It would be an incredibly brave brand that took on the ire of Newcastle United fans and bought the rights to rename the ground or of course an opportunist one that wanted to buy the loyalty of fans by retaining the St James’ Park moniker.
Mike Ashley has tried to do both and true to form has spectacularly screwed-up. BBC Newcastle has just reported that the new name of the stadium is sportsdirect.com @ St James’ Park after the name of Ashley’s own shop.
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I shed no tears when Newcastle United were relegated, in fact I thought it was quite funny. Newcastle fans and the media love to big the club up beyond its true status and it’s been quite amusing watching them struggle on the pitch in the last couple of years.
But the ownership situation is one with which I have to sympathise. This latest development is clearly going to anger the fans but it raises another worrying question: is this really a placeholder? For my money, this is Ashley trying to be clever by plastering his brand all over the football club while deflecting from the possibility that that’s the only reason he bought it.
Very concerning stuff.