Change @ St. James

[geordieshandy 0]

I assume that the loan granted to pay off the stadium mortgage will be written down in leiu of this signage. How much do these stadium sponsorship deals generally generate?

 

Then again...

[Dr Gloom 21924]

it looks awful but at least they've dropped the name change and it's still st james and not sports direct.com@st james park stadium.spaz or whatever.

Have you seen the electronic hoardings this season?

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PD6ujBA-yEs

 

Scroll through to about 34 secs

 

i've seen those. the ground is still officially st james park though innit. at least the tacky new ads are just ads and not an official attempt at changing the name of the ground.

 

ah, fuck it. i'm clutching at straws aren't i? it's another shit sandwich from mike whichever way you look at it.

[Guest Your Name Here]

I assume that the loan granted to pay off the stadium mortgage will be written down in leiu of this signage. How much do these stadium sponsorship deals generally generate?

 

Then again...

The current PL naming rights range from about £1m a year (Stoke, Bolton, Wigan) to £10m a year (Man City). Arsenal are getting £100m over fifteen years. Where NUFC fit on that scale is open for debate but it has to be more than the sfa we are reputedly getting now.

[Guest Your Name Here]

it looks awful but at least they've dropped the name change and it's still st james and not sports direct.com@st james park stadium.spaz or whatever.

Have you seen the electronic hoardings this season?

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PD6ujBA-yEs

 

Scroll through to about 34 secs

 

i've seen those. the ground is still officially st james park though innit. at least the tacky new ads are just ads and not an official attempt at changing the name of the ground.

 

ah, fuck it. i'm clutching at straws aren't i? it's another shit sandwich from mike whichever way you look at it.

Nobody knows. There’s never been any announcement about the renaming being scrapped. They just let things go quiet after the ensuing protest at the subsequent match and seem to have adopted a ‘let’s just rename it without saying that’s what we’re doing’ approach.

 

The SD thing was supposed to be a short term temporary measure. Two years on its still here and becoming increasingly prominent. They’re taking the piss.

Edited September 14, 2011 by Your Name Here

[DEADMAN 0]

cant people see thease two idiots are taking the fucking piss i bet it ends up with sports direct slapped all over

[Guest Your Name Here]

To put this into context would the supporters of the following clubs accept the following renaming being splattered all over their grounds?

 

HappyShopper.com@OldTrafford

Webuyanycar.co.uk@Anfield

Primark.com@WhiteHartLane

Poundstretcher.biz@Goodison

 

Speaking of Everton. It was interesting to see their protest at the weekend. Obviously it didn’t bring an end to global tyranny but they did manage to get organised and raise awareness without embarrassing themselves. Good turnout, professionally produced banners without any spelling mistakes.

[Anorthernsoul 1221]

professionally produced banners without any spelling mistakes.

 

Fucking hell give them a pat on the back.

[Guest Your Name Here]

professionally produced banners without any spelling mistakes.

 

Fucking hell give them a pat on the back.

Get a grip you pedantic sphincter.

[Craig 6682]

What can you say?

 

I didn't renew as I was one of the displaced L7'ers and was just going to go as and when but I decided I'd had enough of being taken for a mug so won't even go to the odd game, and the more I see of this regime cheapening a proud football club the more I feel vindicated. It's not one event that they've pulled it's just an accumulation of shit decisions, (most of which were completely unnecessary), from the regime that mean I'll never go back unless I see drastic signs that the owner and his lickspittle mate have started to change for the better. That's pretty shit that they can have this effect on me and some others but at the end of the day I think they can count themselves very fortunate more haven't jacked it in. They'd have been strung up in the past for a quarter of the stunts they've pulled.

 

Is that fucker he's just erected not drastic enough for you?

 

It's just beyond me why he'd want to antagonise people who already don't like him. I just don't get it - why does it need to be there? Will it really make Sports Direct more money?

 

If he had any empathy with the fans he'd take our opinions into consideration and keep his businesses separated from each other. It's just proof, if it was ever needed, that he couldn't care less about NUFC.

 

Because the structure of the stadium and the postion of the TV cameras means that that section of the roof is in full display during broadcast. Up until the Fulham game it used to say who we were. Now it says we're owned by that bitch

[DEADMAN 0]

because ashley is trying all sorts of things to get the fans pissed off i mean literally

[trophyshy 7083]

because ashley is trying all sorts of things to get the fans pissed off i mean literally

 

Deaders have you ever done that trick when you you shit in a paper bag and then set fire to it, put it on someone's doorstep, ring the bell and run like the clappers?

[JawD 99]

I know its just a sign and I know it means fuck all. But it's every little thing at every fucking step.

 

Asking about removing the sign they said they were replacing the lettering and putting up another Newcastle United sign. Yes, they did. But why did they neglect to add the trash either side? Because they like to mislead. I bet the pair of them were giggling like fucking school girls.

[StoneColdStephenIreland 74]

Speaking for myself here, but I'm genuinely shocked at the apparent lack of sheer distain and anger at this stunt.

 

Not just the timing of it in relation to the much discussed passing of the transfer deadline.

 

Not just the timing in relation to a period of a lack of home games/diffusion time.

 

Not just in the "you've been sold pony yet again" regarding the steady inertia with which this shit has become splattered all over the parish.

 

Not just that Ryder-Direct has helped soften the blow with the half-truth feed of this . Without challenging it - but actually disgracefully supporting it !

 

Its the whole principle of the thing, the insensitivity of it (not that it's insensitivity on his behalf, in that in that he knows exactly what he's doing and how much it will fuck (some) folk off.)

 

Again, personally speaking, I think this move is as equally saddening as it is maddening - both in terms of the heritage of the club and for what the immediate future of it is - under this genuine cunt.

 

It's just ney good man.

 

My thoughts exactly

[Dolly Potter MD 0]

The continued absorption of Newcastle United into SD's conglomerate of brands rolls on. The residual effect being the club's continued loss of it's identity.

 

From what was to be a temporary marketing ploy (ie. sd@sjp.com which has become a permanent fixture) and now this, the process has been gradual & calculating one.

 

From a traditionalist angle, and how may share my feelings on this. A sucession of body punches, and repeated jabs to the face, over twelve rounds (ie. The proverbial 12 round beatdown) sting one's pride more and takes a heavier toll if the process was performed akin one-punch knock-out.

 

Such has been the metamorphosis (where one commercial entity has severely diluted the prominence & relevance of the other) SJP@sportsdirect.com, or simply sportsdirect.com Arena, are more fitting now, with a leaning to the latter.

 

I wonder what his next masterstroke will be. Having some creative input with the shirt manufacturers hereby incorporating SD's colour scheme into that of the home strip. Although messing around with the away strip would be the politically safe thing to do, but he may as well go the whole hog while he's at smear shit on the faces of the many where there is scant room for compromise when it comes to 'tradition'.

 

I've always thought, as expensive as it was (mainly due to a lack of dd), that the purchase of the club (a prominent British Football Entity) was for commercial/marketing reasons, with Ashley's eying a bigger prize/looking at a picture. NUFC is a marketing extension of the SD family of brands. The exclusivity and class of the address (thanks to the hard & good work of his much maligned predecessors) as an advertising address legitimises what is in essence a low-rent chain of 'budget warehouses offloading charva & homie gear to the XBOX playing generation of today. His stores are a far cry from JJB and the old Lillywhites, where the latter two actually catered for real sports enthusiasts (participants). This ranks a lowly second with SD, as alluded to with it's 'pile em high, sell em cheap' of charva gear as it's main money spinning. Being associated with a seriously taken entity (on the football landscape) gives the chain a much needed boost in credibility, as well as mainstream advertising clout. This is why i think we're stuck for the very long term, for as long as he can milk, or ride, the strength of club's strength of brand for all it's worth.

 

The club, as a marketing extension of SD, is a larger and grander scaled version of Lillywhites ie. a cheap & tacky operator riding the coat-tails of, and operating behind the commercially protective veil of a prominent and boutique address, with the high customer flow to match.

 

Perhaps there's hope in SD establishing a solid footholding, as dominant player in the market abroad/standing on it's own feet, where there will be less of a need for NUFC to act as his vehicle for getting in. SD establishing a presence as a dominant 'stand-alone' entity abroad might coincide with Ashley offloading the club. But on the flip-side, once the debt (leveraged buyout) process is complete courtesy of continued player sales it's all about pure profit. Raising once again the SD marketing angle/exclusive stadium naming rights & advertising, he's hit the proverbial mother load.

 

 

The key is preserving our status as a a consistent mainstay in the television market, that is treading water in the top flight. As SD continues to rumble forward, I think he could weather the fall-out & occasional one year stint in the championship, but a Leeds or Nott.F type of collapse changes the dynamic completely. The Arabs were quoted out of the market, when he travelled over there sniffing potential buyers, and i think that reported 400m figure given to Man.C group probably also took into account what Ashley would be giving up (from SD'S front) over the long haul/bigger picture. Without an aforementioned fall down the table, Leeds or Forest style, we are stick with Ashley's way of a running a club &inflammatory antics (to the football supporter) for a very long time. Although it hits me to the core, I've reluctantly accepted this now.

 

NUFC changing hands, out of his clutches is far different proposition than it was twenty years ago ie. The Halls (with Shepherd and Co) forcing the Mckeags to part company of a family heirloom. Ashley has so much more to lose.

Edited September 15, 2011 by Year Zero

[ewerk 30611]

Funny... I don't call that 'exactly the same' and why the f*ck has 'Newcastle United' been stuck in the same font as Sports Direct???

 

Fuming!

 

It'll look much better when they put the @ sign up.

[Matt 0]

Why would he alter the home kit? If you're putting your logo on a shirt then you have thousands of walking adverts. But you pretty much negate that if you modify the kit such that no-one would buy it.

 

I disagree that this has been one huge marketing ploy. It was meant to be a lark for the newly super-coined Ashley, didn't work out, and this is the next best option. But you're bang on that he will flog the past reputation of the brand while slashing costs, it's his modus operandi.

 

Of course, the brand can be destroyed if the ground is empty. Don't renew.

[ewerk 30611]

He'll not put SD on the shirts. There's an opportunity cost to doing that, there's not when it comes to plastering the ground in his shite branding.

[snakehips 0]

Why would he alter the home kit? If you're putting your logo on a shirt then you have thousands of walking adverts. But you pretty much negate that if you modify the kit such that no-one would buy it.

 

I disagree that this has been one huge marketing ploy. It was meant to be a lark for the newly super-coined Ashley, didn't work out, and this is the next best option. But you're bang on that he will flog the past reputation of the brand while slashing costs, it's his modus operandi.

 

Of course, the brand can be destroyed if the ground is empty. Don't renew.

 

This. Every word.

[snakehips 0]

Why would he alter the home kit? If you're putting your logo on a shirt then you have thousands of walking adverts. But you pretty much negate that if you modify the kit such that no-one would buy it.

 

I disagree that this has been one huge marketing ploy. It was meant to be a lark for the newly super-coined Ashley, didn't work out, and this is the next best option. But you're bang on that he will flog the past reputation of the brand while slashing costs, it's his modus operandi.

 

Of course, the brand can be destroyed if the ground is empty. Don't renew.

 

This. Every word.

 

EDIT: I've been considering writing to Sky & ESPN to politely ask them to stay away from showing live games at SJP, thus denying the large chap the exposure he craves. If only.

[LoveTheBobby 1]

Which govering body (if any) prevents those full centre circle sprayed on adverts ?

 

Is it at the clubs discretion ?

 

Is it a (challengable ?) PL ruling ?

 

*phones the souless PR/marketing team*

[ewerk 30611]

I'm fairly sure it's in the IFAB rules that no advertising is allowed on the field of play.

[Toonpack 9413]

I assume that the loan granted to pay off the stadium mortgage will be written down in leiu of this signage. How much do these stadium sponsorship deals generally generate?

 

Then again...

The current PL naming rights range from about £1m a year (Stoke, Bolton, Wigan) to £10m a year (Man City). Arsenal are getting £100m over fifteen years. Where NUFC fit on that scale is open for debate but it has to be more than the sfa we are reputedly getting now.

 

Maybe he should charge himself about £5 Mill a year eh? Would that make everyone happy ???

 

On the other hand he could also start to charge interest on his loans, that'd probably be about £9-£10 Mill a year, club'd be £5Mill worse off.

 

Or maybe we should forget the cost of advertising and continue not to pay interest eh?

 

You can't look at this shit in isolation.

[Gemmill 44882]

I don't think sticking Sports Direct on the shirt will stop your average non-thinking NUFC fan buying it tbh. I think you're giving them way too much credit.

[trophyshy 7083]

I don't think sticking Sports Direct on the shirt will stop your average non-thinking NUFC fan buying it tbh. I think you're giving them way too much credit.

 

Exactly, the sad truth is that the mongs have had their expectations lowered, have sucked up the lies and continue to pay the piper.

 

Hoist by our own black and white petard.

Edited September 15, 2011 by trophyshy

[Dolly Potter MD 0]

Why would he alter the home kit? If you're putting your logo on a shirt then you have thousands of walking adverts. But you pretty much negate that if you modify the kit such that no-one would buy it.

 

I disagree that this has been one huge marketing ploy. It was meant to be a lark for the newly super-coined Ashley, didn't work out, and this is the next best option. But you're bang on that he will flog the past reputation of the brand while slashing costs, it's his modus operandi.

 

Of course, the brand can be destroyed if the ground is empty. Don't renew.

 

That paragraph (about the home kit) was more a less an anger-tinged pisstake of the owner's lack of respect for the club's heritage. He wouldn't care if and how many home kits remain unsold tbh. With the potential of income the club is suffering (ie. Extra revenue streams outside of player sales, ST sales, and gate receipts) at the minute, to SD's advantage, i don't think he'd necessarily give a stuff as to whether the shirt manufacturers went out on limb, subtlety breaking away from tradition by producing too 'modern' kit deemed to be offensive to club traditionalists. As long as people from markets abroad (where he is looking to venture into) click onto the sd's online-shop the profit margin made on his exclusive heavily outweighs kit sales at the club shop (and sd.com).

 

When he purchased the Lillywhites store he instantly upgraded from that of smaller operator (ducking it out with Whelan/JJB etc for the retail hubs outside the capital) to the 'bright lights, big city' status. It was a step up. For SD to take the next step-up (to markets abroad) he needs another boutique address worth clinging to, another market springboard. In this case an easily identifiable & exposed sporting brand/institution, unfortunately for us the boutique address that is NUFC. He is riding the coat-tails of the work put in by the Halls, Keegan, Shepherd and Fletcher.

 

It was stated from the get-go that the strength of the club brand was something he was attracted to. So i disagree that he got into football club ownership purely under the premise of being football philanthropist, as a first and foremost ie. To have a bit of a lark with his SD float winnings. It takes serious money to lock-down a market, while venturing into unknown waters. Ashley floating nearly half of his original stakeholding provided him with the financial means to do so (ie. The premise that NUFC is basically a pioneering extension/offshoot for his retail empire) . This sort of behaviour/strategy, albeit expensive, fits into his MO of spending big and resorting to any means necessary in order to grab & maintain a stranglehold of a market............ ranging from the hoarding of affordable brands, to 'ratting out' his immediate competition to the consumer watchdog.

 

 

 

I think he is, and always was here for the long haul. His only sign of weakness coming when he panicked, and questioned the tenability of his position at the club by putting the club up for sale. Even then the price quoted to the Arabs probably took into account the benefits that SD would be forfeitting over the long haul. Likewise I'm not of the opinion that he's in it for the hit-and-run pay-off. Going by his history, he may unorthodox in his methods, morally bankrupt, but time has proven him to be a big thinker, and an adept long-term strategist. IMO recouping his outlay, making the club financially self-funded on year in- year out (with a bit of fun along the way), before buggering off into the sunset with a profit in his carrybag wasn't on the agenda. It's too shortsighted for Ashley, and aside from his lack of ambition re:the actual on-field brand, that's why i don't share Leazes' (and others) take on Wor Mike, that'll he simply piss with a short-term profit tucked away.

Edited September 15, 2011 by Year Zero