Newcastle United Football Club owner Mike Ashley is doing his damndest to secure his place as the pantomime villain in the city’s Theatre Royal production of Cinderella this year.

His on, off, on sale of the club is off again. And now his latest idea to raise cash is to flog off the naming rights to St James’ Park.

Newcastle fans are rightly pissed off. It’s a state of affairs that is rapidly becoming business as usual. Ashley’s mismanagement of the club and its relationship with supporters is well documented.

It’s not possible to live in or around Newcastle and not take an interest football. St James’ Park is at the very heart of city both physically and emotionally.

This is a Championship Club that regularly has a home gate of more than 40,000. That’s more people than attend most Premiership games. More importantly by my reckoning it’s close to £1 million revenue for the club.

The solution is simple. Fans need to hit Ashley where it hurts and start boycotting home games. It could be a superb campaigning issue for local media that would guarantee the attention of readers and provide an outlet for the fury of fans.

But so far both The Journal and The Evening Chronicle remain mute. I’ve even baited the Supporters Trust via Twitter but to no end.

And so the farce at St James’ Park – or whatever the stadium ends up being called – will almost certainly continue. As the father and son writing duo Mike and Tom Chaplin documented in their play at the end of last season – You Couldn’t Make It Up.