Sports Direct Arena may be one of the owner's cruder
decisions but some of his previous ones have been good for the
club
When Premier League fixtures return next weekend after
what has felt like an even longer than usual international break
they do so with a richly promising meeting between the two
remaining unbeaten sides. Manchester City, top of the league and
going like a train, entertain Newcastle
United, surprise package of the season
and going for a song.
That is not strictly true. It is only the naming rights to
Newcastle's ground that are up for sale, Mike Ashley
having announced he was taking the club off the market two years
ago after failing to attract buyers with an asking price of £100m.
Considering the club are now seeking to make £10m a year from
anyone willing to make an honest stadium of St James' Park and come
up with a better name than Sports Direct Arena, the original deal
for the whole kit and caboodle seemed much better value, though
just as Ashley was not trampled in a buyers' rush in 2009 the
indications are that he is unlikely to realise as much money as he
hopes from a change of name that has gained approval only in the
parts of the north-east populated by Sunderland fans.
City made a similar switch and a raft of money at the start of
the season, simply by inviting their existing sponsors to cough up
around £400m more to have their name attached to the stadium, quite
some going when Uefa are encouraging financial fair play and City
do not even own the former Commonwealth Games venue but lease it
from the council. Clearly it must have helped that there was no 100
years of history with the Eastlands stadium and supporters were not
emotionally tied to the name – City would have faced much more
spectator unrest had they tried to rebrand Maine Road – though what
has assisted City more than anything is having the sort of backers
who can happily part with such sums in addition to paying
stratospheric salaries and granting the club real clout in the
transfer market.
That is what has put City on top of the table, regardless of the
individual brilliance of David Silva and others. The Etihad splurge
has even put Manchester United's nose out of joint, let alone
Newcastle's, and for Alan Pardew's side to break up the Manchester
duopoly on the top two positions, as they did briefly a week ago,
is nothing short of miraculous given the gulf in budgets.
It appears Pardew is deserving of credit, along with the chief
scout, Graham Carr, for rebuilding the team with unheralded
signings from France, though before his typically tasteless Sports
Direct Arena stunt people were starting to say that Ashley must be
doing something right, too.
He appointed Pardew, after all. He sold Joey Barton, now seen as
a key move in allowing less strident personalities at the club to
express themselves more fully on the pitch. He pocketed £35m from
Liverpool for Andy Carroll, a deal that looks more like the sale of
the century with every passing week, no matter how much of the cash
trickles down to Pardew. And with a team unbeaten in third place,
and supporters as happy as they have been since the early promise
shown under Kevin Keegan,
Ashley has not only put an end to the rather squalid soap opera
of expensive comings and goings he originally found himself
supervising, he has shown that a degree of success can be achieved
by clubs where spending has to be sustainable.
Newcastle's big advantage is a ground holding 52,000 that
regularly sells out. That not only generates income, it excites
potential signings, and Carr has spoken about the importance of the
St James' Park match-day atmosphere in convincing foreign targets
they are moving to the Premier League big time. Though Sunderland's
ground holds almost as many, they cannot make the same boast. The
Stadium of Light will fill if results are good, yet results have to
come first.
Ashley always had a full stadium, now he has the results to go
with it, and if he needs extra revenue from naming rights and shirt
sponsorship to keep Newcastle at their present level the supporters
might have to swallow their pride and go along with it. However
depressing the Sports Direct Arena match-day atmosphere sounds,
Newcastle do not have the global fan base of Manchester United or
Arsenal, or the luxury of backers with deep pockets like Manchester
City or Chelsea. They have to make money where they can, or think
they can.
Ashley may struggle to get his latest project off the ground
because really famous names have a habit of resisting takeovers –
cycling's Milk Race disappeared for a while when new sponsors dried
up on discovering that no one ever wanted to refer to the event by
any other title, meaning that the Milk Marketing Board got years of
free advertising long after they had ceased to pick up the tab –
though at least he is no longer trying to sell the club. He has
probably decided economic conditions are not auspicious, and he is
probably right. When he does come to sell up, if that is his
ultimate intention, it could be completely different from the last
time.
Not only might he find a few prospective buyers, there may even
be a few supporters wanting him to stay. Unpredictable, that's
Newcastle. But indisputably in much better shape than two years
ago.
