Mike Ashley: Has he lost all credibility now?After the uproar of the announcement this morning and much discussion with the lads at work, I’ve come to the feeling that Ashley has completely lost any trust that he has managed to claw back over the past few months.
As a previous nufcblog.org article has already pointed out, Derek Llambias has previously gone on record and stated that the St James Park would never be dropped from our grounds name. Bet he regrets putting that comment in the press now.
I honestly think the timing of this announcement is terrible. Newcastle are finally getting themselves back onto an even keel, why risk upsetting the apple cart?
I’m also none too impressed about the way he has suckered people into committing themselves to additional cheap season tickets, and then made the announcement about changing the name. He knows people have paid good money to be there, so there won’t be any risk of financial loss by mass walkouts. I’m sure there will be a few belated protests, but to be honest it’s not going to change anything. (more…)
Mike Ashley: Shrewd? Or just plain lucky?I think I am more upset that I’m not as upset as the majority of fans are about the nasty re branding of St James Park.
I was surprised to see the new name as I thought it was going to be blah blah blah @ St James Park, but we all knew this was on the cards and I’m afraid it’s a fact of modern day business winning over football tradition.
Unfortunately the stadium rights are there to be sold and its now a complete package that basically says your name on the roofs, on the inside, on the outside and on the name for the right price (I’m so pleased Ashley doesn’t own Kit Kat as well!) I am gutted but that dominant, mighty fortress and jewel in the Geordie crown will always be St James’s Park to me and I’m sure I’m not alone in thinking this.
What interests me more is that this seems like Mike Ashley has thought about what hes doing first and finally has a strategy in place for Newcastle United football club. Most entrepreneur’s like him are years in advance when it comes to business strategy and with the timing and leaking of this with things the way they are makes sense as it will probably all have died down come the Manchester City game? It also asks the question do we have a long term plan in place, ie buying cheap players with something to prove, no big contracts, selling players at the right time etc… (more…)
Derek Llambias: Absolutely full of it.With the news that Newcastle United will be changing it’s name to “Sports Direct @ St James’ Park”, the Managing Director of the club, Derek Llambias, has sought to reassure fans that the St James’ Park name would remain so long as he and current owner, Mike Ashley “reigned” at the club.
Firstly though, he told BBC Radio Newcastle about how this would be a “showcase” to lure prospective outside sponsors would would bring much needed revenue into the club saying:
“We will showcase Sports Direct until the end of the season,” then adding:
“I’m sure we’re going to get a sponsor in for next season.”
When asked if the name “St James’ Park” would always remain, Llambias then reassured fans by responding:
“Absolutely. In our reign, absolutely.”
“It’s adding to it, and if it brings in a good chunk of money to the club, that goes straight to the team, then do you know what, it’s a revenue we should look at.”(more…)
Hurrah for the two Dannys!When Danny Guthrie arrived at Newcastle I instantly thought of the time we signed Robert Lee!
I know, hang on a min how the hell did I come up with that comparison? Also, in the seasons that have followed he has been mostly a bit part player only showing flashes of what he is capable of. But the comparisons were there as it was one of Keegan’s first players to arrive after taking charge for the second time. He wasn’t expensive and has that very hard quality to find in a midfielder, in that he’s a box to box type of player with a broad range of passing, has an eye for goal, who can win the ball and drive the team on like a poor mans Steven Gerrard!
Also with Dan Gosling, when we also managed to sign him on a free with the feeling amongst the fans that finally we are looking at sensible up and coming players and not getting ripped off paying for expensive big names who don’t perform. Having arrived injured we are still waiting to see the best of the former England U21 who had shown so much potential at Everton and warranted the cheeky deal that we managed to get him on. (more…)
The table can't lie (can it?)Newcastle United currently sit at 3rd in the Premier League, but how do the games we’ve played so far compare with last season?
Much has been wondered about whether we’re worthy of our 3rd place position. Not just from the usual suspects in the world of punditry who seem incapable of giving Newcastle much credit for anything, but we’ve had cause to wonder a bit ourselves.
There are too many variables to consider and the semantics of the word ‘worthy’ leaves too much open to subjective opinion to ever reach an objective conclusion about our ‘worthiness’. All we can say is that we’ve met the challenges that have been thrown our way so far.
But I had this burning urge to create an HTML table. Don’t knock it – it’s no more unusual than fancying a pork pie and rates fairly low in my list of insanities. So create a table I did and what it does is to compare last season to this season with the games we’ve played so far. (more…)
