So what’s in a name?

Far from being unhappy about their club’s decision to rename their stadium, Newcastle United fans should be laughing all the way to the bank.

The Blades could play their home games in the Tampax Arena for all I care- James Calvert

It was announced last week that St James’ Park will become the Sports Direct Arena – named after owner Mike Ashley’s chain of shops – for the rest of this season. Then, hopefully by the next campaign, a more permanent sponsor will be found.

At first glance it seems like yet another move by Ashley to further alienate himself from the supporters. And he has never been the most popular person in the eyes of the Toon Army.

After all, Newcastle is a club with a long history and fine tradition. And a rather important part of that tradition is that they have been playing football at St James’ Park since 1880. Not at some synthetic arena.

However, if you think about this a little bit deeper it is actually a win-win situation for Newcastle fans: at the end of the day, whatever it says on the tin, everyone is still going to call the ground by its ‘proper’ name.

It will take several generations before any new name takes hold and, chances are, if sponsors are changing regularly, then those new names just won’t stick. Everyone will just keep on calling it St James’ Park.

However, on the other hand, any company that is going to sponsor the stadium as a whole will have to cough up some seriously good money for it. I would imagine we are talking tens of millions for a multi-year deal. If they go for the shirt sponsorship as well, then the package will only get bigger.

So on the one hand the club gets a major cash injection (which they certainly need, based on recent financial results) while on the other hand the stadium will still be known as St James’ Park to everyone that matters. Only the corporate bigwigs and the pandering media will ever call it by its ‘official’ name.

Speaking from a Sheffield United point of view, for instance, I couldn’t care less if they sold our stadium name. The Blades could be playing their home games in the Tampax Arena for all I care (which would be appropriate considering the bad period we are going through).

Every other Sheffield United fan on the planet and I would still call it Bramall Lane. But the extra cash that sort of sponsorship would generate would be incredibly welcome.

I am, generally speaking, a traditionalist when it comes to football. And I am not a big fan of change, especially when it comes about for commercial reasons.

But the naming of stadiums? Bring it on. Everyone can benefit from that little bit of business.

The last of his kind

Last weekend Sir Alex Ferguson celebrated his 25th anniversary at the helm of Manchester United and I think it’s fair to say we will never see another manager do that again.

In this day and age, bosses get fired on a whim. Lose a couple of games in a row and you can hear the knives being sharpened in the boardroom. Seeing out an entire season is becoming something of an achievement in managerial terms.

Yet Sir Alex has been in place at Old Trafford for a quarter of a century, which is, by anyone’s standards, a heck of a long time. Just to put it in perspective, when the great Scot first walked through the door at United, Wayne Rooney had just celebrated his first birthday.

Of course, Sir Alex’s record at Old Trafford is well documented. You don’t need me to tell you just how successful he has been on his way towards becoming arguably the greatest manager of all time.

But it nearly wasn’t that way. According to legend, Sir Alex was one game away from the sack during his early days at United, which just goes to show you that even then, patience was not a great virtue in football boardrooms.

I suppose that makes every day at the club and every trophy he sticks in that bulging cabinet all the more meaningful. It’s like he’s been on a two-and-a-half-decade ‘told you so’ campaign.

For me, though, the most remarkable thing about last weekend’s celebrations (and it certainly wasn’t the match with Sunderland, which was truly dire) was one of the statistics that came out.

When Sir Alex took over at United all those years ago, the bottom four clubs in the top flight were Manchester United, Chelsea, Manchester City and Newcastle United. The exact same teams that made up the top four 25 years later.

A truly remarkable statistic and one that should give supporters of Wolverhapton Wanderers, Bolton Wanderers, Blackburn Rovers and Wigan Athletic hope for the future. Bring on 2036…

Kean to get rid

The campaign to have Steve Kean fired as Blackburn manager reached new heights last weekend. Literally.

The club banned fans from protesting about their manager during the game against Chelsea.

But they weren’t going to take the ban lying down and instead found a different way of getting their message across: by hiring a light aircraft to fly over the stadium pulling a ‘Steve Kean Out’ banner behind it.

To be honest, you’ve really got to start feeling sorry for the guy. I don’t think I have ever come across a more concerted campaign to get a manager removed.

Having said that, you can’t argue with their determination. Whether or not it actually works is an entirely different question though, as Kean is still hanging in there.

Poppygate

For once, Fifa acted wisely last week when they decided to compromise over the ‘Poppygate’ controversy.

England, Scotland and Wales were all in action in recent days in games that coincided with Remembrance Day. And obviously they wanted to take to the pitch wearing poppies as the traditional sign of respect.

However, Fifa has a rule that bans political, religious or commercial messages on shirts. Somehow, someone in the organisation decided this should include poppies.

Now, any logical person would know that wearing poppies is not political, religious or commercial. It is merely a way of remembering those members of the armed forces who gave their lives fighting for freedom.

But Fifa were reluctant to give in and the players were set to wear simple black armbands until the intervention of a whole bunch of people ranging from MPs to Prime Minister David Cameron and even Prince William.

And while the compromise – being allowed to display an embroidered poppy on the armband – is not exactly fantastic, it is at least something.

Maybe this is the first signs of a more open Fifa that is willing to listen and respond accordingly.

Or maybe one of the executive committee has a share in an embroidery shop…

sportscolumnist@timesofmalta.com
Twitter: @maltablade