If you want to be the best footballer in your local Saturday league, as well as needing some talent; you buy the best boots, you pay for a gym membership and you pay for your training sessions. It is no different when you reach the high echelons of professional football; if you want to compete at the top you buy the best players, you invest in the best facilities and you invest in the best technology.
Just ask Portsmouth Football Club; they won an F.A Cup, finished 8th in the Premier League and bagged a 2-2 draw with AC Milan in the UEFA Cup, all within six years of promotion to The Premier League. What was the cost of it all? An £135m debt followed and subsequently they fell from grace momentously to where they languish now at 16th in the nPower Championship having just signed rookie manager Michael Appleton.
That is an extreme case, but one that has been done before; Leeds United suffered a similar rapid rise and successive slump in the wake of quick high-risk funding and it will undoubtedly happen to another mismanaged football club in the future. A club should live within its means, strive for success that is legitimately bought and the fans should back them. This is why there have been various responses of surprise to Newcastle United’s fans apparent disdain over the renaming of St. James’ Park to the Sports Direct Arena.
For a second forget the history; as football fans we want success on the pitch and this is paramount. Closely followed are signings that impress the fans and put names on the backs of replica shirts. If you are getting both the above you are satisfied as a football fan, however apparently not; there are still sections of fan bases that will lament any profit making scheme a club comes up with.
Bemoaning the club you support of making a profit is simply self-defeatist; especially when that profit is fuelling huge ticket discounts, a shrewd management team and a Premier League campaign that sees your team sit at 3rd after 11 games with 25 points.
Now if this means selling the naming rights of your 119-year inhabited stadium for £10m a year, then surely the move is justified. Some Newcastle fans actually detest the move that Mike Ashley took on Thursday though, “It sounds cheap, it’s just awful. Disgrace to football and to NUFC and the fans,” said a Birmingham fan and the views were echoed by Newcastle fans with blame placed at the Ashley’s door, “That sums up our owner, he can’t help himself.”
Bring history back into the equation and is there actually a problem so deep that it is worth sacrificing a potential £10m a year? The club won’t change; it isn’t being taken out of Newcastle, the kit isn’t changing from black and white to red and white and most importantly, the stadium name change will be on a purely commercial level.
A name that is synonymous with Newcastle in a 130-year relationship is a name that the fans of Newcastle and fans alike will continue to use. “As far as the fans and Newcastle City Council are concerned, the home of Newcastle United will always be known as St James’ Park.” That is the message given by the local council and that is a sentiment that should be transcribed by every Toon fan across the land.
A very sound summary of what is happening at Newcastle and this is the way it should be for all clubs. Fans have to be realistic and realize football is a business to make profit NOT A CHARITY!
UEFA’s move is long overdue and it will be very interesting to see the impact it may have.