madras

we wont find that out till the accounts are published.

How would you feel if he flogged the name Newcastle United Football Club ? (I am assuming that he could, if he so wished) that would be totally different as the name is mentioned whenever the club is discussed in any way. the strip and ground name are seperate to that.

If you were going for a reach argument then you can't argue against the fact that the two biggest Global clubs in the UK (and adding Real Madrid and Barca) Europe, have never even mentioned doing this - and thats with owners in the case of Man U and Liverpool who would consider it standard. Arsenal imo are a special case because they didn't have the money to build the stadium otherwise (this may apply yet to Liverpool), the other teams who've done it fall into a category which is best summed up as cheap. Our owner may be that but I don't see why the club should be. i wish we were as cheap as bayern munchen. personally speaking i'd rather flog a name (that the majority that matter wont use) than something visual like the strip that we don't have a choice over.

meanwhile think of how many pics of NUFC in action are shown round the world compared to how many SJP is mentioned.. which has more cache....our strip or ground name ? How many Asians (for example) know who or what Northern Rock is? The worldwide argument I think is minor anyway (especially for us) , its the constant referrals in this country which would irritate. i'd guess they'd know who adidas is then which would be even better or if it were greggs then your northern rock holds up.

Maybe the word impression isnt right but the clubs ground, often gets referred to when discussing the team, match report etc. They dont say, now lets go over to see how Newcastle Utd, sponsored by Northern Rock, are getting on against Cardiff, sponsored by Asobet (or whatever it is). Its all superficial I know but I just wouldnt seem right hearing SJP referred to as something else. Yep - there is a big difference between a visual logo which quite frankly never gets mentioned no matter who/what it is and the name of the ground which is mentioned all the time. naturally a name gets mantioned more than a logo. which reaches further though ? really whay i'm saying is that the stadium name is the equivillent of shirt sponsorship all those years ago but at least we can call the ground what we always have whereas we cant buy a current strip without the blurb so easily.

meanwhile think of how many pics of NUFC in action are shown round the world compared to how many SJP is mentioned.. which has more cache....our strip or ground name ?

Only NUFC fans would still call it SJP. As the media would take on the new label, all non-NUFC fans would start to call it likewise. You would hear it on thr radioon the TV and read in the paper and in magazines. Basically the whole world bar NUFC fans would call it by the new name and for me, thats a sad thought. Sponsors on a shirt, doesnt change the worldwide vision/impreession of the club 1 bit. We are still NUFC, who play in B&W shirts at SJP. So I would choose a) how does the name of the ground change the worldwide imprerssion of the club whereas flogging a bit chunk of the strip off doesn't ?

very highly likely to be "aswell as" instead of "instead of"

I disagree. As I was growing up only kids ever wore the strip - I had my last one when I was about 14 - the emergence of sponsorship coincided with the mass sale of adult strips so in my view there was no great tradition to be pissed on - the blue star shirt was the first strip that was ever sold to adults (at least in numbers). I recognise the need for money to be raised but I just don't understand why so many people just don't feel how wrong the renaming of the ground is at a massively instinctive level. I fully admit that it provides anew edge to my hatred of Ashley but no matter who it was who had tried this (and even a t*** like Shepherd realised this) there does have to be a line somewhere. Of course the ground as it is now is completely unrecognisable from when I first started going such that you could even try and apply the "new ground" argument. What I would say to that is that because the ground retained its name through all of the developments is precisely what strengthened it as a cornerstone of the fabric of the club. I do agree to some extent with Chez that it may be a diversion but once again I think the imbecile has made another of his crass decisions. To give the fans something to rally around might be just the thing which finally makes a difference even if he doesn't go though with it. Again I would say its a kind of a character test. My honest view is that if the concept doesn't strike you as very, very wrong then I don't feel you're the same sort of Newcastle fan as me. I'm not saying those people aren't fans or worse fans than me but definitely different and honestly worthy of less respect. ypou mention there was no great tradition...club colours were as massive then as now. whereas now it's tops then it was scarves and rosettes. consider it thus.......we have no shirt sponser and no corporate naming of the ground and you are given a choice... a) adverts plastered over the strip for the both the players and fans. b) renaming of the ground which everyone will continue to call by its original name.

I reckon Carroll and Ranger would terrorise the likes of Chris Morgan, who is a c*** of a thuggish, talentless clogger. Having said that, we're away from home and Hughton will no doubt f*** about with silly tactics. theres every chance he'll just bully them. could be a good learning sesh then. anyway we don't expect our forwards to score goals these days.

cos the CSA can't get his details.

They are playing us in a game that will decide who wins the league. We're one point ahead, so a draw will see us winning it. They are a great side, haven't lost at home all season, but we're also the best away team in the league. Hysén (ex mackem, the t***) is in terrific form for them and is their main threat. One of their regular CB is suspended, while we have got our entire first team to chose from. I would expect a low score, 1-1 give or take a goal a side. But, it is basically a cup final, and absolutely anything can happen. I'm obviously staying well clear of betting. In the fight against relegation, Hammarby are already down, and Djurgården and Örgryte are battling for who'll get to qualify and who'll go straight down. Both teams needs to win, but both are pretty abysmal and to be honest, I don't fancy either of them to win. cheers towelie and congrats. however it still cost me a fiver as i went for it.

linky please....i wanna see what sort of support they gave. Support they gave King? Support they give all of their members? Edit: misread that article and thought it was the PFA backing him. It was actually his own agent. king in particular. edit....doh!

to be fair i love watching arsenal at the moment and if i had a choice on who i'd want to win the prem this season it would be they.

usually we'd write people stories off....whats changed ?

Arsenal had to pay £390 million to build a 60,000 seater stadium, we have a ready made 52,000 seater stadium thrown in with the price. We don't own the land which the ground has been built on but for football purposes that doesn't matter as we will not be looking to sell it as we couldn't play without it. If we owned the land we could sell it and move to cheaper land to build a new one but a new build would cost more than the land would be worth. As for Portsmouth, yes they were given away, they still have debts which could be up to £40 million, they look like playing in the Championship next season and they have a s*** ground which would cost a fortune to replace, I don’t see what they have going for them yet they have been taken over twice this season. you've answered your own question with the portsmouth bit. it's one thing to be taken over but it's another for it to be a good takeover. re arsenal....that is the price of a club with world wide appeal,doing well and well run financially....we aren't.

linky please....i wanna see what sort of support they gave.

newcastle uniteds "adidas st james' park" tooj has been having one long orgasm since this was mooted.

not according to chelsea.

Guess what, 0 in his last 9 for Spain. And didn't score that many for Athletico. a bit like me saying drogba only scored 12 goals in 4 years at le mans. torres has scored 48 goals in 67 games (if wiki is correct) for liverpool whereas drogba has 64 in 145 for chelsea, and a better chelsea team at that. Drogba must have roughly 100 goals for Chelsea, i'd be amazed if he has less than 90. Look up and be amazed I am, at how much s**** is on wikipedia. 104 strange as even chelseaqs official site has him on 63 http://www.chelseafc.com/page/PlayerProfileDetail/0,,10268~28142,00.html

and when he;s not.

Guess what, 0 in his last 9 for Spain. And didn't score that many for Athletico. a bit like me saying drogba only scored 12 goals in 4 years at le mans. torres has scored 48 goals in 67 games (if wiki is correct) for liverpool whereas drogba has 64 in 145 for chelsea, and a better chelsea team at that.

just something else that was a tad bizarre....... http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/8335331.stm Football 'wanted men' were actors Actors featured in the 2009 feature film The Firm Actors in the feature film The Firm that was premiered in London in September Scotland Yard has apologised after actors from a hit film were mistakenly identified as football hooligans being sought after riots at a West Ham game. Police issued 66 pictures of people supposedly caught on camera during violent clashes in August. The images wrongly included stills of six actors from recent film The Firm. A TV report was used to capture the images but because there was no sound officers did not realise it included clips from the hooligan-themed film. Fan stabbed Scotland Yard, who released the images on Tuesday, said: "Six images of individuals who were not involved in the violence were mistakenly included. "These images appear to have been taken from a motion picture. "We wish to apologise unreservedly to those affected. We are going to be actively trying to contact those people to offer our apologies." A Millwall supporter was stabbed as fans clashed outside West Ham's Upton Park ground in east London after the home side won 3-1. Police have arrested more than 40 people so far in connection with the trouble on 25 August. The Firm, which was released last month, is set in football hooligans' 1980s heyday and is about a young man who joins a "firm" of thugs.

torres. would do better in a poor team than the other two.