Mike Ashley Displays A New Level Of Idiocy

Is Mike Ashley trying to alienate whatever support he has left in Newcastle? Is he systematically trying to destroy the spirit of the Geordie faithful? Is he devoid of any common sense?

This rant follows the announcement that Newcastle will for the immediate future be calling their beloved home the sportsdirect.com @ St James’ Park Stadium. What a snappy and charismatic name.

By now I thought that Ashley would have begun to understand the passion of the Newcastle fans and their absolute immersion in everything surrounding the club, but once again he proves his ability repeatedly anger them. Today’s announcement proves he hasn’t got a clue.

For any proud club, losing the name of your home to a sponsor is a bitter pill to swallow, as it strips away a part of the clubs identity. For Newcastle this is all they have.

Blessed with unbelievably passionate support and an insatiable appetite for the game, Newcastle should be world beaters.

They’re not. Embarrassingly relegated to the second tier of English of football last season and without a major trophy since their FA Cup win in 1955, Newcastle fans don’t have past glories of any real significance to bathe in, so instead they have turned St James’ Park into their church.

In recent times quite a few clubs have decided to allow sponsors to adorn the stadium name, such as Coventry’s Ricoh Arena and whatever Wigan’s stadium is called this season. These are historically clubs of a smaller stature than Newcastle, who need the money to help them climb the table towards success.

Newcastle though have always claimed to be a big club, despite their thinly decorated trophy cabinet, but by renaming their stadium they have surely now relinquished this title and joined the faceless clubs looking for any form of success.

This will hurt the Geordie support as football is more than a sport up in the North East. It’s more than a religion. It’s life. So to attach the name of a crappy sports firm to their church is surely the final nail in the coffin for any support Mike Ashley once had.

Unable to sell the club, Ashley seems intent on milking what ever money he can get, before he inevitably jumps ship. He seemingly does this without any care for what anybody inside or outside the club thinks and seems content to steer the club far away from any form of respectability.

Every cloud has a silver lining though, but this doesn’t apply to Newcastle fans. This is for every other club in England who has to play them, as what kind of fear does the sentence “do you think we’ll get a win at the sportsdirect.com stadium?” strike into you?

Just to clarify, none.

Posted By Dan Mobbs - Wednesday November 4, 2009.
Tags: Newcastle United, Mike Ashley