Heroes & Villains, the Aston Villa fanzine
Heroes & Villains => Heroes Discussion => Topic started by: timeoutbigbar on November 10, 2011, 12:41:54 AM
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Apologies if posted elsewhere, but it appears Mike Ashley is selling the naming rights to St James' Park. I'm not a great fan of Newcastle, but I think this is a massive shame. I wonder if a chairman a bit closer to home might jump on the bandwagon, after all, his public opinion has already gone down the pan. What does he have to lose?
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Didn't he try doing this a couple of seasons ago and back-tracked.
Now he can, 'cos the fans are sort of on his side, as the bar-codes are doing so well.
I take the view that if it brings money in to the club. It's still Villa park to me.
How many refer to the Doug Ellis stand...
And to be honest, even if the Holte was renamed The Ron Suanders/Tony Barton stand. I would still be calling it the Holte.
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Apologies if posted elsewhere, but it appears Mike Ashley is selling the naming rights to St James' Park.
I can't see that going down at all well with the Toon fans. Building a brand new stadium and calling it the Emirates rather than The New Highbury is rather different from taking away the name of a 100-year-old stadium like St James' Park that's full of tradition and memories. Even though Randy seems less involved (and less rich) than he used to be, he does have a genuine feeling for our history (e.g. the mosaics, the Holte pub, the inside of the Trinity) and I really can't see him selling the name of our stadium.
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Do you reckon that Sunderland and Boro fans will band together to call it the Sid James park?
Seriously though, a lot of Newcastle and press people were wondering when Ashley will be butting in to spoil the good mood on what was happening on the pitch, obviously this is what he has come up with.
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Im almost certain that its been officially called something daft like the Sports Direct Stadium for the past couple of years, everybody still calls it St James's though, hence why I would'nt be against us doing something similar at Villa as long as it brought in a huge amount of money to be invested in the squad, otherwise it'd be pointless.
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I think you may be getting confused with Wigan who went from the JJB to DW Stadium.
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Im almost certain that its been officially called something daft like the Sports Direct Stadium for the past couple of years, everybody still calls it St James's though, hence why I would'nt be against us doing something similar at Villa as long as it brought in a huge amount of money to be invested in the squad, otherwise it'd be pointless.
Yep, I think it's official name is "The Sports Direct Arena @ St James' Park" or similar
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Villa to be renamed to Poundland Park.
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Is it all not something to do with getting around the new Finance regulations that are coming through soon. ?
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Man Citeh certainly did that with the naming rights for their stadium.
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In a week when RyanAir owner O'Leary does something crass, Mike Ashley won't be far behind.
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Man Citeh certainly did that with the naming rights for their stadium.
You're telling me that Ashley is going to give an astronimical amount of money to the club he owns to get round the soon to be new financial regulations?
Ashley wants out of there if he could get a buyer. This stunt is no more than a poster saying 'advertise your company here'.
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taking away the name of a 100-year-old stadium like St James' Park that's full of tradition and memories.
Tradition? The tradition of taking your top off in December and showing the result of a regular diet of 20 pints of Brown Ale per day. The tradition of being filmed still crying in your seat 20 minutes after the full time whistle.
Memories ? None whatsoever trophy wise unless you have been going there for at least 43 years. Gareth Barrys half hearted attempt to stop their players beating each other up.
Rename it something such as The Likely Lads stadium or the Ant & Dec arena.
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Doesn't bother me. If villa were to do it and it brigs more money in, then so be it. For us it will always remain villa park. Same as the Geordies will still always call it st James' park.
Clubs like us need more money. This is a way to generate it. The history of the club will always be there. It won't die with the change of the name. I'd be more upset about moving grounds than changingi the name of it.
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The Terry Nutkins Arena has got a nice ring to it.
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We may not like agents, but we have to deal with them.
We may not like Sky, but they're a fact of being in the top division.
We may not like the attitude of the modern footballer, but we need them to compete.
And I view the naming of the stadium in a similar way - a necessary evil. Given the choice of playing at Villa Park and never being in with a chance of winning a trophy or playing at 'Nokia Park' and winning the FA Cup, then I know what gets my vote.
And yes, I'll still call it Villa Park as well.
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The amount of money brought in surely can't be a significant amount in football terms, in which case, just stick with the name it's had throughout history.
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Man Citeh certainly did that with the naming rights for their stadium.
You're telling me that Ashley is going to give an astronimical amount of money to the club he owns to get round the soon to be new financial regulations?
Ashley wants out of there if he could get a buyer. This stunt is no more than a poster saying 'advertise your company here'.
Quite right.
It's nothing to do with fair play - Ashley wants to take money out, not put it in, see how much of the Carroll money was pocketed, for example - it's about Ashley getting one of his companies to publicise the other one.
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The fact of the matter is that we will probably have to do this at some point, just to stay in the Premier League.
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The fact of the matter is that we will probably have to do this at some point, just to stay in the Premier League.
How do you work that out?
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The fact of the matter is that we will probably have to do this at some point, just to stay in the Premier League.
How do you work that out?
Eventually all the rest of the clubs will do the same and if we dont follow suit, we will be left behind.
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One step nearer to the Sports Direct Mags V Vodaphone Manchester.
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I think for £200m I'd put up with going to the new 'Genting Casino Arena'
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No, no, no. As other posters have said it is designed to bring (even) more money into the game.
What we need is a reduction of money.
Oh how I yearn for the day that a Premiership club goes to the wall and is treated as most other companies are and forced out of business. (not like the banks or the Greeks) Only then will the clubs start to see sense.
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The fact of the matter is that we will probably have to do this at some point, just to stay in the Premier League.
In which case I'd rather us go down. Football still exists outside the Greed League, and is still be enjoyed by the fans who go to these games.
Would you honestly want Villa Park renamed just so a few more average footballers can have even more money - as that's where it would go. Bigger cars outside bigger mansions.
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No, no, no. As other posters have said it is designed to bring (even) more money into the game.
What we need is a reduction of money.
Oh how I yearn for the day that a Premiership club goes to the wall and is treated as most other companies are and forced out of business. (not like the banks or the Greeks) Only then will the clubs start to see sense.
It won't make a difference - look at what's happened to the likes of Portsmouth, Leeds, Sheff Weds, etc. All gone to the brink and everyone else has carried on as normal because "it won't happen to them".
The only way things will change is when money is forceably removed from the game. The bulk of the money comes from TV companies who will keep paying it as long as there are millions of people around the world who want to watch football.
The only way I can see it changing is the way F1 changed. The amount of money got so ridiculous it led to an uncompetitive sport and the punters started switching off as a result. They they had to enforce caps on expenditure to make the sport more competitive to try to get the fans back.
We've got a long way to go with football though. If you look at the highest paid sports stars in the world there aren't too many footballers up there. Given the global appeal of football I think it's going to get worse before it gets better.
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I'm waiting for Small Heath Investment Technology to get a sponsonship deal for St Andrews.
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One step nearer to the Sports Direct Mags V Vodaphone Manchester.
I joked to a friend today that this kind of scenario could happen.
What worries me is that in some Premiership boardroom somewhere in the UK right now there is a greasy haired marketing man doing a powerpoint presentation on this very subject.
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Apparently Ashley is offering the naming rights to increase income to be spent on players. Quite admirable, until you hear that the rights are on offer at £8-10 million a year. He'll get some quality players with that sort of money on offer. ;)
Would I be happy with Villa Park being renamed?
If it was a company with a high international reputation that isn't likely to bring the clubs name into disrepute and if the price was around £20 million a year then I could live with it. One that springs to mind is The Jaguar, Land Rover Stadium.
It'll always be Villa Park to us though.
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Yes, but would you be happy if the Prem went one step further and it became?
The Genting Casino Villans vs The Vodafone Manchester Devils
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No, no, no. As other posters have said it is designed to bring (even) more money into the game.
What we need is a reduction of money.
Oh how I yearn for the day that a Premiership club goes to the wall and is treated as most other companies are and forced out of business. (not like the banks or the Greeks) Only then will the clubs start to see sense.
It won't make a difference - look at what's happened to the likes of Portsmouth, Leeds, Sheff Weds, etc. All gone to the brink and everyone else has carried on as normal because "it won't happen to them".
The only way things will change is when money is forceably removed from the game. The bulk of the money comes from TV companies who will keep paying it as long as there are millions of people around the world who want to watch football.
The only way I can see it changing is the way F1 changed. The amount of money got so ridiculous it led to an uncompetitive sport and the punters started switching off as a result. They they had to enforce caps on expenditure to make the sport more competitive to try to get the fans back.
We've got a long way to go with football though. If you look at the highest paid sports stars in the world there aren't too many footballers up there. Given the global appeal of football I think it's going to get worse before it gets better.
Slightly missing my point - the clubs you mention were brought back from the brink. I'm saying one of the (so called) big boys needs to go completely out of business, close down, get the wrecking ball in.
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Apparently Ashley is offering the naming rights to increase income to be spent on players. Quite admirable, until you hear that the rights are on offer at £8-10 million a year. He'll get some quality players with that sort of money on offer. ;)
To be fair, an extra £8-10m player a year would make a big difference to some clubs, one of which is us!
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I believe in tradition and would not want Villa Park to be known as anything other than Villa Park there is too much money in the game and selling the rights to your stadium to be called by whatever name is wrong.
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Sorry, but get used to it. It will happen. :(
It was massive for us as supporters when ads were on the shirts. Unforgiveable, anti history and beyond thought.
It happened. We accepted.
Our players - advertising a gambling joint. On the shirt. Now.
What is the difference? Me, I hate the whole bloody subservience to cash. I support a historic club not cornflakes.
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The fact of the matter is that we will probably have to do this at some point, just to stay in the Premier League.
In which case I'd rather us go down. Football still exists outside the Greed League, and is still be enjoyed by the fans who go to these games.
Would you honestly want Villa Park renamed just so a few more average footballers can have even more money - as that's where it would go. Bigger cars outside bigger mansions.
Seconded. Selling the name of Villa Park isn't going to make a blind bit of difference in us to catching up to the top fucking 5 or whatever it is now. Why line the pockets even further of a James Collins or Stephen Warnock? It's just beyond. Is there nothing sacred or at least not for sale anymore?
Let's just name ourselves Birmingham United if names aren't important.
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No, no, no. As other posters have said it is designed to bring (even) more money into the game.
What we need is a reduction of money.
Oh how I yearn for the day that a Premiership club goes to the wall and is treated as most other companies are and forced out of business. (not like the banks or the Greeks) Only then will the clubs start to see sense.
It won't make a difference - look at what's happened to the likes of Portsmouth, Leeds, Sheff Weds, etc. All gone to the brink and everyone else has carried on as normal because "it won't happen to them".
The only way things will change is when money is forceably removed from the game. The bulk of the money comes from TV companies who will keep paying it as long as there are millions of people around the world who want to watch football.
The only way I can see it changing is the way F1 changed. The amount of money got so ridiculous it led to an uncompetitive sport and the punters started switching off as a result. They they had to enforce caps on expenditure to make the sport more competitive to try to get the fans back.
We've got a long way to go with football though. If you look at the highest paid sports stars in the world there aren't too many footballers up there. Given the global appeal of football I think it's going to get worse before it gets better.
Slightly missing my point - the clubs you mention were brought back from the brink. I'm saying one of the (so called) big boys needs to go completely out of business, close down, get the wrecking ball in.
I'm not missing the point at all.
Football clubs have the most loyal fanbase in the world and unless they're an absolute minnow like Aldershot there will always be someone willing to pick them out of administration on the cheap which is exactly what happened to Portsmouth, Leeds and Sheff Weds.
So the chances of 'a big boy getting the wrecking ball in' is roughly similar to meteors landing on Old Trafford, Stamford Bridge, and the Etihad simultaneously!
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I caught someone on the radio opining that this was football selling it's soul. That's patent nonsense: the soul was sold years ago, along with all the other major organs. In fact the only body part that football has left is the orifice that it doesn't mind who shafts, so long as they pay royally for the increasingly dubious privilege. When all the grounds have naming rights, the next step will be getting players to change their name by deed poll so that in the commentary we will have Etihad Longhaul crossing to Abu Dhabi Resorts to score.
Having said that, it doesn't surprise me in the least that it would be Ashley and his Cockney Mafia who, having enjoyed an excellent start to the season, would find a way of shooting themselves in the foot as far as the fans were concerned.
As a matter of interest, where does the BBC currently stand on explicit advertising? They should refuse to use the new name if there was a perfectly serviceable original, or at least add their usual caveat: "Over to Alan Green at the Sports Direct Arena, other chavvy sports retailers are available."
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Here's the key point I think everyone is missing (taken from: http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2011/nov/10/newcastle-st-james-park-sports-direct?newsfeed=true )
The club's managing director, Derek Llambias, insisted there would be significant benefits. Newcastle hope to strike a combined deal for shirt and stadium sponsorship worth about £10m a year. "Our aim for Newcastle United is to continue to deliver success for the fans and everyone associated with the club," Llambias said. "We must make this club financially self-sufficient in order to deliver that success.
Our current sponsorship deal is not far off that (I think £7/8million per year) and that is just for shirt sponsorship. There really is not that much money in sponsoring a stadium. What is that extra £2/3million we are going to get from Genting going to get us? It might enable us to sign another Habib Beye or fund another year of Emile Heskey so in the grand scheme of things it probably won't do much. There just is not much money in letting someone put their name on a stadium everyone is just going to keep on calling St James' Park or Villa Park.
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Villa to be renamed to Poundland Park.
We'll have a whole new host of celebrity fans should VP become The Genting Arena.
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a newcastle fan ran talksport the other day to say that the price of his season ticket has been frozen for 3 years and he pays something like 350 quid a season interest free.
He also said that if you agree to have a season ticket for 10 years the price is frozen at 350 for the full ten years.
Personally I think MA is terrible regarding his own PR but fuck me a season ticket for 350 for 13 seasons you cannot knock
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a newcastle fan ran talksport the other day to say that the price of his season ticket has been frozen for 3 years and he pays something like 350 quid a season interest free.
He also said that if you agree to have a season ticket for 10 years the price is frozen at 350 for the full ten years.
Personally I think MA is terrible regarding his own PR but fuck me a season ticket for 350 for 13 seasons you cannot knock
Frozen for 10 years - and you can opt out.
http://au.fourfourtwo.com/news/195795,newcastle-fans-can-opt-for-frozen-prices.aspx
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a newcastle fan ran talksport the other day to say that the price of his season ticket has been frozen for 3 years and he pays something like 350 quid a season interest free.
He also said that if you agree to have a season ticket for 10 years the price is frozen at 350 for the full ten years.
Personally I think MA is terrible regarding his own PR but fuck me a season ticket for 350 for 13 seasons you cannot knock
In 5 years that money will be spent and they will have a lot less income, Ashley is just trying to make as much money as he can and then leave.
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The renaming of St James' Park has now been officially agreed: Ashley Sports Direct Arena (ASDA for short)
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Danny Baker on Saturday called it the "Buy Our Cheap Plimsolls Stadium". ;D
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a newcastle fan ran talksport the other day to say that the price of his season ticket has been frozen for 3 years and he pays something like 350 quid a season interest free.
He also said that if you agree to have a season ticket for 10 years the price is frozen at 350 for the full ten years.
Personally I think MA is terrible regarding his own PR but fuck me a season ticket for 350 for 13 seasons you cannot knock
In 5 years that money will be spent and they will have a lot less income, Ashley is just trying to make as much money as he can and then leave.
So what if he is?
It is his to as he pleases with.
RL could do exactly the same
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I think Ashley has missed a trick. He should have re-named all the Sports Direct shops as St James Sports (or something similar). Allied with a decent media fanfare it would have created a buzz, won support from the Toon Army and boosted the public's awareness of his tacky sports shops.