Why the history and soul of Newcastle United belongs to the fans and NOT its billionaire owner
Two years ago, when the idea of renaming St James’s Park was first mooted I pledged I’d never refer to it by a sponsors brand.
That position hasn’t changed with Newcastle United’s revamping of the idea last week.
It will remain St James’s Park in my Daily Mirror reports.
I note that the official nufc.co.uk website has already been amended, telling “the story of the Sports Direct Arena.”
Sponsors, present and future, can plaster whatever names they want on St James’ Park.
But tradition is tradition, and in the hearts and minds of Geordie fans, St James’s Park it will remain.
Like many fans I am weary of the conflict and discontent that following the fortunes of Newcastle keeps producing.
We’ve raged and ranted before during various embarrassing episodes. People say they will stop going to watch, but St James’s Park still hosts crowds of 50,000.
The owner, even from the depths of unpopularity, has failed to sell up, and ploughed on with his, it has to be said quite successful, restructuring of a club that was financially in deep trouble.
I have faith that it will take more than a billionaire owner, decreeing he wants to make some extra revenue, to alter a historic name of an iconic city landmark.
It takes the will of the public, to actually make a new name stick.
And it is clear it simply won’t catch on. It won’t be used locally, or among fans internationally either.
It is the tens of thousands of supporters in and around Tyneside who determine the traditions of the club.
Fans determine who becomes a cult hero, what nicknames are bestowed, who is welcomed back to St James’s Park and who isn’t.
Fans decide which eras were glorious and which one’s are forgotten.
And it is the will of the fans, the power of the people, who will keep the name of St James’s Park alive by every day usage.
That is what matters.
No one will be altering that famous Geordie song: Coming Home Newcastle, by Ronnie Lambert, so often played before games:
“I would brave the dark at St James’s Park at the Gallowgate End in the rain...”
No dad will be saying to their son or daughter: “I’ll take you to your first game at the Sports Direct Arena”.
Football has surrendered plenty already in pursuit of money – including regular Saturday 3pm kick offs, salaries that remove players from the real world.
And worst of all, a Premier League now so polarised you can pick the top six automatically, and the winner from two or three rich clubs.
Newcastle’s stadium name is just the latest, and more emotive, to fall victim – on the promise that the cash raised will be reinvested in the team, and keep season ticket prices down.
There is already interest from big businesses in buying the dubious honour of stripping the stadium of its name and splattering their logos where giant Sports Direct signs now stand.
A deal has to be struck by the end of December so Puma can get on making the shirts with sponsors logos.
The stadium will carry a new name on official listings, perhaps commentary and broadcast rights holders like Sky and the BBC will have to use the official name too.
But the fans won’t be using it.
Those of us who had posters of it on our walls as kids, and felt the wonder of walking through the turn-styles as little boys to watch our first game.
That is the sort of history can’t be sold, and can’t be taken away.
Newcastle United fans have endured plenty of mindboggling frustrations and turmoil in the past few years. And that is what makes me confident the club’s will come through this latest controversy.
We’ve witnessed those shenanigans like Keegan’s fight with Ashley, JFK, Shearer’s coming and going, relegation, cutbacks and revival, Hughton’s sacking and now the revival again.
The club and its fans have come through the other end.
Some people say this is the club selling it’s soul. Ripping away its history.
No it isn’t.
It will be a business transaction between Newcastle United and its next sponsors.
Real history and the soul of a club is a living thing carried on by the fans.
People says fans are powerless to stop this renaming.
In one sense they are.
Ashley won’t consult or listen. He will take the cash, and yes, hopefully extract pds 10 million-plus a year from a new combined shirt and stadium sponsor.
In a more real sense, the fans hold all the power.
St James’s Park will forever be St James’s Park if that is what WE as football fans, on Tyneside and beyond, still call it.
***
Read Simon Bird's Newcastle column exclusively on MirrorFootball.co.uk every Tuesday and follow him on Twitter @simonbirdmirror
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