Ben Arfa: Not a winger says Pardew, but is he a singer?Of course, Newcastle United are still riding high, still undefeated in the Premier League so far with Alan Pardew seemingly sticking steadfastly to an “if it ain’t broke, dont fix it!” philosophy in our Premiership campaign.
Obviously, when a team which should be nestling somewhere the middle of the table is actually third it’s hard to argue. As Napoleon Bonaparte once said (or wrote, I’m not sure), “Success is the most convincing talker in the world”. This is certainly true, at least for the moment, in Pardew’s case; though as we already know, he could blather for England anyway! However, even in the midst of success, there are always problems to be solved, and one of Pardew’s is how does he solve a problem like Hatem Ben Arfa?
He is undoubtedly one of the most talented players we have, on the ball he is almost certainly THE most talented. However, since finally returning from his double injury nightmare with his appearence against Nottingham Forest in the League Cup, he has only made four fleeting substitute appearences in the Premiership (out of six games). (more…)
Ashley, Llambias and Pardew - Did they deceive us over Carroll?A few days after Newcastle United’s already despised Managing Director, Derek Llambias, announced the club’s corporate renaming of the club’s traditional home as “The Sports Direct Arena”, it would be hard to imagine his or Mike Ashley’s reputation sinking any lower.
However all that has changed now after one simple drunken rant in a bar which was recorded by fans and passed on to the Mirror newspaper. My erstwhile collegue, Hugh, has dealt with his jealous and contemptible potty mouthed rants about former managers, Alan Shearer, Kevin Keegan and Chris Hughton in this piece. Here I will concentrate on how his words about Andy Carroll’s move to Liverpool seem to suggest that both he and manager, Alan Pardew, deceived the fans about the circumstances leading up to the controvarsial transfer, leading fans to brand Carroll a “Judas” for deserting the club he had supported since boyhood.
If you recall, after a completely bogus story was put around the media about a very large Tottenham bid for the Bensham Bomber, Liverpool’s first bid for Andy Carroll was a lowly £30 million (what on earth were they smoking that day???). When one fan asked Llambias if he thought that Andy Carroll was worth that amount, Llambias replied:
It's St James' Park!To say there’s been some opposition to Mike Ashley’s rehash of his previously botched plan to sell the St James’ Park naming rights would be an understatement.
However as more details have emerged it’s become ever more obvious that this 2.0 version is scarcely better than the previous one, and it seems more than likely that the club will once again end up with the worst of both worlds, a cheap tacky stadium with an awful name and nothing whatsoever to show for it.
Referring to sponsorship consultant Tim Crow’s “Six golden rules” of stadium naming rights, quotes from experts from the world of sports sponsorship about the naming rights offer, and some of my own personal thoughts, I will attempt to outline some of the reasons even this revamped naming rights offer will have scant chance of success.
Let’s begin with golden rule number one:
1. The stadium must have only one short name. If there are two names, one of which is the sponsor’s, guess which one the media, and the fans, will edit out? ‘The Reebok Stadium’ works: so does ‘The Emirates’. Conversely, horrors like ‘Sports Direct.com@St James’ Park’ always quite deservedly bomb.”(more…)
To be replaced by Sports Direct?Newcastle United’s stadium renaming farce has caused quite a stir, although a ‘top marketing consultant’ hails it a success. Meanwhile Northern Rock have pulled out of the shirt sponsorship deal early. Are the two events related?
A marketing gadgie called Jonathon Gabay, who is – according to his website – “trusted by some of the world’s top brands”, has hailed the St James’ Park renaming debacle ‘a good decision’. This might be expected because, according to The Journal, he was ‘unofficially consulted’ about the renaming by the club. Anyway, he said:
“It’s a good decision because of what it’s going to do.
“I couldn’t say what sort of company will come forward. That’s not for me to say but I think there will be a lot of brands that realise the opportunity.
“I already believe sponsors will know what a great place the North East is – the region, the football, the fans – and being associated with that is a fantastic opportunity for brands.
“If there were a suitable brand then I couldn’t see how it can be something that the fans wouldn’t like if the money would be put back in the club to help them do even better.”
And with that last sentence he perhaps hits the nail on the head with: “if there was a suitable brand”. (more…)
What's in a name?Newcastle United owner Mike Ashley’s bright idea to change the name of St James’ Park to ‘The Sports Direct Arena’ is still dominating the Toon news.
Just as Ashley was seemingly gaining some ground with fans after a fantastic start to the season on the pitch, it seems he’s now off a lot of peoples’ Christmas Card lists again thanks to his idea to turn St James’ Park into a shrine to Sports Direct.
Ashley’s popularity is a bit like a game of snakes and ladders. We climb a few ladders here and there as things improve a bit, only to land on an enormous snake and go right back to the start.
Various newspapers, pundits, ‘blogs and of course fans have been having their say on the whole name change issue. Even the Council have said they’re not going to recognise the name change as far as they’re concerned. The Council’s statement read:
“The name of St James’ Park has been synonymous with Newcastle United football club and the city for over a century.
“It is recognised around the world and the decision to change it, without consultation, will upset the overwhelming majority of fans who loyally support the team week in and week out.(more…)
