality of the fans and owners whilst letting go of the past. The past is the past. Time to get on with the future.”

  5. Stardust I agree the club must move forward and it would help put money into the club but come on enough is enough, there is somethings that need to be left the way it is and the staduim name needs to stay st james park.

  6. Stardust we dont need to read the same post twice…you have zero credibility amongst the fans, now Mike use your real name on posts

  7. What you gonna call the place?

    Calm down.

    Oh! someone’s paying to call it ‘———–‘, what we gonna do? Carry on calling it what we always have-Der!

    Hello?

  8. Stardust – I tell you what. Why don’t we start playing in different colours? And maybe move to a different place entirely? Then we can leave all that hate and all of those intolerant rioters behind and find that utopia you seem to seek?

    Consider the heritage. As one fella on another forum put it, I’d prefer to be in the 3rd division than playing at The Sports Direct Stadium.

    Fcks sake man.

  9. Johno – you have a choice – maximise your potential and remove debt and sign players or fail to maximise potential and fall behind by simply paying off interest payments on the money owed.

    I know which I choose.

  10. “Consider the heritage. As one fella on another forum put it, I’d prefer to be in the 3rd division than playing at The Sports Direct Stadium.”

    Just goes to show morons can type.

  11. Stardust I can’t believe any fan would be in favour of a name change and for what? Money for Ashley.

  12. sadly this is just another representation of the commercialisation of football, this is on the rise and it was inevitable that someone was going to try it with an existing stadium and its our bad luck its ashley whos copped on to the idea. As far as I know its common in germany

  13. This article has taken the words right out of my mouth. This is our history he will destroy with his comercial greed. This has offended me more than anything he has done beforehand. This is the clearest indication he does not know what NUFC and its fans are about. This is his revenge. It will be a sad day if this goes ahead. We must must let our voice be heard on this!!!

  14. “andyNUFC says:
    October 27, 2009 at 11:36 pm
    Stardust I can’t believe any fan would be in favour of a name change and for what? Money for Ashley.”

    Andy that holds no water – he hasnt taken a penny out – youre better than that – stop perpetuating lies.

  15. Yes the club must move away from debt , and i do firmly belive we could of been very close to going to the wall, but didnt mike ashley clear the majority of our debt?

    I would have no bother selling the name of the staduim if a new staduim was built but you cant just simply repackage something as important to the idenity of a football club for 12 million quid ( that is the figure you quoted )

  16. the bloke is a joke – I really dont understand what he is on !!!

    Like many fans I have travelled to the away games and lets face it there has not been that many exciting ones but why appoint Houghton as manager he was only just better than southgate.

    Next why take it off the market – He had agreed a deal and then goes back on it, Does this now mean that Mort will pull all of his sponsership and corporate money out of the club ?

    Then to change the name of the club – one word – MUPPET !!! I know we will always call it St James but there is other ways of making money.

    Finally – the supporters club / association – what a load of b@alls – Mort was £20m short and they bragged they had it why not do something to help other than just jump up and down and complain

  17. I could waffle on but I’ll think I’ll just quote Harry Pearson:

    ‘People who don’t follow football think of it as just a game, something that can be packed away when it is finished and forgotten about. But the game, played out by 22 men in an hour and a half, is only the kernel of something greater. In the North East people wound the strands of their everyday life around it – childhood, youth, work, friendships, relatives, memories – until football became inextricable from existence itself…

    ‘We had good players, good crowds, good times here’ the old man had said. ‘Whenever I come past I feel like crying.’

  18. Lets hope Newcastle City Council buy the rights and leave it as it is then serve that prat and his mates an ASBO never to set foot on Geordie soil again.
    Have we gained a manager? Told under no uncertain terms that MA will have the final say on 1st team affairs!!!
    I would love to be excited about a new future, but with Ashley as an owner and his past lies… I think not.

  19. We should not be suprised by Ashleys decision to rename the ground.. No more than the comments by Stardust who
    must be completely detached from the St James’ Park spirit to even joke about it !
    You only need to walk inside any sports soccer store to see the future.. quick stock turn over, low prices and low overheads including wages..
    Stardust… You are either Ashley himself or a sad little man/woman who does not attend St James Park and experience the spirit.

  20. I think before we carried away with the anouncement of the ashley putting 20m into the club isnt that the same amount moat was trying to sort out the overdraft for the players wages with barclays. therfore in my opinion the money isnt for buying players just to pay the current ones so we dont have use a overdraft and pay interest on that to the banks. It will be the same old story come january high wagers off the bill and lesser coming in no matter what position we are in at that time.

  21. I wonder if it was Ashley’s PR man who advised him that it would be a great idea to announce that Hughton’s been made manager, raising grumbles from some, that’s he’s taken the club off the market, causing upset to many, and that he’s renaming the stadium, causing an outcry from most … all on the same day.

    Either he’s learnt nothing about communication and dealing with the fans, or he simply doesn’t care any more, or he has the worst PR man in recorded history.

  22. Soz steveo, i did notice your other points mate. & certainly agree about nust, or whatever their new name is. But i’m guessing they were BS-ing or can’t/won’t work with moat, or vice versa. Every Geordie is their own f888ing island man, seemingly?
    Maybe we should change the name from ‘United’, it doesn’t quite seem apt atm, does it?

  23. look everyone, all know stardust is a dick so i dont know why he winds you up. Let him spout on all he likes, its called freedom of speech – just ignore him. Anyone who can still find any sort of reason to say anything good about Ashely is clearly a Mackem, end of. As for the re-naming of the stadium, lets hope it goes to a wealthy local or even the council – like manc city – we could be called ‘city of newcastle’ or something. If i was rich i would buy the rights and call it………st james park. just to piss ashley off. really i would. anyway, according to ashley, he is always putting money in to us, 20 million this week, five billion next week. Its all bollocks as none of it ever translates to players on the pitch. to this day, he is still two million up on what he has sold in players compared to who he has brought in. Any investment fatty makes will be purley as a cost cutting excercise and nothing more. If the interest on his loans is bigger than the interest on 20 million he will pay off the loan, its obvious. He has two big businesses between newcastle and sportswear. between the two, he can effectivly throw money in any direction he wants at times best to suit him and his army of accountants. Its all an excercise in paperwork. He will never invest a penny in us as a team. Everything always has and always will be cost off-set. There is no point in dripping about ashley either. either go to the games or dont. Keep following newcastle united or remove your support, the choice always has been ours. Thats one thing ashley cant take away.

  24. Glad you’re still here Stardust !
    Answer me one question ….
    Do you actually have a season ticket for
    ST. JAMES PARK ???

  25. Stardust is too busy fondling his nether regions because of the exciting news he has received tonight that his lover Mike Ashley is staying at Newcastle United.

  26. Well I’ve had all I can take for one day, so I’m off to bed. I’ll have a ‘cold light of day’ look at things in an article the morra.

    ‘Night folks.

  27. cc – you’re right of course. And I said much the same thing on Hugh’s article. I’ll continue to go to game and support the team because that’s what you do, but for all they have done, I can never see redemption for this board.

    A gammy knee, nearly £2k to fix a car I bought for only double that 5 months ago and now this. What a week……

    I’m gan to bed, I’m friggin fed-up.

  28. Looks like Stardust has dodged the question as to whether he has a season ticket…
    And it is not the first time.
    It is obviously a bone of contention for him.. Therefore can I recommend that every time he blights this site with his nonsense he is asked the question.

  29. Very true Clint Flick we seem to be very un united. This weekend was the first time i have ever walked out of a game and turned by back on the lads. I am not proud of that fact !

    I take the point of it being our decision to go or stay away but think it would help to have a supporters club that represented the feelings of the supporters and not just trying to make a name for themselves

    Anyway think what ever we say, in the morning we will wake up and make the decision to go to the game next Monday and still sing for the lads and cheers for them then drive back home. Lets hope that the team do get behind Chris and that he can continue to motivate the team and keep us top of the league

    In the meantime MA i remember meeting and talking to you in the stands at Villa at that point you said “it wasnt good enough to lose and we dont have time to wait” i respected you for your comments and the way you and your daughter supported the club that day but if you are serious about this club then lets see you start to communicate with the fans (your customers) and get this club once again UNITED !!!

  30. Ashley needs the Toon to launder his cash. He will take any money he makes out of the team and into his personal wealth. he will then blub like a baby whenever the going gets rough. He will sell players if he needs more cash. He might even sell the ground into another company, lease it back and burn the thing down for the insurance. He hates us. But the feeling is mutual. The discussion about moving on etc are very interesting, and good to have. But all talk about the future is futile whilst we have this failed businessman as an owner.

  31. Ashley should just be done with it & take the club to a new location a la MKDons, we should start a fresh with AFC Newcastle. let the fat prick sit in an empty stadium with nekkid Lamearse for company

  32. I’m sorry but this was coming all along, he was never going to sell the club for 80/100 million or whatever price he was throwing around, why would he do that when he knows that IF Newcastle United gets promoted he could sell the club for double that. What people are forgetting is that Mike Ashley is a businessman, he knows how to work people, even us and quite frankly i’m pissed off with it all.

  33. I think it’s time for some fans to pull their heads out of their arses when it comes to Mike Ashleys business decisions… How concieted and self centred some fans have become. Get over yourselves, do you honestly think that all of MA’s business decisions are a aimed at upseting you and are some form of retaliation!.. I think the word is delusional…. Is NUFC the first club to sell the naming rights of their stadium… No it is not.All over the world this kind of thing goes on every day. It is not an attack on the fans it is a chance to raise some revenue for the club.. and please don’t respond to this comment by saying “it will just line his pockets” The club still has debts to pay off and who knows, we may be able to afford those “big name” signings some fans desperately crave. St James park will alway be St James Park to me. I don’t care what the sticker says on the exterals of the stadium. We all know in our hearts what the stadium is called and what it will always be known as… Please stop taking every thing MA says or does as a personal assault…..

  34. Money talks. And Mr Ashleys spent too much of it and still got relegated. He’ll do what he likes because thats what he always does. But maybe when NUFC get re-established in the Premier leagure he might change it back? Change the name for a few years and lets get the club back where it belongs…

  35. NUFC fan – post 42. You are right and wrong, mike ashley has spent a load of dosh for sure but he has spent nothing on the football first team at all, he is actually in 2 million profit on who has been sold as to who has been bought. How can you mention’ and still got relegated’. we got relegated through lack of investment where it counts – on the pitch on a saturday. If he had backed KK we would have still had him as manager and we would still be in the prem. Dont get me wrong though, i now no longer think of KK in the same way since he tried to shaft NUFC for 26 million. That was out of order, no matter what anyone says. I think that we will never get promoted under Ahley, not ever. It requires spending money on the pitch. You need to be in it for the love to justify spending the cash. Ashley is not in it for the love. He would rather loose a miilion on the spin of a wheel than at nufc. Thank God the council own the stadium, thats all i cansay, otherwise it would be a block of flats by now.

  36. Stardust why not call it the Red Bus Arena?
    You comments have left me totally speechless.

  37. hughton must be a total mug to work for that fat t**t,no say in the players who come in.
    i would have thought more of chris,if he had of told ashley where to stick his job,just shows what kind of a puppet he is going to be.
    the renaming of the stadium is one stroke too many imo,if it was a new stadium fair enough,but this is sacrelige.
    newcastle united has no future under this lunatics stewardship,we are moving forward on and off the pitch on our way to league 1.

  38. Fat cockney bastard!
    I hope you die in your sleep you fat fu-king piece of sh-t!
    U fat fukin w-nker!
    BASTARD PRICK W-NKER!
    You have well and truly ruined our gracious club..bastard!!

  39. A quick off-the-top-of-my-head suggestion:

    * Try to organise a boycott of Direct Sports (soon to involve, I’m sure, Direct Sports’ Stadium) stores:
    * Simply implore people to shop elsewhere.
    * A quiet protest in the front of shops telling people to please shop elsewhere. Do not in anyway actually hinder people’s entry into the stores.
    * Contacting the newspapers to tell them what NUFC supporters are doing (the above). So many of the papers love to report and go on about us Toon supporters, so they’d probably take up the cause. Get those that really care (e.g. Caulkin etc.) to take up the cause.
    * Contact other media outlets (esp. things like podcasts and radio programs—those that full-on supporters are likely to be listening to) to simply mention the fact that SJP is going to be renamed. The more that are aware of it, the larger the potential supporter base.
    * Now don’t laugh at this bit: trying to get other clubs’ supporters involved. e.g. Going to a MUFC supporters’ board and telling them what we’re doing. Tell them not to shop at Direct Sports. Tell them to imagine renaming Old Trafford. Yeah, sure .. many will give us stick, but some may pay attention.
    * Contact the companies that currently advertise and/or own corporate boxes at St James’ (Direct Sports’ Stadium) Park and, very formally, ask them to please contact NUFC’s marketing and sales department and suggest that they do not change the name. If any companies that you contact tell you to f**k off, say that’ll you’ll organise boycotting their shops/company etc too.

    All just a suggestion and one that would require A LOT of organisation … but spread the word around through NUSC, NUFC.com, True Faith, popular message boards and then try to focus everyone’s attention to one particular website/spot that co-ordinates all of this.

    What I have in mind is something that Liverpool supporters’ did recently … and achieved:
    http://thenyckopites.blogspot.com/2009/05/…n-condemns.html

    Yes, it’s something completely different to whats happening to us … but it does show that boycotting can work.

    Do not:
    – promote anything to do with violence or direct abuse at the vile man (the reasons why are obvious)
    – draw the players’ attention from what they have to do on the pitch—they do not need the distraction. As such, I would not boycott match day games.

    Make it a co-ordinated and sustained boycott of things that effect him financially.

    In anything to do with writing emails to media and companies, I’m more than prepared to help.

  40. Theres not much else to add to the comments already made.

    I’m gutted, and I truly hate being a NUFC fan these days. The heart and soul is slowly being ripped out of our club, and there is nothing any of us can do.

    We will never move forward under Mike Ashley. Fact.

  41. There looking for sponsors for the kit and club.

    One problem. Their looking for this as a Championship club. The sponsorship revenue is going to be far less than if we were in the Championship.

    Bit test for Ashley is January. If we have a typical Ashley transfer window we know he’s not committed to getting us promoted and successful.

    After promotion then what? He won’t be investing the type of cash needed to stay in the division let alone be successfull. I estimate that to be at least £25m.

  42. Tragic that the fans turning up in their droves to matches has backfired spectacularly, loyalty has cost us a new owner as if the matchday income had not been there, neither would Ashley.

  43. I’ve just woke up to read all these comments & I’m gobsmacked that Ashley wants to change the name of the stadium, that’s a diabolical idea, no matter if it does bring in a little money, that money won’t go on buying new players, just to pay the dross we currently have wages!!
    As for some of the comments made on here, I wish some of you would actually re-read what you’ve posted before you press that submit button because you must have written them while you’re a sleep or summit!!
    Stardust, you’re a complete mackem knob mate, every forum, blog or news I read, you’ve put some crap about the TOON & no one, I mean no one every agrees with what you’re saying, so why not save us all a headache & vanish ok mate :(
    Naming rights, if NUST have a supposed £20m, why don’t they invest it in renaming the stadium becuase now Ashley has taken the club off the market, you have nowt else to spend it on!!!
    This has got to be my lowest day as a TOON fan, rant over!

  44. Don’t want the ground renamed? Simple: organise the fans to say that we will protest – and boycott – anyone who takes over the naming rights.

    You want to spend £20m, generate bad publicity AND lose business by doing so? I don’t think so…

  45. im shocked,stardust dont use arsenal they moved stadium,stardust shame on you.stardust wake up m8,changing the name of stjames is a massive isult.

  46. Stardust, stop being a PIG!

    You are a wind up merchant.

    I am SURE that even your friends that you drink with hate you!

  47. Name me one other traditional football ground that they have renamed? And I’m not talking about when teams have been re-housed to another gaff. That actually makes sense rather than being contentious for me. However, I was a wrench leaving the old place behind, the like of Highbury, Roker, Ayresome Park. Because that’s what a ground means to supporters.

    This isn’t like that though. It’s scant regard and a lack of respect for what’s gone before and what the place means to us. They can keep their money, thanks very much.

    I’m a little calmer this morning but still as indignant.

  48. spurs fan ……

    we are having to accept the change of name
    from white hart lane to….arab/thai tel/ airline .whatever?….. in line with a new stadium development…….which would be ok but not everyone is happy.and hope to keep “the lane” somehow but really the fans will give it a nickname probably ….but to change the name with the existing ground would not be accepted…..and premature

    if he needs the extra revenue then look for other ways
    to generate finance…..cant see liverpool doing it etc

    its important to not lose toonfans even more as ashley is trying to secure the club future….

    the finance boys surely can think of other commercial
    ideas?

    Good Luck to Chris hughton this season!

  49. BBM – Didn’t Arysome park become the McCain stadium for a while, before they moved to their new place?

    In all honesty I’m surprised it’s taken the club this long to pimp out the stadium when other clubs have been doing it for years. Still doesn’t make it right though. I enjoy the fact that we still have a stadium with a traditional name, rather than a corporate stadium name. Even in America,what brings more emotion to a venue, calling it The Fed Ex Arena or Madison Square Garden?

    So, in the bigger picture, what a lot of us have been saying for months has finally happened. Mike Ashley is here to stay, at least for another season, possibly two going by the dates on CH’s contract. I said all along he would gamble on us getting promoted and then look to sell us in the PL. So the only surprise in the statement was the renaming of the ground.

  50. All

    As a liverpool fan I wish you all the best in fighting this crap. Its been said many times, but you are a quality set of fans who deserve better.

    We both follow decent working class clubs, with proper traditions and understanding of what it is al about. But the truth is that this is no longer a working class sport, its a business.

    There was a time when football was all about creating something to look forward to in life for the people that didnt have very much to look forward to. That has gone, it is now a plaything for those with a couple of hours to spare to take clients to and for rich business men to make money by selling shirts in Asia.

    But dbsweeney seems to have a plan. Good luck making yourselves heard.

  51. Aaron, agreed. It seems these days that football clubs are just pimped around the mega rich like they are the latest watch or car. Look at your owners, can’t even stand to be in the same room as one another. I’ve always had a soft spot for Liverpool, probably because, for some reason I was a big Ian Rush fan. I think it must have been the ‘tache. :-)

  52. yous lot are quite rightly getting worked up by ashley changing the name of the stadium. However, dont get worked up by stardust.
    1. He does not have a season ticket.
    2. He does not go to the match.
    3. He rarely makes it to the bar to watch the away games on tv cos he has to go shopping.
    4. In his early 20s, he used to take turns to go to newcastle matches and yes, sunderland matches.!
    5. He is at home all day so has nothing better to do than wind yous up however believe me, he does believe wot he writes.

    In summary you are listening to and getting worked up by a nick griffin / david icke character. He is thriving on the attention you are giving him.
    Please make a concerted effort to ignore him. I have personally told him i wont speak to him about it again and he has took a hissy fit like the little child he is.

    Believe me. I know him. He is loving your attention. You wont convince him and the more outrageous ashley becomes the stardust thrives on it.

  53. Micky – didnt think Anfield has been a good hunting ground for you boys. Some of the great games though.

    You guys just need to see what the ordinary people can do when they stand up to the big boys. Look at what happened to the Sun in Liverpool.

    However it seems right now, without you they are nothing.

  54. just got informed this by a friend as ive not been on for a while …..WTF!!!!!! is that idiot thinking

    Were not fans anymore to him were just customers .. thats what it boils down to … maybe he hasnt put a penny in his pocket from the club …. but i tell you hes taken its heart and soul,

    i just hope not from us Fans

  55. Aaron, no Anfield has not been a good ground for us, results wise. But it’s always a cracking atmosphere.
    I don’t know if you will see this, but how do you feel about the clubs plans to leave Anfield? There were rumours about you and Everton ground sharing. Now that would be a disaster. At one point we were going to build this big new super stadium next to SJP and give SJP to the Rugby team. However some old woman put up a petition to stop it and it went no where. The owners at the time (Sir John Hall) even threatened to take us over the river into Gateshead, if he didn’t get permission to build.

  56. Comforting to see other fans of clubs steeped in tradition that understand the feelings of our fans, and wishing us well.

    Cheers, and all the best lads.

  57. Alreet, i’m not having this at all in any way shape or form in any form anyone can conceptualise or otherwise in this lifetime or the next.

    Utterly,utterly raging,not for the first time,not for the last time.No more,not now not ever,we all have to protest,there is no other way. What happened to the proud tradition of this area in fighting injustice.

    They may have taken us out of the mines and shipyards and lashed us all in callcentres. Does this mean we will just standby like it’s not happening?

    A first step could be, join this, http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/group.php?gid=33558482027&ref=ts which doesn’t mean joining some daft Facebook group,it does mean a statement of intent that takes 5 seconds of your and not buying a single thing from this souless bastard not now, not ever. Invite your friends to join on the same basis and see it through.

    I paid £15 more recently for my annual pair of Gazelles than i would have at Shit Direct, it felt good.

  58. Micky – think its inevitable really. We currently lose about £1m per game on the Mancs. This has to be fixed or we’ll just fall further and further behind. For all of the obvious rivalry, those guys have been run properly for some time now. I’d obviously prefer to just expand the ground (which I think was the original plan), but that idea never really got off the ground.

    The idea of sharing a ground with the toffees on the otherhand is ridiculous. Why dont we just have neutral grounds that we all take turns in using??!?! What is the point in having a home ground if its not your home?

    Anyway, Ive a lot of time for your boys too. We’ve got many links between the two clubs and hope to see you back in the top flight soon.

    YNWA

  59. Monkeyspantry – All the fight went out when cheap credit came in. No one, these days, gives a flying about anyone else.

  60. Micky,i do. I care about you all.Thats a start,come and join my merry band of normal gadgies. Me Granda wouldn’t have stood for it,we can’t have him spinning in his grave again, he always had a gammy back from stooping over the seam, we got a canny pay out a couple of years ago for that and his f–ked lungs that killed him.

    Wasn’t that good down the pit back in the day then,no need whatsoever for us all to voluntarily put our minds back in the dark place in the modern age.

    If we do nowt we are all quite literally sucking Thatchers c–k. Enjoy your dinners on your 15 minute ‘break’,make sure you hit your targets by 4pm or some sellout dafty won’t give you a gold star on the magic woofle board and give you a brown star report to Mr Udagawa.

    He should have never bought Lassiters from Paul Robinson.

    Bowburn,respect to you and this site you’re a true Geordie of NUFC,Kenny Everett will be looking down all proud today.

  61. I’m probably going to get slated for this but I could live with the stadium having an official sponser. I could live with hearing Sky Sports saying ‘We’re going over live to St James Park – officially sponsored by Coca Cola (or whatever)’, but I couldn’t take hearing the stadium being named ‘The Coca-Cola (or whatever) Stadium’.

    This sort of thing is inevitable and for the club to compete financially they have to look at every possible option without compromising the club’s dignity. But selling the actual name of the club’s stadium would be a step too far.

  62. Pons,i’m not going to slate you mate. But i can’t live with St James’ being tainted in any way personally.

  63. so the tribunal says ashley and cockney mafia members lied to the fans and he thinks he should hang around.
    does he think we are idiots ? certainly he has no respect for the nufc fans.

    it was sad sir bobby passed away but at least he doesn’t get to see what they have done to us.

    people slate KK but he and people like shearer and sir les must think WTF and can it get any worse.

    i agree with all the comments here and wish ashley would just f**k off.

    people will slate me but i would rather a boycott to us down a division if only to get rid of fat boy. sooner or later we are not going to care what happens if only it gets rid of the owner

    regards to you all

  64. I’ve been a season ticket holder since 1989 and sat through The Magpie Group, Save our Seats, ‘The Leazes’, Bring back the noise and counteless other signs of unhappy & unrest but the one uniting factor amongst all of them was a belief that we, the supporters of this proud club carried the largest voice.

    We never protested against progress, we never demonstrated against making the club a better place, but we did make sure that our voice was heard during these changes and we liked to feel that it was being heard and at least considered.

    Now, with Mr Ashley in charge, there is a feeling, nay expectation that our voice no longer counts for anything. We are not respected, we are not valued, we are not even thought of – we are the faceless consumers who Mr A sees as a line on a balance sheet, a line which if this month is a bit low doesn’t really matter because he makes losses regularly and his accountants find a way to just write them off.

    I despair for the future of our club, not because the team can’t compete or the fans will stop turning up, but becase Ashley is in this only for one thing – to try and make money and we all know that owning a football club is a lot of things, but a cash cow it never will be.

  65. Stardust is a lonely little man living on netto brand cornflakes flicking himself off to his videos of Dallas what a turf burgler

  66. On reading most of the above statements I can only comment “get real for Ch***t sake”, unbelievable childish and emotion filled outburst`s, over the propose renaming of a stadium.
    Everyone knows it`s St. James`es Park.
    If it brings in some additional revenue by renaming, good.
    Doubt if any of this is real emotion, more likely a perfect opportunity to have a crack at the reviled Mike Ashley.
    No wonder we are the laughing stock of football, it`s a commonplace thing in to-days world, to rename stadia, get used to it, does`nt mean you have to like it.
    The other choice is, put up or shut up, in other words ante up the required amount to keep the name, could add it onto the price of a ticket.
    See how many really care that much then.

  67. Chuck,it is real emotion,is about St James and is about Ashley you souless corporate zombie.

  68. On the one hand, this could be seen as a genuine source of revenue as the NR sponsorship money has never been available to Ashley since it was all spent by Shepherd way in advance, mostly on Michael Owen.
    On the other hand (and in my opinion the truth of the matter), Ashley is simply taking the p**s out of the supporters.
    I can’t imagine any company paying a significant sum just to have their name plastered over an edifice which will always be referred to as St. James’s Park in any case, and will more than likely bring nothing but negative connotations given the almost unanimous disgust this announcement has engendered.
    Yes, he’s just having a go. I wouldn’t put it past him to change the strip to red and white. Really.

  69. Shouldn’t ye be meeting Chip for a game of racquetball like chuck, instead of trying to rationalise hyper-commercialism to people who deserve better?

  70. Hey just cause we are soulless corporate zombies or into racquets, does`nt mean we are bad people, or not have the best interest`s of NUFC@ heart.

  71. St James Pk since before 1892 and nothing that fat cockney twat does will change that Can he sink no lower ? The answer to that is probably yes It will not b long b4 we r wearing red n white stripes !

  72. Why can’t the fans make it clear that whoever buys the name rights we would boycott any product related to that. Also, once we get rid of Ashley can we change the name back. that prat is getting his own back on the fans who want him out!  He never intended to sell the club as that’s what the fans wanted.

  73. You sad geordie bastards fancying having a name like that for a stadium! Fat mike is legend in sunderland if i ever c him il gladly buy him a pint! The rolls royce tag has gone forever!!! Unlucky. FTM