Ashley’s a vandal, say MPs

Posted on February 22nd, 2012 | 58 Comments |

MPs table a commons motion about the renaming of St James' Park.
Identity crisis for our ground.
The renaming of Newcastle United’s ground continues to rankle people, this time in parliament where a Commons motion has been taken out to object to it.

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.”

NUFCBlog Author: Hugh de Payen I'm a baby-boomer of the punk rock persuasion, currently exiled in Somerset for crimes committed in a previous life where locals keep trying to poison me with something called 'scrumpy'. Hates sprouts, coat-hangers, Cilla Black, ornaments, Steven Seagull movies and 50 Cent (he's not worth 10). Hugh de Payen has written 634 articles on this blog.

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58 Responses

  2. I’m sure Mike Ashle will be quaking in his boots.

    I’m also sure that all these parliamentarians will be giving up their private boxes and reserved seating at the ground in protest and/or will no longer accept complimentary hospitality from the club.

    And I’m also sure that they will demand that Mike Ashley close down all the Sports Direct shops in their constituences as a matter of principle and solidarity with all Novocastrians and if people lose their jobs it’s a price worth paying especially in Bolsover that hot bed of support for Newcastle United.

  6. Summer, if you’re in Newcastle have you tried the “Back Page?”

    http://www.tbpsportsmemorabilia.co.uk/

    56 St Andrews Street, Toon.

    Also I have a link for a site that specialises in classic football DVDs from the old times.

    http://www.classicfootballdvds.com/

    1971-73 (when he played for NUFC) on this page would be a good place to start:

    http://www.classicfootballdvds.com/footballleagueold.htm

    Then the Cup competitions and suchlike. I noticed he had Supermac’s SJP debut, the hatrick where he got carried off on a stretcher, which is nice.

  9. Naming the ground is surely the right of the ground owner?

    He/she can call it what he/she or a sponsor damn well likes, surely?

    Football is a business and like it or not, will be run as such or the Rangers FC disaster will happen a lot more often.

    Whether fans will call it St. James’ Park, or Aunt Bessie’s Frozen Produce Stadium is irrelevant in terms of the club’s financial status.

    To Geordies it’ll be ST. J P, to the rest it’ll be a ground where enter the name on their sat-navs just to watch their team get stuffed.

    Which is what matters.

  10. Is anyone else thinking its time to let this one go, it is sad knowing the names gone but if the team carries on the way there going there going to be a massive success! I dont agree with everything ashley does but the majority of things have done good!
    The club and team have far exceeded expectations! Ashleys changes wont stop at this, so its better to behind the team! Us, the players or the mps cant change

  11. It’s sad. People suggest to let this go because it’s the path of least resistance and we’re inured to expect everything worthwhile in life to be easy.

    The statement is just a bit over the top. “Corporate vandalism” aside, we can get everyone on the same page and getting over it when we get a real sponsor paying a real fee for the PRIVILEGE of putting their name on the park. The current situation stinks of cronyism and provocation. If you pinch your nose hard enough, I guess you can convince yourself otherwise.

  12. tunyc says:
    February 22, 2012 at 6:54 pm

    “we can get everyone on the same page and getting over it when we get a real sponsor paying a real fee for the PRIVILEGE of putting their name on the park.”

    That isn’t going to happen though tunyc. The “showcase” idea was a ruse from the start, and was always destined to ruin any slim chance of it working in the first place. As I wrote in one of my pieces, potential sponsors want to be associated with Newcastle United, not Sports Direct and they certainly don’t want Sports Direct’s “sloppy seconds.” That will denigrate their brand, not enhance it. What is more they would only be interested if the fans had been consulted beforehand and were agreeable to it, the fee was far lower than the one which has been quoted, and indeed, quoting a figure at all was a disatrous move as far as potential outside sponsorship is concerned.

    Though Ashley can afford to consult with the very best marketing and PR consultants, this has broken so many of the cardinal rules of sponsorship that one can only presume that it is actually designed to fail in much the same manner as Mel Brooks’ fictitious musical, “Springtime for Hitler”, and that it will remain as the “SDA” for quite some time.

  13. “Let This One Go”??? Are you serious? Are you a Geordie? How old are you??

    For the record – Newcastle United and St James’ Park are known throughout the world of football. St James’ Park – a venue that has seen football history being made, great players throughout history, fantastic european nights. A venue where our fathers and grandfathers stood and went through the same emotions that we do. The bond between the team the ground and the fans is a strong one, a historical bond, a family bond.

    Geordies don’t give that sort of thing up easily. It’s our history, our heritage, our tradition – and a T-shirt salesman from London can’t be expected to appreciate that.

    But we do.

    “Let this one go???”

    Never.

  14. The name change is as mercenary as it appears, and as tunyc says, was never intended to attract anyone, quite the opposite. The Virgin spokesman proved that point because it thoroughly deterred even our very wealthy shirt sponsor from using the club’s brand to enhance it’s presence in the north East as successor to the once-popular and locally identifiaable Northern Rock. It is designed to stay as an ever-present subliminal along with all the stand and pitchside hoardings, by being radomly mentioned by tv pundits in the same way as is Reebok, JD Sports, JJB… It should never be ‘let go’ as that will be the day MA realises he has eroded our value of SJP. In the meantime, I am happy to feed from the crumbs falling from the table with cheap ticket offers, snazzy team-based leisure wear, our team being relatively successful, and it’s future, financially & talent-wise, seemingly stable. But MA will not get admiration from me until he behaves like he has a shred of respect for his punters, a big ask for a man who won’t give you your money back if you don’t like his tatty trainer socks.

  16. 1901 – Newcastle United 1, Liverpool 0 at a stadium called “St James’ Park.” As filmed by Mitchell and Kenyon.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DhjTX39xKB4

    Our goal was scored by Bob McColl, subsequently of McColl’s newsagents fame. This film also includes foptage of a previously unknown stand on the Barrack Rd side of the ground, which was demolished in 1905.

    Some so called fans are willing to throw all that history away for something which, far from benifitting the club will actually denigrate it, and all because we had a run of 11 good games at the beginning of one season.

    I’ll never “let this go” either.

  18. Part of my studies over many years deal with how old cultures, once rich & vibrant, are taken over by new outside cultures. The “natives” find their traditions and lifestyles gradualy altered in form, value & meaning by the “invaders” who recognise and value the power & status of the traditions but have no respect for their real meaning.

    These could be cultural, material, economic, political or military invaders (or elements of each) but the result is usualy the same – the traditions become gradualy worthless to the invaders, loose their meaning and fall out of use.

    If you have read this far then you will have seen the parallel – do you want SJP to end up like the pyramids or Easter Island statues? Relics for the amusement of tourists – with stories of lost greatness and dareing deeds of years ago?

    It’s up to you!

  19. Supermac – I grasp your explanation but not the point. Are you for stadium renaming, against, or are you saying it is destined to become moot in the context of human history(which applies essentially to just about everything)?

  20. UTD111 & Workey totally agree lads I will never ‘let this one go’ I find it hard to believe some of these comments are written by Geordies. As you say me, my father, my grandfather and great grandfather have all been to St James’ Park witnessing the high’s & lows in the great history of our club. The question probably would be asked ‘What’s in a name?’ everything in my opinion.

  21. Supermac, well, my career isn’t “in ruins” like yours, but I do have a very strong interest in things such as geopolitics, seeing and learning about different cultures around the world and more recent history. You can see it happening now in terms of “cultural imperialism” and the homogenisation of the world in general through globalisation. The things which once bound cultures together, gave them identity and made the world a wonderful and diverse place become as you write, quaint “relics for the amusement of tourists”.

    Newcastle United is becoming homogenised and without it’s own identity. Without it’s own identity and it’s own traditions the club is hardly worth supporting and I’ve supported Newcastle United since the ‘seventies.

    Llambias himself said when he announced the name change:

    “We understand that side of it, if fans continue to call it St. James’ Park. But it is the sponsor’s responsibility as well as ours to move forward, time will dissolve that.”

  22. lualua17 says:

    February 22, 2012 at 11:47 pm

    “UTD111 & Workey totally agree lads I will never ‘let this one go’ I find it hard to believe some of these comments are written by Geordies.”

    Sadly I’m not so surprised lualua, Ashley is a very divisive character.

    Tsunki, if you liked the video above, here’s two fleeting glimpses of the greatest Newcastle United team ever, the team that won three of our four League titles so far (1905/1907/1909).

    The first is another one against Liverpool at SJP, in 1905 this time. It also features that stand again just before it was demolished. One of our lot’s smirkin’ a tab as he walks out on to the pitch :lol:

    The second one is of the 1910 cup final against Barnsley which we won eventually. By all accounts it was a very innovative, modern and stylish team for it’s day which preferred elegance to mere brute force. The first match was a 1-1 draw, but we won the replay 2-0

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7mD3WczRmqQ

  23. For the record, worky-of course you’re right. Just setting it up.

    Great videos-but isn’t the first clip in the post above from the same match as the first video you posted? Some of the action is the same.

  24. My point is “It’s up to you!”
    Accept it or reject it.
    It’s one more aspect of loosing a local/ regional/ national identity.
    Look at any list you care to make of changes that caused uproar at the time but have been meekly absorbed.
    They took us out of Durham & stuck us in Tyne & Wear – almost universal complaint but quickly forgotten.
    They took away (after 1,000 years) half crowns & tanners and gave us Ps.
    They took away nice sping temperatures of 61f and gave us chilly sounding 16c.
    Replaced iconic red phone boxes with blue ones with a flying fairy painted on them.
    Even NUFC bloggers criticised me on here when I called our no 9 shirt iconic because a centre forward was part of our tradition – most said it was “old fashioned” “holding us back in the modern game” and we should “move on”.

    Fair enough. Things change.

    Well, “It’s up to you!” stick with it
    – or accept it as “old fashioned and move on”.

  25. Superman something don’t matter to us. Lots of us don’t have an issue with who wears the no.9. This was just as much a ruse as the re-naming. I don’t think for one second mike, lamearse and pardew actually care enough about the fans to hold back the no.9 shirt “because it means a lot to people up here” the new no.9 playing at st.James park means a lot more.

    Why oh why would they even pretend to have our best interests at heart in making a player “earn” the number 9 shirt when they knew they were going to take away something much more precious

    Let’s not kid ourselves, pardew, ashley and lamearse are all in it together to make a buck. Yes we are flying high but at what cost? To sell our soul for poor clothing and to keep kids in work in sweat shops in Laos.

    You can shove you’re number 9 where the sun don’t shine.

    And supermac I’m surprised you even question the validity of heritage, the collesium in Rome will always be the collesium. Unless you are going to tell me, even that is not immune from corporate slander and graphiti.

  26. I’ll reject it thanks.

    Call me old fashioned but I’m proud to be a Geordie…

    …if we never win the cup again, I’ll brave the dark at ST. JAMES’S PARK, at the Gallowgate End in the rain,
    Am coming home…

  29. Aye Glen,
    Especially as I’m living doon sooth, that song always meks iz bubble. Even Alan Price’s Jarrow Song still effects me.
    But nowt changes – still getting screwed by the corporation.

  31. prophet stephen c says:
    February 23, 2012 at 5:54 pm

    “Superman something don’t matter to us. Lots of us don’t have an issue with who wears the no.9. This was just as much a ruse as the re-naming.”

    I’m not sure about that, but I was thinking similar things Stephen.

    John Hall kind of rewrote alot of our history back in the ‘nineties along with his “Geordie Nation” cobblers. He actually edited out alot of it with all his blah blah Jackie Milburn, blah blah Alan Shearer… There’s much more to Newcastle’s football than number 9s and as Chuck once rightly said, the fetishisation of a big centre forward ties the club to a certain rather simplistic and direct style. I’m not so sure that we were always so fixated on this number 9 thing before that.

    Personally I wouldn’t even say that our most important player in recent times was Alan Shearer; it was the artist, the goalmaker supreme, Pedro.

  32. prophet stephen c says: “And supermac I’m surprised you even question the validity of heritage, the collesium in Rome will always be the collesium”
    – don’t you see that in this case YOU are the outsider who has usurped the native traditions? It is a subtle trap – interpretations change and memories lapse until you end up with what you picture as what you call the collesium – the original fans may have no idea what you are refering to, others may think you are talking about a night club!

  33. Aye,
    Pedro forever!

    The MAN!

    Surely the ones who care less about the name change are the ones that should worry (about their attitude)…The ones that DO care surely don’t have to worry ‘cos they’ll just carry on calling it SJP like they always have & always will?

    That old clip showed how old sponsorship/business interests is/are in the game.

    I’ve always preferred the name ‘Gallowgate’ personally, it sounds more gnarly & imposing than some nod to a fairy tale religious fakir.

    ;)

  34. CLiNT FLiCK says:
    February 23, 2012 at 10:52 pm

    “The ones that DO care surely don’t have to worry ‘cos they’ll just carry on calling it SJP like they always have & always will?”

    Many people say that, but it’s mostly self deception Clint – The name will pass in time if people excuse themselves.

    “Who controls the past controls the future. Who controls the present controls the past.”

  35. Ya’ can’t force the non-carers to care though mate.

    People still refer to telecom tower as ‘the post office tower’ ffs!

    :)

    It’ll always be: (in no particular order) Saint James’ Park, SJP, Gallowgate, Barrack Rd., the Cathedral on the hill, Hyem etc. I’m sure there are others.

  36. Rules are meant to be smashed to pieces, then danced on, while laughing in the face of the powers that be, defiantly, perpetually, just as a matter of rote.

  39. CLiNT FLiCK says:
    February 23, 2012 at 11:24 pm

    “Ya’ can’t force the non-carers to care though mate.”

    You’ve obviously never worked in PR or advertising Clint.

  40. And it will always be Marathon not snickers.
    Starburst – bollix, they’re opal Fruits!

    I’m gannin to St. James’ Park, others can go to the Imports Rejects Urinal if they want.

  41. @ Hoolie

    Unfortunately I don’t remember Marathons, or Opal Fruits, the same way the our kids children will not remember SJP – only SDA…or which ever it will be called in 2,5,10 years time.

    :-(

  42. Dreamer says: “which ever it will be called in 2,5,10 years time” – or until a genuine sponor appears or Big Brother sells up!
    Let’s hope a new owner will instantly reverse the title – but only until it suits them otherwise I suppose.

    What worries me is that I agree with the MP for Blaydon – which proves that I’m loosing my sanity.

  43. Soh ! it’s spelled St. James’Park eh!
    Never knew the exact way to spell it.

    Appears there has been little interest by any corporation or business to invest money in re-naming the stadium or using their logo for the purpose of advertising.
    Obviously the prime candidate would have been “Virgin”,
    however even they probably consider it too toxic at this time.
    Stupid is as stupid does, perhaps at some future time there may be an interest in sponsoring a company logo, but at present, the only money involved , has been the cost of tearing down a cultural icon and replacing it with a sign that symbolizes all that the NUFC fans detest about the present ownership.
    Then again there may be no plan whatsoever to actually give those big money guys, Nike,O2, etc., the opportunity to get into a bidding war over the rights and simply have the SD symbols as another adjunct to the Mike Ashley business conglomerate, which appears to be buying up companies, with the recent windfall of profits generated by increased sales.

    About the no. 9# shirt, do i have to explain it to y’all again ?
    The debates about the number are of a fairly recent nature.
    Yes back in the day there was a certain pride in NUFC teams employing great center forwards, “Hughie Gallacher”, “Wor Jackie”, etc. but one has to remember shirt numbers were only numbered from 2# to 11#.
    There were no other numbers and of course whoever played in the center forward role wore the no 9# shirt.
    Same as whoever played in the Center half role automatically wore the no.5# shirt.
    (dont mention this to Ashley, he may bring back the 2# Thru 11# numbers saving money on having to add names, and having the substituted player hand over his shirt to his replacement)
    It appears in to-days game the two to eleven numbers are meaningless, due to having done away with the fifties& sixties lineups plus the fact names have now become a part of the shirt in order to identify the player and certain players obviously favoring certain numbers.
    To get back to the point, having had certain iconic center forwards Malcolm McDonald, Shearer, etc. who all wore the old center forward no9. it’s become even more of an iconic piece of bullshit, that represents a time long past and a style of football consigned to the ashbin of history and it annoys the hell out of me when i hear fans chunder on about it and it’s importance.
    May the no 9# shirt RIP.

  44. chuck says:
    February 24, 2012 at 4:45 pm

    “Soh ! it’s spelled St. James’Park eh!
    Never knew the exact way to spell it.

    Appears there has been little interest by any corporation or business to invest money in re-naming the stadium or using their logo for the purpose of advertising.
    Obviously the prime candidate would have been “Virgin”,
    however even they probably consider it too toxic at this time.”

    I always used to write “St James’s” and both are correct, but I switched to St James’ as that’s what was on the sign, or WAS anyway (bastads).

    As I’ve written several times before, it’s also way too expensive Chuck. Pay attention! ;-)

    Even if it wasn’t “toxic” the amount raised through a name change would only be a fraction of the sums mentioned. As I’ve also written, Arsenal only get around £2.8 million per annum in real terms for the Emirates and that had no history so it wasn’t toxic. Other similar examples such as Borussia Dortmund and the Sydney Olympic stadium raise around £3.5m and £4 million per annum respectively. It’s the shirts which which raise far more.

    When I first started supporting it was in the latter days of Supermac. He was massive of course, but I don’t recall constant waffle about “the iconic number 9,” just Supermac and the fact he scored alot of goals. I’m prepared to stand corrected though as I was a bairn at the time, though I seem to recall the guff started with Hall and Shearer.

    Another thing which you didn’t mention was the shirts. You’d just take a black n white scarf down to the game back on the old days, but now the marketing twats have manipulated people into thinking that you aren’t a proper fan unless you wear a shirt to games, and you’re made to feel like a leper if you don’t. I’ve never done football shirts unless I was actually playing football.

  45. “I don’t recall constant waffle about “the iconic number 9” mmmmmmm ? I don’t know. Certainly in the days of the Mighty Wynn we compared him to Wor Jackie and felt that the wold felt better with a top CF.
    And comentators & newspapers regularly talked about the 9 shirt – or at least it felt that way.
    Then when Shearer was signed it was all brought back again.
    But am I seeing it all through a rosey glow of byegone days? I don’t think so, but clearly not everyone agrees, but I’m happy with my delusion – or I wouldn’t have supported NUFC for so long.

  46. workyticket says:
    Llambias himself said when he announced the name change:

    “We understand that side of it, if fans continue to call it St. James’ Park. But it is the sponsor’s responsibility as well as ours to move forward, time will dissolve that.”

    Well, time will dissolve Llambias also. Heck, I’ve argued that the name change is not such a big deal when set against the homogenizing and unravelling of our world at large, but “he who does not change his mind in the light of greater reason is a fool” according to Mahatma Gandhi, and while I can accept Kilgore’s argument (which may be all that matters) I can also accept that this name change is an unnecessary and nasty poke in the Geordies’ eye by Ashley and Llambias with their overused blunt stick.

  47. Nah Supermac, there was alot of mythmaking in the Hall years, a great simplification (and distortion) of Newcastle United’s history. There were quite a few new supporters came into the club who had little or no clue about the full and rich history of the club and there were a few potted, easy to remember myths all wrapped up and waiting for them. Some things were exaggerated, many things were forgotten and some were just made up.

    Another myth from those days is the one that Alan Shearer turned down Manchester United to play for his home town club as the legendary number 9. Jack Walker wouldn’t sell him to Manchester United and you have to know Blackburn’s history to understand why. Blackburn were a top team in those days and had won the league. Could you imagine if Newcastle and Sunderland were vying for the Premier League title, then all of a sudden John Hall made an announcement that he was selling Shearer to the Mackems? Well that was something like Walker’s position at that time. But I digress…

    Getting back to the no9 thing proper, I think that Chuck has already touched on that one. Aye, people would compare great centre forwards both at Newcastle United and other clubs and the term “Number 9” and “Centre Forward” were interchangable because the centre forward was ALWAYS number 9 and importantly, there was only one. In the early fifties, Newcastle United’s top scorer wasn’t Jackie Milburn, it was the mighty George Robledo. He wasn’t a number 9 though, he was an inside left, a number 10, but there were two inside forwards, with the inside right playing playing number 8.

    Now of course, tactics and formations have moved on and number 10 has something of a different meaning and is also regarded as something of an “iconic” position because it has been worn by some of the finest players in the history of football, Pele, Maradona, Zidane, Zico and more.

    My favourite player ever was a number nine until 1970, then he changed to number 14 because the old system was starting to become outdated. If we want to talk about iconic number 9s, we should go back to playing in a 2-3-5 formation.

  48. worky,

    one would have to be particularly weak-willed to buy/consume/believe anything from the hype of PR or commercials…obviously sheople do partake of such crap like.
    You’d be surprised whom ‘consults’ with the likes of me mate!
    :)

    Newcastle fans ‘invented’ mass team shirt wearing to games when first entering the prem, if i remember correctly. It’s been de riguer ever since for many a clubs fan. That was always gonna be loved by the manufacturers.

  49. Heard this tune/chant from the Ajax fans and couldnt get it out of my head. Simple chorus, no words but maybe by adding “St James ses Park ” every fourth “line” it would let the Fatman know we dont brook his crapulence :)

  51. Paul in Hollywood says:
    February 24, 2012 at 9:42 pm

    “Well, time will dissolve Llambias also. Heck, I’ve argued that the name change is not such a big deal when set against the homogenizing and unravelling of our world at large,”

    Sometimes time may dissolve people, but not their actions Paul. As for big deals and smaller deals, it doesn’t work like that, everything is related.

    Back in the middle of the nineties I used my knowledge and my contacts to help my girlfriend of the time to raise funds for a fairly new and unheard of organisation called the Stephen Lawrence family campaign. It was about two parents seeking justice for their murdered teenage son, one of many who had suffered a similar fate simply because of the colour of their skin. As soon as I started doing it though, I could tell from the reaction that it would lead to something momentous. It exploded, it became totemic, so much so that many years later it ended up changing British law and created a revolution in attitudes to racism in the UK. One murder at a bus stop changed a whole country.

    The murder of one person for the colour of his skin is the murder of all people for the colour of their skin, and the homogenisation of one thing is the homgenisation of all things. Everything is related.

  52. CLiNT FLiCK says:
    February 24, 2012 at 10:36 pm

    “worky,

    one would have to be particularly weak-willed to buy/consume/believe anything from the hype of PR or commercials”

    Some people like to think that Clint, and some people don’t even realise when PR is PR. It works. There was once a time when significant sections of the UK thought we could be gassed by a developing country 3000 miles away. There are still many people who think that a “dirty bomb” could kill thousands of people when in reality it would only make a few people cough a bit.

  53. CLiNT FLiCK says:
    February 24, 2012 at 10:36 pm

    “Newcastle fans ‘invented’ mass team shirt wearing to games”

    Aye Clint, the mass marketing of football shirts by the sportswear industry and retailers such as Mike Ashley and Dave Whelan at around the same time had nothing whatsoever to do with it. :-)

  54. All i’m saying is that Toon fans made it fashionable, all my mates down here, fans of other teams, were amazed at the Geordie faithful- a mass of B&W stripes on match days. It changed fans of all hue.
    Regardless!
    ;)

  55. workyticket says:
    The murder of one person for the colour of his skin is the murder of all people for the colour of their skin, and the homogenisation of one thing is the homgenisation of all things. Everything is related.

    Amen, Worky. Yin-Yang; the Law of Karma; Universal Oneness. HWTL.

  57. @tunyc yeah im a geordie through and through, im 26 and nufc is my pride and joy! But intead of living in a dream world, except from whinging about it explain what apart from whinging you can do to change it? Im as gutted as the next nufc fan about it but like i said theres nothing we can do to stop ashley changing stuff! Ashleys changes wont stop here so its pointless being against it all! Were in a european spot at the minute by players he has signed, so not all he does is bad, were you whinging when he signed cisse?

  58. just in case you missed it –
    Shirt of Legends: The Story of Newcastle United’s No.9 Heroes by Paul Joannou
    Newcastle United is a colourful football club at the very heart of the city’s community and one with a rich history and tradition. One character has become synonymous with the Black ‘n’ Whites and their famous striped shirts – the centre-forward, the No. 9 hero, the man who has pulled on the ‘Shirt of Legends’. Since the club’s earliest days, the rapport between Newcastle’s fervent Geordie supporters and United’s centre-forward has been one of the great tales of soccer: one full of incident, controversy and fabulous goalscoring feats. Much rests on the shoulders of United’s centre-forward. He carries the dreams of thousands and the hopes of a whole Geordie nation. From Peddie, Appleyard and Shepherd to Wee Hughie Gallacher and the ‘Smiling Assassin’, Albert Stubbins. Onwards with ‘Wor’ Jackie Milburn – a legend in himself – Len White, the mighty Wyn Davies and a brash cockney, Malcolm Macdonald – ‘Supermac’ to all. And including modern-day icons: Andy Cole, Les Ferdinand and Alan Shearer – perhaps the biggest No. 9 hero of them all. They have been a mixed bunch: some tall, lean and fast; some small, tricky and highly skilled. Others have been graceful; a few have roved along the forward line, while there have been robust, aggressive characters on view, too. Some have been masterful in the air, while several struck the ball with terrific power; others have possessed the art of placement and, a few, the ultimate poacher’s instinct in front of goal. But all had the same mission: to score goals and, whatever their style, if they donned the centre-forward shirt for Newcastle United, they were treated as gods. Shirt of Legends is about all of those players – the many different characters and personalities in the centre-forward role who have worn Newcastle United’s No. 9 shirt since its introduction in 1939.