St James Park is not just a name but a home and in that home we find shelter. Like at anyone's home, we furnish it the way we please and we choose to display certain gifts from certain friends and family. Yes Mike Ashley owns Newcastle, but a house is not a home without a family and therefore St James Park is the toon army's home. Without the geordie faithful, Ashley woud only own a house and not a home.
But lets move on and ask why the toon army are really mad. Firsty lets analyse why the toon is so angry at the board; every move Mike Ashley makes in regards to everything nufc is a move that reflects an opportunity to make a quid. Newcastle United is a club with millions of fans emotionally attached to it and all they expect is for their owner to show some of this very attachment.
Newcastle fans today would rather have a chairman like Nial Quinn than the fool that is Derek Lambias and for Newcastle fans to even say such about their rivals takes some doing. The toon army have had to deal with a lot but its not that they are against Ashley's way of running the club but its the lack of heart towards the club. Any fan today will tell you the Carroll sale was a disappointing one but deep down 35m was too good an offer to turn down, for any club.
Ashley's model of sustaining the club's finances is a vision shared by most fans but yet again this is a vision based on profiting. Newcastle fans are no fools, they do understand that every penny is much needed but they need every penny invested back. Sure, Newcastle have made 30m+ losses over the last 2-3 seasons but they would very much like to know where the 35m raised from Carroll's sale has gone. And now we have a director stating we would need to raise funds to purchase a striker this January.
All the toon army wants is for the board to show some heart and not warn us of how 'horrible' they can be. If they showed any heart and still made the same decisions, there would be a different outcome. The ruthless decisions towards players has payed dividends as player power should not be tolerated but ruthless decisions affecting the toon army will surely be a cause for concern.
The toon arent mad St James' Park will be called something else, but what they are really mad at is the toon are being exploited purely for Ashley's personal gain. Asking for 8-10m quid for naming rigts and shirt sponsorship is simply ridiculous and many are skeptic that Ashley isn't really after a sponsor but is rather trying to expand his Sports Direct company via Newcastle United's profile. Yes the fans have the rigt to believe this and until there comes a sponsor, there wont be any trust gained.
See, what the fans really despise is Newcastle being exploited by Ashley for personal gain. The toon fans wont be mad if the stadium name changes to a different sponsor. If Nike came in and called it the Nike Arena, the toon fans will welcome that, but what they wont welcome is Ashley's Sports Direct Arena. The fans are not mad with the name change but are rather annoyed with the Sports Direct branding. Newcastle fans feel like their home is being invaded by Ashley's Sports Direct.
Derek Lambias says the club need extra revenue and happily claims it will be beneficial to the club, yes, we do understand that but we're no mugs to know the real intentions of the chairman which is to advertise his cheap tacky Sports Direct all over our home. It's like someone has collected their excrement and smeared it all over the walls in your home. That's what Ashley has done to this great club, but if Ashley ever wants to win over the geordie hearts, he must see this external sponsorship through and avoid the personal gain; and just place some heart into this club.
When Ashley took over the club, he stated his true intentions for his Sports Direct's venture which was to take to the global stage and all this Sports Direct branding at St James Park is reflective of his initial intentions. And that is why 99% of the fans are skeptic there wont be any external sponsorship coming through. For now, the Geordie faithful can only wait till the end of season to find out whether St James Park will be called Sports Direct Arena for the rest of Ashley reign or will St James'Park be called soething else.
The question we need to be asking is, what happens to Ashley's Sports Direct venture if a sponsor does come in with a 10m a year deal?
