The multi-million dilemma facing Darren Eales as fans prepare for St James' Park debate
The idea of renaming St James’ Park sets off a visceral reaction in me and many others. It instantly feels wrong and brings back grim memories of “The Sports Direct Arena”.
But there’s talk of our new owners selling our naming rights to generate more money for players. It seems strange that this is even necessary when we’re the richest club on the planet, but financial fair play (FFP) is forcing our hands and Darren Eales has admitted that in the early days, we need to get creative to be able to splash the cash.
St James’ Park is an iconic name and nobody wants to see it changed entirely – and especially not simply to another brand name. The Etihad, The Emirates, The AMEX – they all feel soulless.
Not nearly as soulless as The Sports Direct Arena, but that was its own unique situation. Mike Ashley, who’d already plastered the Sports Direct logo on every available inch of the ground, paid no money to the club to advertise his tatty brand by renaming the ground. (As an aside, surely he never should have gotten away with all of that free advertising?)
The renaming brought no extra funds to Newcastle United in the first instance, only ridicule. Wonga eventually bought the rights to pull off a no-brainer PR stunt in restoring the ground’s proper name, but I’ve no doubt Ashley would have been happy to keep it as the Sweatshop Arena forever.
This time around, it’s going to be different. It’s a strategic move designed to boost the club and the team and – arguably most importantly – we supporters will be consulted.
It’s likely that the ground’s name will retain “St James’ Park” in some capacity, for example “Greggs @ St James’ Park” (wouldn’t that be a partnership in heaven?). So it’s highly unlikely we’ll lose this iconic, world-renowned name.
In a new world where we can’t throw money at anyone and everyone until something sticks like Manchester City did, these decisions need to be made – but importantly, they’re being made thoughtfully and with supporters in mind.
In an ideal world, the ground would be St James’ Park only forever, but ultimately the partial rename will be good for the club – and it could give us as much as £200 million to spend.
Eales is finding a delightful middle ground of making commercially minded decisions without irking supporters. It’s a fine line, but he’s toeing it perfectly. This is an important move that will give us a platform to push into the upper echelons of the league and European football. But as he said, what’s the point in it if it upsets the lifeblood of the club – us supporters?
It’s refreshing to feel valued by the bigwigs at the club, and long may it continue.
