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…)
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…)
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…)
I wonder what tomorrow will bring?Due to my laptop contracting a rather unfortunate illness, it had been difficult to write about some of the recent events conspiring at the Sportsdirect.com@stjamespark stadium. Nevertheless, being British I shall try to prevail when no hope seems assured, put the kettle on, and soldier on with some recent thoughts I have had this past week or so…
Shy and retiring Alan Pardew has, in what I can only described as a show of pure commitment to us fans, given a long interview this past week with ‘Total Sport’ on BBC Radio Newcastle. Now it has been long overdue hearing from our leader, and many of you, I’m sure, were all relieved after listening (or reading) Alan’s take on the summer so far.
What I found interesting was how he talked about the amount of money FREE transfers cost etc. Now obviously agent fees and signing on fees are part and parcel of the modern game. That is football, that is the game today, we know it is not technically ‘free’ but what we do know is, no transfer fee was paid, so with that, it leaves us to speculate how much indeed has gone to the agents and the players. Demba Ba, Sylvain Marveaux and Yohan Cabaye could not possibly of dented our transfer kitty that much, taking into consideration the ‘£35 million’, TV money, sponsorship deals, gate receipts, sale of Nolan, Shearer’s bar: You get the point.
Would it not just be easier to be honest? If we have no money to spend then just say it? Whatever the ‘truth’ is, Personally, I’m bored of the spins and excuses that I hear frequently from the club every week. Maybe we will spend something, maybe we won’t, but for me it is hard to envisage us spending much.
Joey Barton with the good luck 'stacheJoey Barton recently heeded Danny Simpson’s advise and decided to join Twitter. Joey has been known to be quite forward and somewhat outspoken and of course wasted no time pondering whether or not his biggest fans Robbie Savage and Piers Morgan would be as vicious in a logged and public manner. Of course they were and I assure you, it’s great fun bullying Mr. Morgan but after being bombarded with tweets from fans requesting he sign a new contract, Joey broke his relative silence.
Now I’m not in the habit of reporting the usual waste you hear on Twitter but, as they say, this is from the horses mouth.
I tend to be fairly positive and patient in regards to this club primarily because I understand knee jerk reactions don’t help us in the slightest. I like to wait for all the facts before I make a solid judgement and until then try to remain as calm as I can and stay as level headed as is humanly possible… but then something like this happens and that Zen-like state goes out of the window. (more…)
