The banality of evil.I’ve read it many, many times now; passages of media stories about Papiss Cisse alleged objection to wearing a Newcastle United shirt with a Wonga advert on it which usually go along the lines of:
“Islam forbids the lending of money for interest, and Cisse has raised concerns with the club’s hierarchy about United’s new sponsors.”
Or:
“Cisse is a practicing Muslim and his reported objections over promoting Wonga stem from Islamic Sharia law which states that Muslims must not benefit from either lending money or receiving money from another person.”
This is usually accompanied by a disingenous or obtuse (it’s hard to tell sometimes) response by an alleged Newcastle United fan which is so common it has become another fallacious, dishonest cliche. This one along the lines of:
“He’s a hypocrite if he refuses to wear Wonga because they charge interest. He wore Virgin Money last season and they charge interest too.”(more…)
Spot the difference.In the top photo, you can see an example of a £7.50 training T-Shirt from the existing Puma “Spirit” range side by side with the new Newcastle United change shirt with an almost identical design.
Now before I proceed, please don’t get me wrong. I’m not going to try and suggest that the two are actually the same items with just very minor changes in detailing as I haven’t examined them side by side. Nor am I trying to make the general point that replica team football shirts are a rip-off either, Freddy Shepherd and many others have made that point already.
However, writing as a designer myself, it is but one example among many of Puma’s lazy, poor and rehashed designs. The standard of the design is the same as you would expect to find from one of Mike Ashley’s sweatshop brands, and the same is true of the quality too, especially so if you remember the shirts of Newcastle United’s previous supplier, Adidas. For a supposedly premium product, they are an insult to Newcastle United’s fans, not to mention those of other clubs they supply. Then again, I am not a big replica shirt buyer personally, so I would very much like to hear the views of those of you who are.(more…)
Vampires.“And how the poverty of these unfortunates, among whom even thieves find nothing to steal, is exploited by the property-holding class in lawful ways.” – Frederick Engels, The Condition of the Working Class in England.
It is no longer news that Internet loan shark “Wonga” will be the club’s sponsors from next season for a period of four years.
I was going to write this piece a few days ago, but on reflection, I decided to leave it for a short while to see what emerged in terms of further details about the deal itself, and also the level of opprobrium which was inevitably going to follow the announcement. The exact amount is still shrouded in secrecy, though a figure of £24 million for the four years (£6 million per year) was bandied around in the media after the announcement was made, then the Telegraph claimed that the figure is more like £8 million per year (£32 million over four years). When this was put to the Managing Director, Derek Llambias, he suggested that the £8 million figure was “not far off.” As it’s Llambias though, this may not be true, but it is all we have to go on. As well as this, it is also been claimed that Wonga will be investing a further £1.5 million in the club’s Academy.
Llambias had the following to say on the new deal: (more…)
S.Taylor and Derek Wright displaying the new SD arm patches.It seems that Newcastle United have somehow managed to pull off yet another sponsorship deal with sportwear giant, Sports Direct, this time for the club’s training kits.
This adds to the company’s existing sponsorship of St James’ Park stadium, the pitchside hoardings, the roof, the walls, the players’ tunnels, the dugouts, the Benton training ground, Kath the tea lady and so on.
The amount agreed for the latest “sponsorship” remains uncertain, but whatever it is, here’s hoping that it’s at least something. Despite finishing in the top five last season, qualifying for the Europa League, and reaching complete saturation in terms of sponsorship opportunities, Newcastle United still receives one of the lowest amounts in sponsorship revenue in the Premiership, and is currently £140 million in debt, the highest figure in it’s history.
It is also uncertain whether the new Sports Direct patches will be appearing on the club’s matchday kits in the coming season. (more…)
Cheap and nasty.There has been something of a rehabiltation of the reputation of Mike Ashley at Newcastle United recently.
This, of course, has been due largely to the club’s generally upward trajectory in terms of it’s League position in recent seasons under Chris Hughton and Alan Pardew, as well as some successes in the transfer market since Ashley and Llambias cast their their three casino aquaintances adrift and let Chris Hughton bring in a proper chief scout, a move which has been highly beneficial for the club so far.
Less obviously, perhaps, there has also been a relentless PR campaign run through the media on all levels. Like the current coalition government, much has been said to demonise the previous administration, presenting Ashley as some kind of messiah type figure who made tough choices to save the club from certain liquidation as a great benevolent gesture to the people of Tyneside. But, according to the narrative, this has been a thankless task, with Geordie ingrates not showing the suitable appreciation of his selfless largesse. Admittedly, this isn’t the most difficult thing to do when the targets are the likes of Freddy Shepherd and Douglas Hall. According to a peculiar logic, much has also been made of what Ashley’s alleged financial “backing” of the club in terms of making a £140 million loan to himself, which is repayable on demand by the club, to save himself from paying high interest rates on his own Newcastle United debts. The term “clearing” the club’s debts has been used so often that many fans are still oblivious to the fact that the club is now actually far more in debt than it was when Ashley assumed control of the club in 2007. (more…)
