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Is boycotting ultimately the only way to force Ashley out eventually?


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Why all Newcastle fans should boycott Mike Ashley's plan to rename St James' Park:

 

Simon Bird's big lunchtime read By Mirror Football Blog

 

 

And the latest from SportsDirect.com Park is that Mike Ashley couldn’t sell Newcastle United. So instead he’s decided to sell it’s history.

 

Taking Newcastle off the market last night was a blow, but not a huge surprise. Chris Hughton got the manager’s job full time - no shock there either.

 

But here’s the real stunner. Prepare for St James’ Park to become the Popular Airline Arena. Or perhaps the Well Known Chocolate Bar Bowl. Or the High Street Bank Stadium.

 

Tucked away at the bottom of his statement last night announcing Hughton as boss, and saying Barry Moat couldn’t raise the cash for a takeover, Ashley blundered (that word again) into making the kind of provocative, insensitive, ludicrous statement he has made his trademark as a football club owner.

 

He tells us that the club are exploring ways of maximising new revenue streams next summer. And that means St James’ Park, the name that is, will soon be no more. Replaced by a soulless corporate label.

 

Ashley is ready to trade more than a century of tradition for a few quid.

 

To sacrifice the name of the city’s most famous landmarks to swell the coffers with a sum that will hardly buy a decent new striker if United do get promoted.

 

Ask a football fan anywhere in the world what they know about Newcastle United and they’ll say St James’ Park, Alan Shearer and black and white stripes.

 

Well, Ashley’s already cast Shearer aside, now for the name of the ground. What next? Out with the black and white, and in with an all new red and white home kit?

 

Let’s not give the man ideas. After all this is a club who asked for potential buyers to bid via an email address in June... only to be deluged by hoaxers.

 

His latest brainstorm will be met with the kind of anger that accompanied his treatment of Kevin Keegan in September last year.

 

It is as if he sat back and thought: How can I rile those Geordies some more?! How can I take away a bit more dignity from the club?

 

Does he not see that putting the name of St James’ Park up for sale, on the same night as he decided to extend his massively unpopular regime, is so deliberately provocative as to incite new levels of frustration/rage/disillusionment at his regime?

 

Hang on a minute, you are thinking. It is those Geordies getting all sentimental again. Just like they did about Keegan. They’ll be crying on the telly next.

 

Plenty of other clubs have successfully renamed grounds. Look at Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium, lovely place. Yes, but it was a new stadium.

 

Actually it is a lot about being sentimental. When your club has been reduced to a shadow of its former self by the mismanagement, incompetence and lies of an owner with no more credibility, then you cling to the solid foundations of its history.

 

The strip, the ground, the legends who have served it faithfully in the past.

 

St James’ Park is as massive part of Newcastle’s history. Generations of families have walked to what Sir Bobby Robson used to call the “cathedral“ on the hill.

 

My first visit to St James’ Park was in the early ’80s. Newcastle 4-2 QPR. Peter Wythe scored twice AND rescued a black and white collie dog that strayed onto the pitch.

 

The main stand was nothing much more than a tin shed. There was a small window masquerading as a ticket office. The tickets cost £2.50 each, for the best seats. (Well it was a birthday treat.) I was actually at ST JAMES’ PARK.

 

If your dad took you to St James’ Park for your first match, you want to take your lad, or lass, to St James’ Park to see his first match.

 

So yes, perhaps that is a bit sentimental. But it is also about not selling out and turning a historic ground into just another corporate entity in the glitsy, everything is up for grabs, world of soccerball. Or whatever it will soon be called.

 

I sincerely hope that finally a crazy plan mooted by a crazy owner will be defeated. Already the Geordie fans are mobilising, and they’ll vent their fury.

 

I plan one small protest.

 

I vow always to refer to it as St James’ Park in my MirrorFootball dispatches.

 

I would urge others to follow suit and show any new sponsors they’d be wasting their money buying a name that belongs to the stadium and the fans.

 

Toon fans: what do you think of Mike Ashley's latest brainstorm? Let us know by leaving your comments below...

 

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Guest Roger Kint

there's more to following a club than just going to games, when many fan's can't attend games due to work commitments, distance etc, does that make anyless of a supporter, nope

 

so does someone boycotting cos they can see their club being ripped apart by a buffoon, make them anyless of a supporter, nope

 

i'm one of these now, i was aiming to make 10 home games a season, now i've attended 1 game and that's it for me, got better things to do with my money

 

While you deserve to be knighted for your incredible resolve, here in the real world we have about 25000 people who have paid huge amounts on season tickets who(like me) simply cant afford to piss so much money away undefinately.

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Guest Roger Kint

Is boycotting ultimately the only way to force Ashley out eventually?

 

YES

 

Don't say that, you'll upset some of the clueless c***s on here

[/quot

Go on then, you dont need any help surely? Just stop going to all games indefinately. One man can make a difference and all that! Dont you realise that 'the clueless c***s' you speak of at least are doing what they feel is right whereas you sit at your PC bleating and boasting of a fantasy world where a boycott would work while STILL going to games AGAINST your better judgement.....not thats true stupidity :rolleyes:

 

Did you type that with your forehead? f***ing clueless

 

That all you are capable of? Insults? Pathetic really, still its an improvement on what you usually post ;D

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Guest toonlass

Why all Newcastle fans should boycott Mike Ashley's plan to rename St James' Park:

 

Simon Bird's big lunchtime read By Mirror Football Blog

 

 

And the latest from SportsDirect.com Park is that Mike Ashley couldn’t sell Newcastle United. So instead he’s decided to sell it’s history.

 

Taking Newcastle off the market last night was a blow, but not a huge surprise. Chris Hughton got the manager’s job full time - no shock there either.

 

But here’s the real stunner. Prepare for St James’ Park to become the Popular Airline Arena. Or perhaps the Well Known Chocolate Bar Bowl. Or the High Street Bank Stadium.

 

Tucked away at the bottom of his statement last night announcing Hughton as boss, and saying Barry Moat couldn’t raise the cash for a takeover, Ashley blundered (that word again) into making the kind of provocative, insensitive, ludicrous statement he has made his trademark as a football club owner.

 

He tells us that the club are exploring ways of maximising new revenue streams next summer. And that means St James’ Park, the name that is, will soon be no more. Replaced by a soulless corporate label.

 

Ashley is ready to trade more than a century of tradition for a few quid.

 

To sacrifice the name of the city’s most famous landmarks to swell the coffers with a sum that will hardly buy a decent new striker if United do get promoted.

 

Ask a football fan anywhere in the world what they know about Newcastle United and they’ll say St James’ Park, Alan Shearer and black and white stripes.

 

Well, Ashley’s already cast Shearer aside, now for the name of the ground. What next? Out with the black and white, and in with an all new red and white home kit?

 

Let’s not give the man ideas. After all this is a club who asked for potential buyers to bid via an email address in June... only to be deluged by hoaxers.

 

His latest brainstorm will be met with the kind of anger that accompanied his treatment of Kevin Keegan in September last year.

 

It is as if he sat back and thought: How can I rile those Geordies some more?! How can I take away a bit more dignity from the club?

 

Does he not see that putting the name of St James’ Park up for sale, on the same night as he decided to extend his massively unpopular regime, is so deliberately provocative as to incite new levels of frustration/rage/disillusionment at his regime?

 

Hang on a minute, you are thinking. It is those Geordies getting all sentimental again. Just like they did about Keegan. They’ll be crying on the telly next.

 

Plenty of other clubs have successfully renamed grounds. Look at Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium, lovely place. Yes, but it was a new stadium.

 

Actually it is a lot about being sentimental. When your club has been reduced to a shadow of its former self by the mismanagement, incompetence and lies of an owner with no more credibility, then you cling to the solid foundations of its history.

 

The strip, the ground, the legends who have served it faithfully in the past.

 

St James’ Park is as massive part of Newcastle’s history. Generations of families have walked to what Sir Bobby Robson used to call the “cathedral“ on the hill.

 

My first visit to St James’ Park was in the early ’80s. Newcastle 4-2 QPR. Peter Wythe scored twice AND rescued a black and white collie dog that strayed onto the pitch.

 

The main stand was nothing much more than a tin shed. There was a small window masquerading as a ticket office. The tickets cost £2.50 each, for the best seats. (Well it was a birthday treat.) I was actually at ST JAMES’ PARK.

 

If your dad took you to St James’ Park for your first match, you want to take your lad, or lass, to St James’ Park to see his first match.

 

So yes, perhaps that is a bit sentimental. But it is also about not selling out and turning a historic ground into just another corporate entity in the glitsy, everything is up for grabs, world of soccerball. Or whatever it will soon be called.

 

I sincerely hope that finally a crazy plan mooted by a crazy owner will be defeated. Already the Geordie fans are mobilising, and they’ll vent their fury.

 

I plan one small protest.

 

I vow always to refer to it as St James’ Park in my MirrorFootball dispatches.

 

I would urge others to follow suit and show any new sponsors they’d be wasting their money buying a name that belongs to the stadium and the fans.

 

Toon fans: what do you think of Mike Ashley's latest brainstorm? Let us know by leaving your comments below...

 

 

:clap:

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Boycott

= less revenue from less attractive commercial deals

= less money to spend to cover expenditure

= more player sales to cover the shortfall

= worse team

= less chance of promotion

= less chance to get the price he wants to f*** off

= he's even less likely to sell it

 

I think the everything must go sale in January will see to that one..

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Boycott

= less revenue from less attractive commercial deals

= less money to spend to cover expenditure

= more player sales to cover the shortfall

= worse team

= less chance of promotion

= less chance to get the price he wants to fuck off

= he's even less likely to sell it

 

If not

 

= Still nothing spent on players

= Even shitter team

= More ways to piss us all off

= Coming straight back down even if we do go up

= Will try to sell for twice the price if promotion

= Back to square 1

 

 

 

 

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Guest neesy111

there's more to following a club than just going to games, when many fan's can't attend games due to work commitments, distance etc, does that make anyless of a supporter, nope

 

so does someone boycotting cos they can see their club being ripped apart by a buffoon, make them anyless of a supporter, nope

 

i'm one of these now, i was aiming to make 10 home games a season, now i've attended 1 game and that's it for me, got better things to do with my money

 

While you deserve to be knighted for your incredible resolve, here in the real world we have about 25000 people who have paid huge amounts on season tickets who(like me) simply cant afford to piss so much money away undefinately.

 

roger, i didn't know u had a 3 year plan

 

i'm for those who buy on a match by match basis, could they not boycott 1 game for example

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Can't see the point in the boycott. He knows how hated he is and doesn't give a shit.

 

Boycott away if you want to but nothing positive will come of it. Better off supporting the team imo but it takes all sorts I suppose. :dontknow:

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Can't see the point in the boycott. He knows how hated he is and doesn't give a shit.

 

Boycott away if you want to but nothing positive will come of it. Better off supporting the team imo but it takes all sorts I suppose. :dontknow:

 

I think there's an overwhelming feeling of needing to do something, that's all. I feel it myself, even though I know I'm powerless.

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Boycott

= less revenue from less attractive commercial deals

= less money to spend to cover expenditure

= more player sales to cover the shortfall

= worse team

= less chance of promotion

= less chance to get the price he wants to f*** off

= he's even less likely to sell it

 

I think the everything must go sale in January will see to that one..

 

If that's what happens you're right. 

 

I can't see any way a boycott organised now is going to get rid of him in the next 9 weeks before the transfer window opens if that is his intention.

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There's no way to force him out. He knows the fans despise him but he's still here.

 

Theoretically, if it was possible to reduce the gates to about 5000 for the rest of the season, we might get somewhere. (But then the players would be affected and we'd probably not go up anyway.)

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There's no way to force him out. He knows the fans despise him but he's still here.

 

Theoretically, if it was possible to reduce the gates to about 5000 for the rest of the season, we might get somewhere. (But then the players would be affected and we'd probably not go up anyway.)

 

I'd say some of those players you mention are the reason why we went down in the first place.

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There's no way to force him out. He knows the fans despise him but he's still here.

 

Theoretically, if it was possible to reduce the gates to about 5000 for the rest of the season, we might get somewhere. (But then the players would be affected and we'd probably not go up anyway.)

 

I'd say some of those players you mention are the reason why we went down in the first place.

 

Course they are, I never suggested otherwise. We still need them to get us back up.

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It's not about making him realise he's hated, but giving him as hard of a ride as possible while he's here. He got away with murder when the details of the Keegan case were released, there was no real outpouring of anger. Now is the time to change that because you can tell he's getting comfortable again, whether that be in the form of protests, banners, marches, boycotts etc.

 

We haven't even plumbed the depths yet and I don't want to find out how bad this could get. No action and I might.

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Guest neesy111

Boycott

= less revenue from less attractive commercial deals

= less money to spend to cover expenditure

= more player sales to cover the shortfall

= worse team

= less chance of promotion

= less chance to get the price he wants to f*** off

= he's even less likely to sell it

 

I think the everything must go sale in January will see to that one..

 

If that's what happens you're right. 

 

I can't see any way a boycott organised now is going to get rid of him in the next 9 weeks before the transfer window opens if that is his intention.

 

didn't we say wait till after the transfer window last season, and look what happened....

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Guest WashyGeordie

Successful protests do work, but they have to be pretty 'large scale' (like the Lpool one), well organised and we've got to keep at it / persevere (don't give up)

 

When we protested against Ashley back under the Keegan fiasco, it was only a one-off event, although there was a canny number, nothing else happened after that, and the pressure was on our side because of the charvs appearing on SSN and the mis-spelt banners etc.

 

If we do it say every home game, and get the media/PR on our side, it will eventually mount pressure on him/them.

 

We need to turn up the anti!

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There's no way to force him out. He knows the fans despise him but he's still here.

 

Theoretically, if it was possible to reduce the gates to about 5000 for the rest of the season, we might get somewhere. (But then the players would be affected and we'd probably not go up anyway.)

 

I'd say some of those players you mention are the reason why we went down in the first place.

 

Course they are, I never suggested otherwise. We still need them to get us back up.

 

What so we can come straight back down again?

 

Some fans are more bothered about how it will look to other supporters in terms of attendances than doing it to help the club long term.

 

The guy is cancer, he needs cutting out!

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Boycott

= less revenue from less attractive commercial deals

= less money to spend to cover expenditure

= more player sales to cover the shortfall

= worse team

= less chance of promotion

= less chance to get the price he wants to f*** off

= he's even less likely to sell it

 

I think the everything must go sale in January will see to that one..

 

If that's what happens you're right. 

 

I can't see any way a boycott organised now is going to get rid of him in the next 9 weeks before the transfer window opens if that is his intention.

 

didn't we say wait till after the transfer window last season, and look what happened....

 

I'm not sure what your point is tbh, in terms of anything I've said being wrong.

 

Do you think he could be forced out within 9 weeks?

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