Now don’t get me wrong, I fully understand the emotion behind it all and the reason for why it’s been done. I just think it’s childish and, above anything else, it’s actually illegal.
It’s the third time it has happened now and each time I’ve found myself rolling my eyes. Fair play to those who feel that they want to make a stand and show their emotion over the subject of the name change, but do they honestly believe that one phone call to bring in a contractor to clean it followed by a bill of roughly £100 is going to bother a bloke who is now worth £1.8bn?
This is part of the problem you see. People obviously feel passionate about it and I’m no different. Not once have I referred to St James’ Park as its other name and to be honest I never will. It’s always been St James’ Park for me and always will be.
However I’m not blinded with hatred and understand the business sense behind the name change – remember £10m would be rather handy for signing players with. My main issue is this whole “showcase” malarkey where the ground has been ‘tarted up’ as it has been to show potential sponsors what they could purchase. I’ve never been sold on that and never will be.
What I’m failing to see is a credible way of showing how we feel about the name, or a credible plan with the aim of trying to reinstate the iconic ground back to it’s official, rightful name of St James’ Park.
I’ve suggested before that perhaps we, as fans, could get some form of fund together so that the club get the money they are looking for while the fans get the name they are looking for. It’s not as far fetched as it sounds either – remember the NUST taking pledges from fans who wanted to buy the club? We’d need 10% of their target total.
As a very rough example it would require £20 each season from 500,000 NUFC fans from wherever in the world to donate £20 to some form of fund to approach the club and say that we have the cash to buy the naming rights to the stadium.
Surely that is a better idea than daubing spray paint on a wall outside of the ground? It has to be, and being honest I’m really surprised that no other body or public figure has come up with the idea so far. Think of the publicity after all.
So tweet this article, post links on Facebook, share it via e-mail or post it on other blogs/forums/websites if you like. If there is enough support for it then you never know, we could just make the difference.
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Vandalising the ground is pathetic. The idea of the fans paying money to buy naming rights is barmy.
The change has happened. Has anyone really been affected?
Lets get it in perspective. If we had that sort of money to spend and to make a difference, I’d urge everyone to save the rain forests, or protect endangered species from poachers. If we want to make a protest, lets NUFC fans club together to sponsor a tiger or an elephant, or even a poacher patrol for a game reserve. That could grab the headlines.
Blackley & Brownlie(Quote)
I wouldn’t really think of it as good news.
QTrautner(Quote)