Ashley’s a vandal, say MPs
Posted on February 22nd, 2012 | 58 Comments |
Ashley’s plans to rename St James’ Park after his T-shirt company have certainly caused a stir, one that stretches as far as House of Commons.
12 MPs have signed a Commons motion condemning Ashley’s attempts to strip away 100 years of history in favour of shifting a few more shirts. Those that signed the motion – should you wish to either vote for them or pelt them with eggs, depending upon your particular stance on the matter – are Labour MPs Ian Mearns, Pat Glass, Catherine McKinnell, Chi Onwurah, Nick Brown, Ian Lavery, Dennis Skinner, David Anderson, Mary Glindon, Stephen Hepburn, Alex Cunningham and Sir Alan Meale.
Their motion brands the act as ‘corporate vandalism’ and David Anderson, Labour MP for Blaydon, said:
“They’ve got no interest whatsoever in the ordinary football fan. They are ignoring the people who have made this the club what it is, who spent more than 100 years building this club up into an icon for our region.
“It is total disrespect for the history and culture of our region.“
Ashley and his less rotund sidekick claim that the S_____ D_____ A____ moniker is only there to ‘showcase’ the whole idea of renaming, presumably because other companies are too stupid to understand what renaming a stadium in their image means. The S_____ D_____ name, we are told, is just transitory until a sponsor comes along and pays us many millions for the privilege, a point that has been discussed at length in such posts as ‘Mike Ashley’s big, fat, St James’ Park lie?‘ by my colleague.
Newcastle City Council has already lodged their disapproval of the renaming and stated that it will not be changing any of its own signage and that it’s still St James’ Park as far as they are concerned.
Since the St James’ Park sign was removed by the club it has twice been repainted by ‘activists’, although the first guy that tried only got as far as ‘St James’ before the local rozzers felt his collar.
The club as so far refused to comment on the Commons motion, which is hardly a surprise – I doubt Ashley could give two hoots what fans, City Councils and MPs think.
The motion
Newcastle United and the renaming of St James’ Park
“That this House deeply regrets the decision to rebrand the historic home of Newcastle United Football Club, St James’ Park; condemns the corporate vandalism perpetrated by the clubs owners in removing the name “St James’ Park” from the stadium; warmly endorses the now famous front page banner headline of the local Evening Chronicle ‘St James’ Park and Always Will Be’; notes that the Chief Executive of Newcastle’s new shirt sponsor, Virgin Money has added her concerns about the rebranding and hopes that others will follow her example; notes that Newcastle City Council have debated and agreed a motion stating that the Council have no plans to change any way-finding signs which bear the name St James’ Park, rather than the name of Mike Ashley’s business; and urges Mike Ashley the owner of Newcastle United to reconsider his decision.”
Just to refresh your memory, the chief executive of Vorgin Money, Jayne-Anne Ghadia, said of the name change:
“I don’t think that would be right for Newcastle. St James’ Park is part of the heritage of Newcastle and it’s important to local people, so for me it should be called St James’ Park.”
Have MP’s got nothing better to do?????????