Stadium naming rights

[Benwell Lad]

Hated the ides when I heard about it - although I still think it's some kind of smokescreen and unlikely to happen.

There again I hated shirt advertising, the Milk/Littlewoods/Carling Cup and the FA Cup sponsored by E-on etc etc.

 

If it has to happen then Adidas St.James' Park probably sounds OK, especially if they're daft enough to pay millions for it and it would always be known as St.James's anyway.

 

Think it's quite funny how NUFC.com are on their high horse about this. A lot of fans were upset when "Local Hero" wasn't played as they thought that has become part of the matchday tradition, but .com thought it was sentimental tosh and refused to support it.

Sometimes you get the feeling that if the present "ownership" had said they would not consider new revenue streams, they'd be going hysterical about the useless cockney w+nkers doing nowt.  They're pretty useless but they seem to be damned whatever they say or do.

 

By the way that's the same NUFC.com which has about six tacky banner adds surrounding the little bit of (old) news on their site.

 

I like to put the boot into .COM for the way they've got up themselves as much as the next lad but you're chatting s**** here.

 

Local Hero and St. James' simply aren't comparable. One was a song (which I like, for the record) by a faux-Geordie that was introduced a few years ago. The other is the name of our ground and has been since the 1880's.

 

I don't agree with the banner adds, i'm sick of the sight of seeing Jennings Ford advertising some wonderful deal on Fiesta's, but again they're not comparable and it doesn't make them hypocrites. If the crux of .COMs opposition was bourn out of some anti-capitalist sentiment then fair enough but it's not. It's about history and heritage, something a two-bit website simply doesn't have.

 

And please don't try to paint Mike Ashley and his pals as some unfortunates who can't do anything right. Maybe .COm would've kicked off had they poo pooed persuing other revenue streams but that's because said revenue streams don't begin and end at renaming the f***ing stadium.

 

Good post.

 

It seems the only way people can try to justify this is by making absurd comparisons to totally unrelated situations. I can't fathom why any Newcastle fan would want this to go ahead, and I certainly don't believe we or any fans would accept this without putting up a fight. You can't compare this farce to Arsenal or Bayern getting new stadiums or to Local Hero being changed by the DJ before kick-off! And in today's world, you can't compare it to adverts on strips because almost everyone has those and almost noone changes their stadium's name.

 

Let's stop trying to compare it to something it's not and just call a spade a spade. dot com don't seem to be on any high horse of their own here, they're sticking up for something the vast majority of Newcastle fans believe in. With the club in the state its in, battered bruised and humiliated, pride in the club's tradition is all the fans have left. You can't take that away from us. Or can you?

 

If we let this happen, where does it end?

i don't think anyone does want it. i also don't want advertising on the top,advertising hoardings round the ground,a page in the programme telling you who sponsors alan smiths undercrackers or a bloke standing by the pitch to tell the ref he can start as the advert for tampax has finished.

 

unfortunatly i also realise that it is all about money and if doing that brings in a hefty chunk of moolah then it's likely it'll be done. and i still think that having the fans walking round as adverts for some company is as bad if not worse than selling the stadium name.

 

Totally different kettle of fish tbh.

how. my guess is that in this country people will still call it St James' and that abroad the strip is more recognisable than the stadium name. (thats using myself as a guide..i recognise a lot more clubs strips than know their stadium names).

 

given the choice i'd say no to it but i don't have it as a knicker wetting issue that some have.

 

It's a crackpot idea and as I said earlier I think it's some kind of smokescreen.

Personally I'm more concerned about what we're doing for backroom staff and scouting networks in the future than whether some corporation is daft enough to pay millions to "sponsor" the stadium name which will ALWAYS be St.James's to those who really matter.

Strange that this has become the "knicker wetting issue" after football has sold virtually every other part of it's soul.

[David Icke - Son of God]

Where has all the transfer money gone from our sales???

 

 

Whats happening with the dosh made from the gate, which we average 40k'ish.

 

 

most probably still on wages,running costs and paying off past transfers and thats assuming the incoming fees aren't spread over years.

 

Wages and running costs were being paid by an overdraft all summer. Past transfers didn't amount to anywhere near the £40 million we were meant to have received this summer if Ashley is to be believed.

[afar]

I'm sorry if this has already been said, but I've stayed clear of this thread and can't be arsed to go through all 12 pages. Anway, I honestly couldn't give a crap what they call the stadium but on the list of bad things Ashley's done to this club, it's pretty low down for me. What I can't get over is the fact that this renaming has got people's blood boiling and willingness to act more that Ashley's total destruction of our football club, crazy really.

 

I think you're missing the point. This is a culmination of ill feeling, it isn't just about the stadium name. He got off quite lightly with the Keegan ruling and relegation because he was 'selling' the club and we thought he was finally on the way out.

 

No one is directing vitriol towards him simply because he's trying to sell the name of the stadium but because this is the latest thing he has done to show contempt for the fans. There's a bigger picture.

 

No I'm not missing the point at all. It's a bloody name, who cares, honestly. Is it going to make us play any worse on the field, no. Everyone is playing the it's a tradition card, but at the end of the day, it's something that making the apathetic folk act more than the countless other acts of plain madness Ashley has done to this club, acts that have caused way more damage.

[David Icke - Son of God]

I'm sorry if this has already been said, but I've stayed clear of this thread and can't be arsed to go through all 12 pages. Anway, I honestly couldn't give a crap what they call the stadium but on the list of bad things Ashley's done to this club, it's pretty low down for me. What I can't get over is the fact that this renaming has got people's blood boiling and willingness to act more that Ashley's total destruction of our football club, crazy really.

 

I think you're missing the point. This is a culmination of ill feeling, it isn't just about the stadium name. He got off quite lightly with the Keegan ruling and relegation because he was 'selling' the club and we thought he was finally on the way out.

 

No one is directing vitriol towards him simply because he's trying to sell the name of the stadium but because this is the latest thing he has done to show contempt for the fans. There's a bigger picture.

 

No I'm not missing the point at all. It's a bloody name, who cares, honestly. Is it going to make us play any worse on the field, no. Everyone is playing the it's a tradition card, but at the end of the day, it's something that making the apathetic folk act more than the countless other acts of plain madness Ashley has done to this club, acts that have caused way more damage.

 

You are missing the point.

 

This may be the act people are focusing on because it's the first time since the club was taken off the market (again) he's stuck two fingers up to the fans. That's why it's been seized on. You're making the very naive assumption that the fans are purely losing their rag over this - they're not. This is simply the culmination of the anger that has been boiling over the past 12 months since he last attempted to sell the club. It probably would've happened earlier but we've been on the market.

 

I'm not going to argue the toss with you. If you can't see that this is one of many things our support is furious about then you're a bit of a flid.

[Nicky]

Adidas have issued a statement denying they want the rights to rename the ground.  Good.

[ToonTastic]

Adidas have issued a statement denying they want the rights to rename the ground.   Good.

 

Nufc.com suggest we could be losing them as the creators of our shirts and that's why.

[Guest toonlass]

I'm sorry if this has already been said, but I've stayed clear of this thread and can't be arsed to go through all 12 pages. Anway, I honestly couldn't give a crap what they call the stadium but on the list of bad things Ashley's done to this club, it's pretty low down for me. What I can't get over is the fact that this renaming has got people's blood boiling and willingness to act more that Ashley's total destruction of our football club, crazy really.

 

I think you're missing the point. This is a culmination of ill feeling, it isn't just about the stadium name. He got off quite lightly with the Keegan ruling and relegation because he was 'selling' the club and we thought he was finally on the way out.

 

No one is directing vitriol towards him simply because he's trying to sell the name of the stadium but because this is the latest thing he has done to show contempt for the fans. There's a bigger picture.

 

No I'm not missing the point at all. It's a bloody name, who cares, honestly. Is it going to make us play any worse on the field, no. Everyone is playing the it's a tradition card, but at the end of the day, it's something that making the apathetic folk act more than the countless other acts of plain madness Ashley has done to this club, acts that have caused way more damage.

 

 

Jeezuz man! You really don't get it do you? This is not just a name for a football ground, it's OUR football ground. Would you be happy seeing us play in red and white home kits? What about changing the club name from Newcastle United? Or maybe moving them down to Milton frigging Keynes and closing our club down?

[Montey]

I don't know how such things work in the U.K.  But could the local council in some way heritage list the stadium, including its name?  They could then revoke the heritage listing once Ashley is gone, but it'd sure mess with his plans in the meantime.

[Guest Geordiesned]

From nufc.com:

 

David Clelland, Parliamentary MP for the Tyne Bridge constituency has tabled the following early day motion in The House of Commons:

 

That this House regrets the intention of the current owners of Newcastle United Football Club to consider renaming St James' Park, an integral part of the City of Newcastle and Tyneside since 1892 and renowned throughout the world of football and beyond as symbolic of the game, and of the loyalty of its supporters to their club; and calls on the club's owners to reconsider or ensure that whatever sponsorship deals they may seek, the name St James' Park lives on in football and in Newcastle.

[David Icke - Son of God]

From nufc.com:

 

David Clelland, Parliamentary MP for the Tyne Bridge constituency has tabled the following early day motion in The House of Commons:

 

That this House regrets the intention of the current owners of Newcastle United Football Club to consider renaming St James' Park, an integral part of the City of Newcastle and Tyneside since 1892 and renowned throughout the world of football and beyond as symbolic of the game, and of the loyalty of its supporters to their club; and calls on the club's owners to reconsider or ensure that whatever sponsorship deals they may seek, the name St James' Park lives on in football and in Newcastle.

 

Good stuff. This type of publicity needs to be followed up by an outpouring of anger versus Peterborough. Make enough noise and he'll have to listen.

[Guest johnson293]

I don't know how such things work in the U.K.  But could the local council in some way heritage list the stadium, including its name?  They could then revoke the heritage listing once Ashley is gone, but it'd sure mess with his plans in the meantime.

 

Apologies if its already been posted, but also from an article on .COM....

 

David Faulkner, the Deputy Leader of Newcastle City Council provided the following response to the scheme:

 

Whilst we understand the need to maximise sponsorship income, some things are more important than money.

 

The name St James' Park is synonymous with Newcastle United Football Club, has been for over 100 years, and absolutely must stay.

 

On the legal/property aspects, the lease of St James Park was granted to Newcastle United Football Company Ltd by the City Council for a term of 99 years beginning on 16th July 1998. Such long leases effectively mean that the balance of power rests with the tenant not the landlord.

 

There is no covenant in the lease prohibiting a change of name of the stadium or ground. The tenant can't erect new buildings without prior landlord's consent but there is no prohibition on change of signage.

 

Therefore, as ground landlord our view is that unfortunately the Council could not prevent a change of name of the ground. I imagine what is happening now was never thought of at the time the lease was agreed.

 

Please also note that St James Park is a Town Moor "Intake" (that is, part of the Town Moor) and therefore all the ground rent is received by the Freemen not the Council.

[bealios]

Its a short step from re-naming the ground to playing fucking music after a goal, and then we become one of those clubs, and we might as well just fucking relocate the ground to a retail park in Gateshead.

 

 

[Optimistic Nut]

From nufc.com:

 

David Clelland, Parliamentary MP for the Tyne Bridge constituency has tabled the following early day motion in The House of Commons:

 

That this House regrets the intention of the current owners of Newcastle United Football Club to consider renaming St James' Park, an integral part of the City of Newcastle and Tyneside since 1892 and renowned throughout the world of football and beyond as symbolic of the game, and of the loyalty of its supporters to their club; and calls on the club's owners to reconsider or ensure that whatever sponsorship deals they may seek, the name St James' Park lives on in football and in Newcastle.

 

Good stuff. This type of publicity needs to be followed up by an outpouring of anger versus Peterborough. Make enough noise and he'll have to listen.

 

Maybe he has already. Hasn't been a mention of it from the club since the announcement.

[David Icke - Son of God]

From nufc.com:

 

David Clelland, Parliamentary MP for the Tyne Bridge constituency has tabled the following early day motion in The House of Commons:

 

That this House regrets the intention of the current owners of Newcastle United Football Club to consider renaming St James' Park, an integral part of the City of Newcastle and Tyneside since 1892 and renowned throughout the world of football and beyond as symbolic of the game, and of the loyalty of its supporters to their club; and calls on the club's owners to reconsider or ensure that whatever sponsorship deals they may seek, the name St James' Park lives on in football and in Newcastle.

 

Good stuff. This type of publicity needs to be followed up by an outpouring of anger versus Peterborough. Make enough noise and he'll have to listen.

 

Maybe he has already. Hasn't been a mention of it from the club since the announcement.

 

Silence is usually a sign he's still in full blown wanker mode.

[relámpago blanco]

From nufc.com:

 

David Clelland, Parliamentary MP for the Tyne Bridge constituency has tabled the following early day motion in The House of Commons:

 

That this House regrets the intention of the current owners of Newcastle United Football Club to consider renaming St James' Park, an integral part of the City of Newcastle and Tyneside since 1892 and renowned throughout the world of football and beyond as symbolic of the game, and of the loyalty of its supporters to their club; and calls on the club's owners to reconsider or ensure that whatever sponsorship deals they may seek, the name St James' Park lives on in football and in Newcastle.

 

Good stuff. This type of publicity needs to be followed up by an outpouring of anger versus Peterborough. Make enough noise and he'll have to listen.

 

Maybe he has already. Hasn't been a mention of it from the club since the announcement.

 

Silence is usually a sign he's still in full blown w***** mode.

Well he's pretty much quiet most of the time.  How many statements have we seen from him since he took over? 5?

[David Icke - Son of God]

From nufc.com:

 

David Clelland, Parliamentary MP for the Tyne Bridge constituency has tabled the following early day motion in The House of Commons:

 

That this House regrets the intention of the current owners of Newcastle United Football Club to consider renaming St James' Park, an integral part of the City of Newcastle and Tyneside since 1892 and renowned throughout the world of football and beyond as symbolic of the game, and of the loyalty of its supporters to their club; and calls on the club's owners to reconsider or ensure that whatever sponsorship deals they may seek, the name St James' Park lives on in football and in Newcastle.

 

Good stuff. This type of publicity needs to be followed up by an outpouring of anger versus Peterborough. Make enough noise and he'll have to listen.

 

Maybe he has already. Hasn't been a mention of it from the club since the announcement.

 

Silence is usually a sign he's still in full blown w***** mode.

Well he's pretty much quiet most of the time.  How many statements have we seen from him since he took over? 5?

 

-That interview in the club magazine

-Keegan was a cunt and all the stuff I said in that interview with the club magazine was tosh

-The club is on the market

-The club is off the market

-The club is in the market...again

-The club is off the market...again

[BlueStar]

Apologies if its already been posted, but also from an article on .COM.....

On the legal/property aspects, the lease of St James Park was granted to Newcastle United Football Company Ltd by the City Council for a term of 99 years beginning on 16th July 1998. Such long leases effectively mean that the balance of power rests with the tenant not the landlord.

 

There is no covenant in the lease prohibiting a change of name of the stadium or ground. The tenant can't erect new buildings without prior landlord's consent but there is no prohibition on change of signage.

 

Therefore, as ground landlord our view is that unfortunately the Council could not prevent a change of name of the ground. I imagine what is happening now was never thought of at the time the lease was agreed.

 

 

Same kind of pathetic spineless shit they came out with when they announced they were moving production of brown ale "Ooh, it's very sad but we're not going to do anything about it."

 

We pay you to kick off about this kind of stuff you little cunts, get to work finding some laws you can enact, get on the phone and bollock them, get yourself down to Buckinghamshire and knock Ashley and Lambias's fucking heads together, you're the representatives of the area and they're making you look fucking stupid.

[AyeDubbleYoo]

Don't think you can have a go at the council for this. SJP is owned and run by NUFC so they can call it what they like.

 

You're right, the council could object and express their displeasure, but that's about it.

[Montey]

OK, so it seems getting a site heritage listed has nothing to do with the council, but it appears to be the responsibility of the Department for Culture, Media and Sport.  According to English Heritage the way to get a place listed is to start by contacting the department by writing to:

 

Listing Branch

Department for Culture, Media and Sport

2-4 Cockspur Street

London

SW1Y 5DH

 

Email: [email protected]

 

(According to: http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/server/show/nav.1684#howtolist )

 

Here's some instruction from the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (which seems to point back to English Heritage.  http://www.culture.gov.uk/what_we_do/historic_environment/4179.aspx

 

Perhaps a write-in campaign to both of these groups could see them at least put a speed-bump in Ashleys plans.  If they showed some interest in preserving the stadium as a site of cultural significance to the north east of England, with the name being an intrinsic part of that significance, it might slow Ashley up a bit.

 

 

[Guest toonlass]

Write to your MP too (you can email if you use the "Write to them" website http://www.writetothem.com/ ) and ask them to support the early day motion.

[afar]

Write to your MP too (you can email if you use the "Write to them" website http://www.writetothem.com/ ) and ask them to support the early day motion.

 

Did you write to your MP when Ashley was ripping apart the Club, did they debate his destructive ownership in the commons ? This is so fucking ridiculous, that something so inconsequential, and trust me the naming of a bloody football stadium is inconsquential, gets people off their arses to act more than all the shit we've had to put up with for the last year or so.

[David Icke - Son of God]

Write to your MP too (you can email if you use the "Write to them" website http://www.writetothem.com/ ) and ask them to support the early day motion.

 

Did you write to your MP when Ashley was ripping apart the Club, did they debate his destructive ownership in the commons ? This is so fucking ridiculous, that something so inconsequential, and trust me the naming of a bloody football stadium is inconsquential, gets people off their arses to act more than all the shit we've had to put up with for the last year or so.

 

Fuck off you thick arsehole. I'm not going to spell it out for you again.

[afar]

I'm sorry if this has already been said, but I've stayed clear of this thread and can't be arsed to go through all 12 pages. Anway, I honestly couldn't give a crap what they call the stadium but on the list of bad things Ashley's done to this club, it's pretty low down for me. What I can't get over is the fact that this renaming has got people's blood boiling and willingness to act more that Ashley's total destruction of our football club, crazy really.

 

I think you're missing the point. This is a culmination of ill feeling, it isn't just about the stadium name. He got off quite lightly with the Keegan ruling and relegation because he was 'selling' the club and we thought he was finally on the way out.

 

No one is directing vitriol towards him simply because he's trying to sell the name of the stadium but because this is the latest thing he has done to show contempt for the fans. There's a bigger picture.

 

No I'm not missing the point at all. It's a bloody name, who cares, honestly. Is it going to make us play any worse on the field, no. Everyone is playing the it's a tradition card, but at the end of the day, it's something that making the apathetic folk act more than the countless other acts of plain madness Ashley has done to this club, acts that have caused way more damage.

 

You are missing the point.

 

This may be the act people are focusing on because it's the first time since the club was taken off the market (again) he's stuck two fingers up to the fans. That's why it's been seized on. You're making the very naive assumption that the fans are purely losing their rag over this - they're not. This is simply the culmination of the anger that has been boiling over the past 12 months since he last attempted to sell the club. It probably would've happened earlier but we've been on the market.

 

I'm not going to argue the toss with you. If you can't see that this is one of many things our support is furious about then you're a bit of a flid.

 

OK how many times am I going to have to say this, I'M NOT MISSING THE FUCKING POINT. At the end of the day, this renaming is the thing that's got people worked up enough to act, not the far worse crap he's done before this, again you're hiding behind a culmination of evnts line to fit your argument.

[Guest toonlass]

Write to your MP too (you can email if you use the "Write to them" website http://www.writetothem.com/ ) and ask them to support the early day motion.

 

Did you write to your MP when Ashley was ripping apart the Club, did they debate his destructive ownership in the commons ? This is so fucking ridiculous, that something so inconsequential, and trust me the naming of a bloody football stadium is inconsquential, gets people off their arses to act more than all the shit we've had to put up with for the last year or so.

 

Fuck off you thick arsehole. I'm not going to spell it out for you again.

 

[afar]

Write to your MP too (you can email if you use the "Write to them" website http://www.writetothem.com/ ) and ask them to support the early day motion.

 

Did you write to your MP when Ashley was ripping apart the Club, did they debate his destructive ownership in the commons ? This is so f***ing ridiculous, that something so inconsequential, and trust me the naming of a bloody football stadium is inconsquential, gets people off their arses to act more than all the s*** we've had to put up with for the last year or so.

 

f*** off you thick arsehole. I'm not going to spell it out for you again.

 

No whjy don't you fuck off you fucking rude son of a fucking bitch, who won't listen to other opposing view, instead wants to ram down their throats his own.

 

Total fucking dick head iyam.