Archive for category: Newcastle United sponsorship deals.

Mike Ashley’s big, fat, St James’ Park lie?

February 18th, 2012 | 91 Comments |

St James' Park sign being removed.
Ashley's ninjas move in.
“All this was inspired by the principle – which is quite true within itself – that in the big lie there is always a certain force of credibility; because the broad masses of a nation are always more easily corrupted in the deeper strata of their emotional nature than consciously or voluntarily; and thus in the primitive simplicity of their minds they more readily fall victims to the big lie than the small lie, since they themselves often tell small lies in little matters but would be ashamed to resort to large-scale falsehoods. It would never come into their heads to fabricate colossal untruths, and they would not believe that others could have the impudence to distort the truth so infamously. Even though the facts which prove this to be so may be brought clearly to their minds, they will still doubt and waver and will continue to think that there may be some other explanation. For the grossly impudent lie always leaves traces behind it, even after it has been nailed down, a fact which is known to all expert liars in this world and to all who conspire together in the art of lying.”

Adolf Hitler – Mein Kampf. (more…)

The BBC’s hypocrisy on St James’ Park rename beggars belief

January 21st, 2012 | 36 Comments |

St James' Park forever!
Sign the petition, complain to the BBC.
“The BBC’s governing principles, closely associated with its first Director-General, Sir John Reith, are to educate, inform and entertain the whole nation, free from political interference and commercial pressure. These ideals continue to underpin an enduring vision of the BBC as the “national” broadcaster. Such a broadcaster should have a remit to provide high (benchmark) quality content, across the full range of broadcast genres (with a particular focus on impartial news and current affairs services), free at the point of use and without advertising. This is what, in the opinion of many, the BBC ought to stand for. The merits and implications of these features, in a changing world, have been at the core of our inquiry.” parliament.uk website.

As some of you may know Newcastle City Council have written to “the media” in that London, asking it to desist from using the name “S_____ D_____ A____” for the home of Newcastle United, and return to referring to it by its correct name, St James’ Park.

This comes after Labour and Liberal Democrat councillors came together to pass a motion opposing Mike Ashley’s decision to rename the stadium after his tacky and disreputable sportswear company, and their subsequent refusal to rename street signs in the area. The council’s letter read:

“Dear Editor, (more…)

Virgin and Newcastle United – Can a Brand be Lucky?

January 16th, 2012 | 30 Comments |

Richard Branson - Newcastle United's newest fan?
Newcastle United's newest fan?
“Twenty years ago, we sponsored Crystal Palace and they got to the FA Cup final. Then last week, we sponsored Newcastle and they beat Manchester United 3-love.”

“So we’re a lucky brand, and may the luck continue throughout the rest of the season.”

The words of Sir Richard Branson, (3-love?? – clearly a tennis fan!) the 4th richest person in the UK and 254th richest in the world. Not bad for a bloke who started with a mail order record business in 1970 and who went on to own Virgin Records, Virgin Megastores and now sees over 400 companies in the Virgin Group, including Virgin Atlantic who have that nice ad on the telly with the bonny air stewardesses and Muse playing the old Nina Simone track “Feeling Good” in the background. Impressive music knowledge there eh? His wealth is estimated at $4.2 billion (£2.75 billion) which makes Mike Ashley look like a Sports Shop Owner. He also has class and charisma so we’d better stop the Ashley comparisons now before it gets too silly.

The bloke has either worked his socks off to make a fortune, or he’s been lucky. Probably a bit of both actually. Now at the age of 62 his Virgin Brand has moved into high street banking by acquiring our very own Northern Rock, transforming it into Virgin Money. By a stroke of luck, this move has linked the Virgin empire with Newcastle United, previously sponsored by Northern Rock. Virgin have agreed a 2 year shirt sponsor deal, hopefully that’s just for starters… (more…)

Virgin Money sponsors shirts but stadium still advertises Sports Direct

January 5th, 2012 | 41 Comments |

Virgin Money sponsor Newcastle United shirts.
Better than Sports Direct anyway
Virgin Money takes over where Northern Rock left off and sponsors Newcastle United’s shirts for the next two and a half seasons.

As you could no doubt tell by the shirts the team wore last night, Newcastle United have brokered a deal with Virgin Money until the end of the 2013/2014 season. Last night Derek Llambias said:

“We’re delighted to secure this new deal with Virgin Money and we look forward to enjoying a mutually beneficial partnership over the coming seasons. It is an excellent deal for both parties and we’re very happy to have them on board.“

He didn’t add anything about how ‘f****** horrible’ he can be this time.

Virgin, for their part, said:

“Now that Virgin Money and Northern Rock are united as one business, it gives us great pleasure to continue the shirt sponsorship of Newcastle United Football Club.

“The Northern Rock sponsorship started in 2003 and it is an important link to the North East which we are pleased to continue.

(more…)

More derision from corporate sponsorship industry over St James’ Park naming deal

November 16th, 2011 | 32 Comments |

St James' Park, Newcastle.
What's in a name? Lots of potential damage seemingly.
I was planning to write a follow up to my previous piece on why Mike Ashley’s “rebranding” of St James’ Park was ill conceived from the very start and doomed to fail.

In it I was going to outline how the value of Newcastle United’s brand has been damaged so much by this that it will lose far more in the long term that the minimal amount gained through selling the stadium’s naming rights. Going on similar deals on considerably less problematic new build stadiums, this amount will be nowhere near the £8-10 million foolishly quoted in public by Derek Llambias in an interview with BBC Radio Newcastle. Going on similar examples such as Arsenal’s Emirates Studium and Borussia Dortmund’s Signal Iduna Park, it will be more like a third to a half of that sum unless a shirt deal is also included and even then, the price is still somewhat ambitious.

As most of you will know, current shirt sponsors, Northern Rock, recently pulled out of their recent rather meagre £2 million per annum shirt sponsorship deal, and it has even been suggested that the furore over the Ashley’s second attempt at a stadium rebrand will jeopardise this sponsorship, as potential sponsors distance themselves from this now toxic brand. As I mentioned in my previous piece on the subject the offer has been almost universally derided by the people in the sponsorship industry who advise corporations on the efficacy of such deals, with one exception, from someone called Jonathon Gabay, who was reported as being an “unofficial consultant” to the club on the renaming issue. (more…)