Wonga and NUFC

[peasepud 59]

I've been invited to take part in a debate next Monday involving Wonga, the club, local MPs and Citizens Advice Bureau and would be interested in the boards view overall of the sponsorship deal and what it means to fans.

 

Just how strong are your feelings towards the company? is it bringing down the good name of our club or is it really not a problem at all as far as you're concerned.

 

What concerns do you have? is the recent talk of regulation and criticism from the likes of Church of England etc a worry when it comes to the company upholding its side of any deal.

 

Overall, do we really give a shit as long as the club brings in money or is this really a big deal?

 

 

oh and hello folks, owt been happening while Ive been away?

[Christmas Tree 4821]

What Ant says.

[scoobos 298]

Well I'm different. I think they are shit loan sharks who market exclusively to people who can't afford loans in a disgustingly profiteering way.

 

The view southerners have of the north is only further blemished by this sort of deal. Its a disgrace in my opinion, which I am entitled to.

 

I have very little doubt that once the Tories are out and the recession is over in 10 years we'll have retrospective action against them in the same ilk as PPI, but I reckon Wonga will wind up by then

 

You will never see a decent club touch them with a barge pole. Blackpool, centre of the homeless uk, worst health and worse prospects were also Wonga sponsored, read into that what you will.

 

Yet another insult from Ashleys time.

Edited August 11, 2013 by scoobos

[Kid Dynamite 7169]

Personally I think the club has sullied itself with the association. After the SD arena fiasco nothing surprises me though.

 

The size of the deal means very little if the end product is a £2mil loan signing.

 

I'm also very dubious as to whether meetings like this will have any impact on the decision whatsoever, they are just point scoring exercises by the club. Mike isn't going to write off a multi million pound deal just because the fans don't like it. That ship sailed years ago

[scoobos 298]

And WHS

[ChezGiven 0]

It doesn't get me misty-eyed with pride nor give me a warm fuzzy glow that a brand of just-so cultural value sponsors the club but I can't help but feeling those looking for that in a commercial partner need to grow up. Like everyone i'd prefer someone else but any moral argument falls away as soon as you apply that moral value to other sponsors who are all over modern football.

 

What Ant said basically.

[peasepud 59]

And WHS

Leave WH Smith out of it, they've been a mainstay of the High Street stationery supplies for years.

[scoobos 298]

We differ on this ant, and we are both entitled to our opinions.

 

Barclays sell banking services under the FSA and would never issue loans on Wongas terms for two reasons, 1 the FSA and 2 the damage to reputation.

 

Unfortunately the FSA is being very slow to change regs to enforce rules, they didn't see this coming, as usual. Look how they sat on PPI for over 10 years before actually dealing with anything.

 

Carling sell beer, at a price at purchase that someone can enjoy. What they don't do, is advertise to alcoholics in parks , the parallel being when do you see Wonga adverts?

 

Thanks to gov't cuts there genuinely are parents out there who cannot feed their kids, and I've seen too many stories of people being fleeced by Wonga.

http://www.theguardian.com/business/2012/mar/01/wonga-real-cost-payday-loan

 

Totally different organisations. Oh and nice one peasepud

Edited August 11, 2013 by scoobos

[peasepud 59]

I'm also very dubious as to whether meetings like this will have any impact on the decision whatsoever, they are just point scoring exercises by the club. Mike isn't going to write off a multi million pound deal just because the fans don't like it. That ship sailed years ago

I dont believe for a second that the aim of the meeting is to reverse the decision, to be fair it would be commercia suicide, having to redo tops etc and basically would be telling any other potential sponsors to steer clear of us. Also the meeting hasnt been arranged by the club but by a fans group.

 

I think the overall reasoning is to give both the club and company an insight into why some fans have quite extreme views of this, maybe with a view to changing some approaches etc rather than an all out "Fuck off Wonga" approach.

[ChezGiven 0]

I think you'll find plenty of examples of alcohol advertising in plain view of public spaces where alcoholics drink. I'd also have a google of Barclays if I were you Scooby doo.

[scoobos 298]

I've given my opinion and that's it, don't want a big flame war. Ill never put a high street bank in the same bracket as Wonga ever. What grinds my gears is if Barclays did offer a loan at any APR to a customer using the same terms as Wonga, the FSA would murder them under responsible lending rules.

 

As a side note, I was fucked off at McDonald's sponsoring the football today, wtf have McDonald's got to do with sport and health? The FA should have more scruples. This kind of thing always makes me whiny. If you don't think Wonga has tarnished the reputation of the NE or our affiliation doesn't just confirm stereotypes then that's fine with me, really, but I'm not budging its fuckin embarrassing to me. I've taken enough shit in London and don't need the club plastering our players in a "peasant loan" company (not my term)

 

I don't see anyone advertising beer directly to alcoholics / homeless / vulnerable either. Alcohol adverts are actually subject to control , you wont see it during daytime tv hours like Wonga. Rant over

Edited August 11, 2013 by scoobos

[ChezGiven 0]

Argue for tighter regulations then, who are you to dictate what sort of market can and can't exist?

[ChezGiven 0]

In fact Pud, if you want a constructive angle for the meeting then surely that's it. If Wonga want to push themselves into the mainstream via an institution of a traditional working class area then they should work towards a suitable regulatory framework that ensures those who are most in danger from falling into serious financial difficulties are taken account of and protected.

[scoobos 298]

Now see , this is what I tried t avoid. You're rebuttal was Google Barclays , insinuating that they so the same business

But balls to this, you're entitled to your opinion and I'm entitled to think its misguided, vice versa etc.

 

You can't play the fooling regs card and then advertise them and say its fine cos the law hasn't changed. I'm pretty sure there's no law stopping me from shagging 14 year olds in Canada, but if I was, would you be happy to have my face / name across the shirt if I paid the same money, but then say well its Canadas fault for not regulating the age of consent at 16?

 

But balls to this, you're entitled to your opinion and I'm entitled to think its misguided, vice versa etc

Edited August 11, 2013 by scoobos

[ChezGiven 0]

No encouraging you to look into Barclays a bit more was not an attempt to insinuate they do anything the same on a business front, it was the extent of their immoral lying and profiteering in the Libor scandal i was referring to.

 

That's how moral arguments work isn't it? You assert equivalence or difference and judge accordingly.

[ChezGiven 0]

For the record I'd probably wear a Serge Gainsbourg t-shirt.

[Happy Face 29]

I'm just embarrassed to have them on our shirt.

 

I liked brown ale and northern rock because they were local. Not so fussed on virgin but they are an internationally recognised brand and we need the biggest sponsorship deal we can get. I took the Piss out of the mackems when they got gala bingo or whatever it was to sponsor them... and think we have sunk to that level here.

 

I think that is driving resentment more than anything else. The moral objections people come up with are all built on that insecurity about the lack of cache that comes with Wonga on your top.

 

 

[The Fish 10963]

My problem with Wonga is that it is a tacky chavvy company. It's the awful adverts and the general uneasy feeling about Pay-Day lenders in general.

 

I feel as disquieted about Wonga as I do Sports Direct and they are a couple of the many reasons I'm drifting from the club I love. However, they'll both be gone before I am, as will Ashley.

 

This meeting won't tell the club anything new. Fans don't like Wonga because it's a tacky brand (rightly or wrongly) associated with the desperate or work shy. If it was Breitling or Mercedes Benz, you wouldn't see this furore.

 

The people who care most about this are the fans of other clubs and those of our club who care what the fans of other clubs think. To them Sports Direct and Wonga mean we're a chav-club. Same as we're deluded Barcodes, who think we should win the league, we would rather lose 3-4 than win 1-0, we're all morbidly obese, topless, gurning oiks.

[scoobos 298]

For me, I suppose it is caring what others think, but only in the way that I want Newcastle to do well as a city etc, it really winds me up that, for example, the bbc always show the dregs when they are showing geordies.

 

This long running stereotype of us being hard, in a dangerous city full of chavs and gangsters, and jesmond aside, no wealthy people. It definitely works against us and is a reason why investment in the north is so shite; because its these twats down here with the money... Seriously, when was the las time a UK firm invested here on its own money, WITHOUT the help of EU funding, its all EU regeneration money.

 

I know by the way that the stereotype is rubbish, I've lived all around the UK and many cities around the world and Newcastle is among the very best.

Edited August 11, 2013 by scoobos

[hostile_statue 0]

I'm just embarrassed to have them on our shirt.

 

I liked brown ale and northern rock because they were local. Not so fussed on virgin but they are an internationally recognised brand and we need the biggest sponsorship deal we can get. I took the Piss out of the mackems when they got gala bingo or whatever it was to sponsor them... and think we have sunk to that level here.

 

I think that is driving resentment more than anything else. The moral objections people come up with are all built on that insecurity about the lack of cache that comes with Wonga on your top.

This

[peasepud 59]

That view of Newcastle though isnt helped by our own local journalists. Take the Chronicles Sophie Doughty, Ive taken the piss out of her a couple of times on twitter for having the following line in her stories "....where houses sell for upto £....."

 

She had it in an articel about a murder in an "exclusive part of Jesmond" where (and I shit you not) the words were "where houses sell for upto £250k".

 

Fuck me man, £250k gets you piss all these days but anyone from out of the area must have thought "what a pissing shit hole". All of these kind of things go towards promoting the down trodden, shitty part of the world that others want to believe. Wonga and Sports Direct are just an extension of that myth.

[The Fish 10963]

So the issue isn't Wonga or Sports Direct, but the misrepresentation of the region?

[LoveTheBobby 1]

For the record I'd probably wear a Serge Gainsbourg t-shirt.

 

Je t'aime Joe le taxi

[Monroe Transfer 0]

The view southerners have of the north is only further blemished by this sort of deal.

 

What view?

 

I'm a southerner for what it's worth and so are the vast majority of the people I come across on a daily basis.

 

edit; ah wait, I assume the view that you're referring to is what you're talking about on the top of this page. I don't think that's a commonly held view at all amongst us. Maybe it's different where you are but I think you're being OTT.

Edited August 11, 2013 by Monroe Transfer

[Howmanheyman 33835]

It does nothing for the 'brand', in fact could mean our next potential sponsor steers clear and we're left scratching around for sponsors similar to wonga. It's embarrassing to the clubs 'dignatas' but this is what we are as a club under our rich owner (who pays peanuts to the majority of his zero hour contract employees). We had Newcastle Brown Ale as a sponsor? This Tyneside institution was/is worldwide brand which brought employment to our City for well over a century and their employees certainly weren't on zero hour contracts as I know as an ex-employee. To liken S&N to wonga is ludicrous. Ditto Northern Rock.