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St James' Park


Dave

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Virgin Money is somewhat lacking in brand image, they've made a major investment in acquiring NR and have made a commitment to continue investing in the region.

In marketing Geordie voices and the city of Newcastle are perceived as positive and trustworthy images.

Further linking their brand to the city may seem like a good idea to them.

Could be way wide of the mark but using NUFC and SJP may make sense for Virgin Money.

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seems strange that the announcement of the end of our sponsorship deal comes just days before virgin money takers over. is it too far to guess that virgin money is actually behind the end of the sponsorship, they must've been in talks with northern rock/the government and known about the decision.

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seems strange that the announcement of the end of our sponsorship deal comes just days before virgin money takers over. is it too far to guess that virgin money is actually behind the end of the sponsorship, they must've been in talks with northern rock/the government and known about the decision.

They could be. On the other hand it could be Northern Rock who ended it thus giving Virgin Money the opportunity to make their own mind up about sponsorships.
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seems strange that the announcement of the end of our sponsorship deal comes just days before virgin money takers over. is it too far to guess that virgin money is actually behind the end of the sponsorship, they must've been in talks with northern rock/the government and known about the decision.

They could be. On the other hand it could be Northern Rock who ended it thus giving Virgin Money the opportunity to make their own mind up about sponsorships.

wouldn;t they have done that without making it official they were pulling out ? isn't it likely they asked virging if they wanted to leave and the result is virging replied "no, get out of it"
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Will be interesting keeping an eye out at the ground as there is quite a significant amount of NR branding about which is where they will start first I guess... That and the post match interview backdrop... Might get a good indication about the strips from there...

That can all be turned around very fast, it would only take a few days to make new boards plus you also have to consider the fact that theirs a lot of electronic ones as well.

 

The sale doesn't go through until January the 1st and it is also subject to some sort of fair play finance take over reviews well so nothing in the sense of name changes on advertisements can go through until then because Virgin Money won't actually own Northern Rock until then.

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seems strange that the announcement of the end of our sponsorship deal comes just days before virgin money takers over. is it too far to guess that virgin money is actually behind the end of the sponsorship, they must've been in talks with northern rock/the government and known about the decision.

They could be. On the other hand it could be Northern Rock who ended it thus giving Virgin Money the opportunity to make their own mind up about sponsorships.

wouldn;t they have done that without making it official they were pulling out ? isn't it likely they asked virging if they wanted to leave and the result is virging replied "no, get out of it"

Virgin only seem to have sorted the business side of the deal out, I.E. what their are paying for the business and how they are going to rebrand it and expand it. So far they haven't even started discussions about other things, like for example the Northern Rock foundation which in their own words they have said "It's safe until at least 2013 which by then we will have discussed about weather or not we will continue with it".

 

I would have thought that sponsorships would be the least biggest things on their mind right now. Lets not forget that Virgin have a racing team and such all just to advertise their brands. Sponsoring NUFC would be a good idea if they want to play the "Where a Newcastle group" card, however I would have thought that in their minds the expansion would be focused outside of the North East where Northern Rock/Virgin Money is already very established and into other areas where theirs little to no branches. I'm sure they would want to advertise in a way to represent that.

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so you'd have thought northern rock would've left it for virgin, not made a decision whilst in talks with them, without their view.

It's a multi billion pound business, the sponsorship deal is something like £4m a season. I'd hardly consider it a deal breaking factor.

 

I'd say it's more of mutual agreement, when the deal was made we were in the Championship and it was considered pretty low for a Premiership sponsorship deal, now we are flying high in the Premiership with aims of top 10 finishes and a possibility of European football, I'm pretty sure the club would have turned around and said "I think we can get more out of you". In fact I'd be pretty disappointed if they didn't.

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i know the deal ia small beer but it still strikes me as odd that they'd make that decision whilst in talks over a buyout. hopefully it turns to our advantage and we get a better deal...................i aint holding my breath though.

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seems strange that the announcement of the end of our sponsorship deal comes just days before virgin money takers over. is it too far to guess that virgin money is actually behind the end of the sponsorship, they must've been in talks with northern rock/the government and known about the decision.

You're too tentative, of course these events are all linked you dont need someone to come out and say it. The end of NR sponsorship has been discussed inside NR since early September. I have a source for that though, which i wont share but a few people should easily guess.

 

I agree with some of your earlier points in this thread. One of the things thats also annoyed me about the stadium renaming are the claims of '130 years of history consigned to the dustbin' etc. No one has ever gone on to explain what they mean by this. That no one will remember it was called St James' Park? That when we read the history books of the future, there will be no mention of St James' Park? It temporarily eliminates a name that has heritage value but that doesnt make good copy. Your point was more about the other 'branding innovation' but (if i'm not mistaken), your general point was probably about the perspective seems to be this is the worst thing thats happened when other changes like shirt sponsorship were arguably more noticeable and important. I would add that knocking down a stadium and rebuilding it is a huge loss in heritage. These changes at other major clubs have been ignored because the commercial reasons were clearer. If thats the premise of everyone's outrage they should quit talking about history and complain merely about the lack of a clear commercial benefit. Just my opinion of course and that doesnt mean i wasnt pissed off, i even wrote to Hunt and Penrose at the DoCMS to complain.

 

Got a question for you anyway, did Richard Branson sue the owner of Virgin records in Newcastle when he started his company of the same name in the 70s?

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interesting read if possibly a one sided view of the legal bit. i never even knew there was a virgin record shop (geordie version) on westgate road. i only remember the eldon square one. nice little mention for callers in there aswell, very underated in it's musical selection, better than virgin and volume for the unclassifiables like talking heads, a certain ratio, au pairs.....pretty sure i got the serious drinking and 10,000 maniacs stuff from there also.
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Guest Roger Kint

As it will be 3 years til it happens i hardly think anything is close to being decided. You have given away nothing at all tbh  ???

 

How do you feel now !

 

Same as i did at the time thanks. Dont recall you mentioning this was down to NR getting took over. At present thats all that has happened.

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Without having back read 14 pages ....

 

Does anyone think that it'll be anything other than SPORTS DIRECT on the shirt and stadium for the foreseeable future?

 

I certainly don't. Nobody knows obviously, but I can't see a mythical brand suddenly coming out of the woodwork to pay Mike Ashley the money he wants. I think the inevitable outcome is SD as stadium and shirt sponsors.

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