He claimed the stadium was symbolic of the game, its supporters’ loyalty and that it has been “an integral part of the city since 1892“.
The club, predictably, has declined to comment.
I really can’t imagine Ashley will take too much notice.
The report comes from the BBC. Not much else to report on this just now.
Ashley has apparently insisted the naming rights won’t go cheap and he’s looking for £6m a season before he’ll sell off our heritage.
A Toon source (that lad again) said:
“But all he is asking is for the fans to sit back and take a realistic look at the situation.
“It is costing him £3m a month out of his own pocket to run Newcastle and he is trying to look at other ways of raising revenue – the St James’ Park name is one of his few valuable assets.
“But he is not going to flog the name of the stadium to the first bidder.
“He is looking for a significant figure for the stadium naming rights and if he gets it, all the money will go to help Chris Hughton strengthen the team.” (more…)
Freddy said:
“I suppose nothing surprises me about the current regime, so news they are ready to sell the naming rights isn’t exactly a shock.
“I appreciate we are living in a commercial world, but there are some things money can’t buy.
“St James’ Park is one of the most famous stadia, not just in Europe but in the world. You can go anywhere and everyone knows St James’ Park is the home of Newcastle United. The two are synonymous.
“I just can’t imagine St James’ Park being called anything else. Whatever next? Why don’t they just go the whole hog and change the name of the club itself?
“Fans will be horrified, angry and upset about this. They’ve had to put up with a lot in recent months, but this is just another blow.”
Well, quite, but let’s not forget that Freddie Shepherd described Ashley as “an excellent custodian of Newcastle United’s heritage” when he sold his shares to him a few years ago. Not his best call eh? (more…)
Emotions were running high when this was announced last night but I wanted to try and analyse the situation a little more objectively in the cold light of day.
It looked like Barry Moat might actually have been in with a chance at one point. According to the press, he’d had a £40m up-front plus £40m at the end of the season deal rejected and had come back to Ashley with a £60m-£20m upgrade to that, having been led to believe by Ashley that it would be accepted. Ashley however did not accept it and decided to take the club off the market amongst a lot of familiar-sounding rhetoric.
The rhetoric sounds familiar because it’s pretty much what he said the last time he took the club off the market. He stressed his commitment to the future of Newcastle United then too and he put some money into the club, but then we were relegated and the club was up for sale once again. So I have no reason to believe that Ashley’s aim is to do anything but maximise the club’s appeal so that he can put it up for sale yet again. (more…)