Will a name change be the next step?Now confirmed rumours have been circulating around the rumour mill today that Newcastle United will shortly make an announcement that St James’ Park will known in future as the “Sports Direct Arena”.
Earlier today, Times journalist Tony Evans Tweeted about the name change on his Twitta site, but it was later withdrawn amidst further rumours that the news had been embargoed by the club and a request made to remove it. Meanwhile, there were also suggestions on Radio Five live today that the “Geordie Soap Opera” would be in full flow “sooner than we think” after the recent calmness on that front.
Whilst it hasn’t been officially announced yet, from previous experience, it would hardly be surprising to see Mike Ashley and Derek Llambias using the club’s current success in the Premiership as a good time to make yet another crass and awful announcement which further denigrates the club. (more…)
Glory hunters?It’s fair to say that during the last 5 minutes at St James Park yesterday the place was rocking, the hairs on the back of my neck stood up as I was reminded of times gone by. So the question is this, “Are the Toon faithful passionate, or are we just glory hunters who only really get behind the team when things are going well?”
Over the past few years I’ve been disheartened by the fact the for a team with supposedly some of the best fans in the world, St James Park has been a bit flat, on some occasions you can hear a pin drop, even when we were drawing the game. My theory is that the crowd was so nervous that we would concede we never really got going.
I’ve looked enviously at Stoke (never though I’d say that a few years ago!). Say what you want about them, but you can’t deny that the crowd is the 12th man at the Britannia Stadium. The noise levels are so loud that sometimes I have to turn the TV down to a lower volume. I think that they are one of the main reasons that Stoke have been so successful given their short time in the Premier League. (more…)
£15,536.13 raised from sign sale.Eight days ago, the letters which used to make up the famous “Newcastle United” sign were offered for sale on the online auction site EBay, with all proceeds from the sale going towards a night in Asper’s Casino for Mike Ashley, Derek Llambias and Alan Pardew the “Newcastle United Foundation” charity, who in their own words endeavour to:
“Use the local passion for football to encourage learning and promote healthy lifestyles that will make a real difference to the lives of disadvantaged children, young people and families in our region.”
After a week of bidding, the letters finally went under the virtual hammer for a total of £15,536.13 (minus commission). The higest price paid for one individual letter was £3100.00 for the first “N” in the sign to go on sale, though the other “N”, which was exactly the same went for a far more modest £959.99. The chepest of the letters was the letter “I”, which went for a mere £555.44. (more…)
Hmmmmm...Well known Newcastle United site nufc.com have posted the image you see here of the new sign over St James’ Park’s East Stand, much favoured by pensioners with tartan lap rugs and flasks of tea, and myself I may add. But I digress…
The picture, posted by “KM”, was supposedly taken on Wednesday, September 14th, and as you can see, the sign isn’t quite “exactly the same” as the club claimed in a statement. The lettering has been italicised to fit in with the much more important Sports Direct signage which will now be flanking it.
Toon blogger, Steve Wraith, claimed on his Twitta around a week ago that when completed, the sign would read:
“(puma logo) sportsdirect newcastle united sports direct (puma logo)”
And he certainly seems to be right so far. However time will tell once and for all when the Blackburn game referred to above takes place on Saturday, 24th September. (more…)
"Greed is good. Greed is right."Dear reader, my estteemed colleague Hugh has already touched on this story earlier today and presented his own viewpoint on the matter. However, I am so incensed that I also feel compelled to register my extreme displeasure at the latest utterings of our unesteemed Managing Director, Derek Llambias.
In case you are still wondering what I’m gannin’ on about, in the responses to Chronicle readers questions on Mike Ashley’s intentions for the club, Derek Llambias responded to “Is Mike Ashley considering putting the club up for sale?” with the quote below amongst other things. At the end of the answer, he wrote:
“I’d like to make a further point here. This club can’t support itself without the financial backing of Mike Ashley; we still rely heavily on the owner. To date Mike has invested over £280m into the club, including £140m in interest-free loans. For him to continue to support the club, he has to be interested and enthused to do so. He deserves credit for his financial support but a section of supporters don’t make him feel welcome at St James’ Park, or when he attends away games. Criticism is part and parcel of the job, abuse is not. This makes life uncomfortable and certainly doesn’t make Mike feel more inclined to put his hand once again in his pocket. That’s not stubbornness, it’s human nature. I think most of us would feel exactly the same.”
Does the sheer gall of this little cipher and his fat controller know no bounds?(more…)
