St James' Park

[Stu]

Thanks to all for their comments.

 

The 'age' issue was possibly a dodgy generalisation, and I was a bit nervous about how it would be received. Over the years, you do see lots of things that are regarded as outrageous at one time and then completely accepted at another. That applies to things other than football, but within our game, there was a time when paying players at all was seen as cheating and contrary to the spirit of the game, and money used to get secretly stuck into people's socks. So I don't think this is a 'step too far', though on an emotional issue such as a name, I accept that there's going to be differences of opinion.

 

I get a bit narked about outsiders like Jeff Stelling getting into a public lather about this though. He accepts his salary from Sky Sports - who are more responsible than any organisation for the commercialisation of the modern Premiership. He then talks quite happily about the Barclays Premier League and the Emirates Stadium, but he's outraged at the idea of renaming St James's Park and poses as a man of great principle on that issue. Sorry, no.

 

I can accept HTT's point that supporters in the North East may well be more affected by this. Ashley is often accused of not understanding local feelings and running roughshod over the emotions of supporters. He is, in fact, the first outsider to run the club and though more than once he's tried to get a divorce, it looks like we're lumbered with him and vice versa. However, having an outsider at the reins may just be what the club needs, however painful it seems at times.

 

Over the years, I've felt that the devotion of the fans - which I do think is second to none in this country - has sometimes been a double-edged sword. That's brought a lot of pressure on players, managers and owners and so many have buckled under it. Players have frozen on the big occasion, managers have lost confidence and chairmen have made silly decisions to secure a short term fix rather than build for success in the long-term. One thing you can say about Ashley is he's not afraid of being unpopular, and he's prepared to take a considered risk. To give one example, the decision to replace Hughton with Pardew at a time when the team was doing well and nearly everyone was wanting Chris to get a new contract was very bold and unorthodox. Ashley really put his gonads on the line there. In that kind of situation, it's probably an advantage to be an outsider, a bit detached from the local pressures. The challenge is to harnass that enormous energy that's behind the club, but not be overwhelmed or dictated by it.

 

On other parts of the picture, we're 3rd in the league, the reserve and the youth teams have never been in a better state, we've got state of the art training and medical facilities and virtually no debt other than that carried by the owner. We're looking an increasingly attractive proposition for foreign players and perhaps foreign investment through sponsorship. So if that momentum carries on, I'm not going to get too worked up about how much of the £35m we've spent so far, or whatever the official name of the stadium turns out to be.

 

great post

[AyeDubbleYoo]

I agree with that Cronky post and the general point about some things becoming acceptabe over time, but I still don't think that means we have to accept everything that happens in football.

 

Do we just accept every change as it happens until football eventually separates itself from its roots to such an extent that it becomes meaningless as anything other than pure entertainment?

 

I've never advocated much protest during the Ashley regime, as I know it's pointless and he isn't listening, but in the case of the stadium name I'm incredibly angry. I know we can't do anything about it, but that doesn't mean I have to find reasons to justify it. I can't stop it, but it's still disgusting and unacceptable.

[Benwell Lad]

I agree with that Cronky post and the general point about some things becoming acceptabe over time, but I still don't think that means we have to accept everything that happens in football.

 

Do we just accept every change as it happens until football eventually separates itself from its roots to such an extent that it becomes meaningless as anything other than pure entertainment?

 

I've never advocated much protest during the Ashley regime, as I know it's pointless and he isn't listening, but in the case of the stadium name I'm incredibly angry. I know we can't do anything about it, but that doesn't mean I have to find reasons to justify it. I can't stop it, but it's still disgusting and unacceptable.

 

Best we can do Ian is just keep calling it Saint James', which is what it will always be to those who really matter.

[UV]

I've been a supporter of the club since the sixties, and during that period we've usually seemed to be behind the times, as if what other clubs did yesterday, we'd do tomorrow. We were late in developing the stadium, getting modern training facilities and developing our youth system.

 

When do you think we should have expanded the stadium Cronky? Considering the fact, the ground didn't start getting regularly sold out until '96. I guess the building work should have started in '97 instead of a few years later? I don't remember it at the time, but maybe the club was slow off the mark because wise sages like yourself would have been telling them what a bad idea it was to get the club into a completely unsustainable level of debt (£66m in 2001. I can just see a younger Bobyule warning of inevitably "doing a Charlton/Boro" ).

 

Thank goodness Mike Ashley generously after 4 years of ownership put undersoil heating at the training facilities built under the old board, perhaps in another 4 years if we sell off a few more players we can afford to renovate the showers at the academy facilities built under the old board too. What a generous and forward thinking owner he is, without him developing a youth system at the club we'd never have been able to recruit and bring through the likes of Ameobi, Taylor, Carroll, Krul, and numerous others who filled squad places but didn't quite make it at the top level.

 

Thank goodness also that the commercial revenue of the club is in the hands of someone as capable as Derek is of turning round the finances of the club and bringing in new revenue streams so we can continue to go from strength to strength and allow us to finally compete in the transfer market with the likes of Fulham, Stoke, QPR, Swansea, and Wolves who we can currently only look at with envy for their financial clout.

 

http://i.imgur.com/5l8dI.jpg

 

 

Typical Cronky postings. Big on rhetoric and imagined good intentions, but low on facts. Lots of history being rewritten and replaced with an Ashley aggrandising version. Quite appropriate in this thread then.

[durhamunigeordie]

Good to see those working on the club's website ignoring the namechange!

 

United take on West Brom on Wednesday, 21st December, at St. James' Park with a 7:45pm kick-off.

Tickets are now on sale to Season Ticket Holders and Club Members only. Ticket prices start at just £25 for adults and £12 for juniors (under 18s)

[Pilko]

I noticed Martin Samuel used both names in his caption of his article about Pardew.

[WarrenBartonCentrePartin]

Good to see those working on the club's website ignoring the namechange!

 

United take on West Brom on Wednesday, 21st December, at St. James' Park with a 7:45pm kick-off.

Tickets are now on sale to Season Ticket Holders and Club Members only. Ticket prices start at just £25 for adults and £12 for juniors (under 18s)

 

[Dokko]

That's the key for me, I'm not much of a traditionalist, I'm proud of our history, but happy to move with the times to stay competitive. I still think we made a big mistake in expanding the ground rather than moving to new stadium at another location. But right now we have the worst of it with a crappy name change that generates zero revenue.

 

Couldn't think of anything worse.

[BlueStar]

I love the fact we've got a stadium right in the city, instead of in the middle of a load of wasteland or on an industrial estate down a motorway.

[Dokko]

I love the fact we've got a stadium right in the city, instead of in the middle of a load of wasteland or on an industrial estate down a motorway.

 

This. Plus people moaning about a temporary name change, now we've got people who wish we tore the lot down a decade ago. 

 

 

[Benwell Lad]

I love the fact we've got a stadium right in the city, instead of in the middle of a load of wasteland or on an industrial estate down a motorway.

 

It is something which sets us apart and a reason why we're always at the top of favourite away days.

I guess we may sometimes take it for granted until we visit any of the characterless, remote, identikit stadia that clubs like Derby, Reading, Sunderland, Southampton, Bolton, Middlesbrough, Hull, Stoke, Leicester etc etc have moved to.

[mrmojorisin75]

http://i.imgur.com/5l8dI.jpg

 

the only comment i'd make on this is that 2008 was the start of the world financial crisis wasn't it...therefore do you have similar figures that suggest the downturns in this graph are unique to NUFC (and ashleys mismanagement) or could it be considered a trend within the game as well?

 

genuine question

[BlueStar]

Conversely, do we know how Freddie would have reacted to the financial crisis or to the relegation?  Ashley was still giving out big money contracts to players when he first started, until we were relegated and a lot of our big earners left, at around the same time the financial crisis was kicking in.  I'm not sure his frugality was by design, rather than necessity and we've no idea if Fred would have reigned in the spending in a similar way, with or without some of the more utterly fucking stupid decisions made by Ashley.

[mattypnufc]

Good to see those working on the club's website ignoring the namechange!

 

United take on West Brom on Wednesday, 21st December, at St. James' Park with a 7:45pm kick-off.

Tickets are now on sale to Season Ticket Holders and Club Members only. Ticket prices start at just £25 for adults and £12 for juniors (under 18s)

 

 

Fixed now

[Guest reefatoon]

I'm still hoping for the Vagisil Arena. . . . Perfect for getting rid off irritating cunts!

 

I'll get me coat.

[Dave]

Good to see those working on the club's website ignoring the namechange!

 

United take on West Brom on Wednesday, 21st December, at St. James' Park with a 7:45pm kick-off.

Tickets are now on sale to Season Ticket Holders and Club Members only. Ticket prices start at just £25 for adults and £12 for juniors (under 18s)

 

 

Fixed now

 

Nice tip-off, durhamunigeordie.

[mrmojorisin75]

Conversely, do we know how Freddie would have reacted to the financial crisis or to the relegation?  Ashley was still giving out big money contracts to players when he first started, until we were relegated and a lot of our big earners left, at around the same time the financial crisis was kicking in.  I'm not sure his frugality was by design, rather than necessity and we've no idea if Fred would have reigned in the spending in a similar way, with or without some of the more utterly fucking stupid decisions made by Ashley.

 

probably whatever had the least effect on his dividends and bonuses?

[Sifu]

Got my Chelsea tickets in the post today.

 

The return address to the box office has the new name boooo.

[Colocho]

Tbh, it's looking like the SportsDirect.com@StJames'Park farce all over again.

 

It's like they've done it just to get Sports Direct in the news...

 

 

[Toonpack]

I've been a supporter of the club since the sixties, and during that period we've usually seemed to be behind the times, as if what other clubs did yesterday, we'd do tomorrow. We were late in developing the stadium, getting modern training facilities and developing our youth system.

 

When do you think we should have expanded the stadium Cronky? Considering the fact, the ground didn't start getting regularly sold out until '96. I guess the building work should have started in '97 instead of a few years later? I don't remember it at the time, but maybe the club was slow off the mark because wise sages like yourself would have been telling them what a bad idea it was to get the club into a completely unsustainable level of debt (£66m in 2001. I can just see a younger Bobyule warning of inevitably "doing a Charlton/Boro" ).

 

Thank goodness Mike Ashley generously after 4 years of ownership put undersoil heating at the training facilities built under the old board, perhaps in another 4 years if we sell off a few more players we can afford to renovate the showers at the academy facilities built under the old board too. What a generous and forward thinking owner he is, without him developing a youth system at the club we'd never have been able to recruit and bring through the likes of Ameobi, Taylor, Carroll, Krul, and numerous others who filled squad places but didn't quite make it at the top level.

 

Thank goodness also that the commercial revenue of the club is in the hands of someone as capable as Derek is of turning round the finances of the club and bringing in new revenue streams so we can continue to go from strength to strength and allow us to finally compete in the transfer market with the likes of Fulham, Stoke, QPR, Swansea, and Wolves who we can currently only look at with envy for their financial clout.

 

http://i.imgur.com/5l8dI.jpg

 

 

Typical Cronky postings. Big on rhetoric and imagined good intentions, but low on facts. Lots of history being rewritten and replaced with an Ashley aggrandising version. Quite appropriate in this thread then.

 

You do realise that matchday revenue (and a portion of commercial/catering) is effected by number of games played, ergo, in Europe more "significant" games = more money.

 

The peaks and troughs of your graph cannot simply be attributed to bad fiscal management. What about frozen ticket prices, catering is outsourced (so fixed sum guaranteed as opposed to variable sums) economic meltdown etc etc etc

 

Turnover is all well and good, but the other side to that equation is running costs, taking tunrover in isolation as an indication of anything is nonsense. BTW Commercial revenues at the top of the pyramid have stagnated and any recent "growth" is down to the numbers Man City have pulled in.

 

Edit: I would guess that in the next accounts our turnover will be at a record level for the club, using your argument does that mean mean Ashley/Lambias have become financial geniuses??

[WarrenBartonCentrePartin]

ALAN PARDEW has revealed that his side are too busy trying to stay at the business end of the Premier League table to be distracted by so called crisis talk at St James’ Park.

 

Read More http://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/newcastle-united/nufc-news//tm_headline=alan-pardew-it-s-business-as-usual-at-nufc&method=full&objectid=29784929&siteid=72703-name_page.html#ixzz1dt57s76M

[Toonpack]

Conversely, do we know how Freddie would have reacted to the financial crisis or to the relegation?  Ashley was still giving out big money contracts to players when he first started, until we were relegated and a lot of our big earners left, at around the same time the financial crisis was kicking in.  I'm not sure his frugality was by design, rather than necessity and we've no idea if Fred would have reigned in the spending in a similar way, with or without some of the more utterly f***ing stupid decisions made by Ashley.

 

Bottom line, even if he'd wanted to (which I personally doubt) Shepherd did not have the wealth to stump up the circa £20Mill a year (or is it nearer £30Mill) subsidy the club needed by that time. It certainly would not have been available from the banks (we had secured all our assets away on pre-existing lending and the club had spent £6Mill the previous year unsuccesfully trying to find a buyer/finance).

 

We were screwed without a Billionaire (no matter how insane the billionaire turned out to be).

[Guest BooBoo]

Has anyone got the Fortress St James' book? Essentially a history of the ground.

 

It's a damn shame the NIMBYS got their way and blocked the plans for the Castle Leazes development as the designs for that ground were amazing. I like St James' despite it's peculiar lop sidedness, but the new ground would have been a step up.

[AyeDubbleYoo]

Has anyone got the Fortress St James' book? Essentially a history of the ground.

 

It's a damn shame the NIMBYS got their way and blocked the plans for the Castle Leazes development as the designs for that ground were amazing. I like St James' despite it's peculiar lop sidedness, but the new ground would have been a step up.

 

Is that the one taking in Leazes Tce and Leazes Park?

 

Have to disagree there, those are historic and beautiful parts of the city that I wouldn't want to see touched. 

[Colocho]

Harry's brick - reclaiming our piece of heritage.

 

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.182922225128966.47510.136396746448181&type=3