After days of speculation and anger directed at Wonga potentially being the new shirt sponsor, they signed a reported 4 year deal worth £8m per year. The best part though is that because our shirts and stadium is a package deal, Wonga reverted the name back to St. James' Park.
While yay on the stadium. The ethics of coupling the club's crest with a usury company is sickening. I won't be getting a shirt for awhile I guess.
That is the rumored amount. Now that the stadium name has been announced no one is looking into the financial details. The Virgin deal was only 10 right? Maybe they got a discount for signing up for 4 years?
The Virgin was either 10 total for 2 years or 10 per year for two years. Either way, the math doesn't add up.
I used to think that over 20% was illegal, but then credit cards now charge 24%. No one except a loan shark can touch these guys, though
Like everything to do with Wonga. I'm not particularly bothered of the ethics of this company, more the brand image it conveys for us. Long term that's more harmful. But Ashley is all about money, and doesn't understand prestige branding. If you'd seen his shops you'd understand that all the more.
I get the hesitancy with this kind of corporation, but where's the outrage about the alcohol companies (Everton) or the betting companies (Stoke, Aston Villa, Wigan, Swansea, West Ham, lower-league teams like Wolves) or that several kit makers' (allegedly) use sweatshops?
Yeah it is a bit strange that people from the FA are talking about brands that set a bad example for kids. John Terry sets a worse example every bloody week. As you say TD, half the teams in the PL are sponsored by bookies. Plus Wonga already sponsored a Premier League team when Blackpool were up. The only problem I have really is that its a tacky brand to be associated with. It's like being sponsored by a pawn shop.
Also the league cup is sponsored by Capital One who aren't a great deal better than Wonga, and the FA Cup is sponsored by Budweiser. I'm not really seeing where the high horse is tied up.
Capital One put me through college, a year of grad school and I've had a credit card with them for over 20 years. Recently they bought the bank I used here in Maryland. I've never had any complaints with them. Thx, Jay!
Agreed. Wonga is going to hurt people whether they're on our shirts or not. (The business model doesn't work unless a high enough percentage of people get in trouble on their loans.) So let's just wait it out, until we can get a proper alcohol sponsor on our kit. Could be worse. We could've changed our shirts to red to appeal to fans in asia.
Yes the Virgin deal was £10 mil per season. Did a report kit sponsorship not to long ago and did a lot of research on it. Yes the club is getting a longer contract. But a lot of well performing and larger clubs in Spain, England, & Germany have signed kit sponsor deals ranging from £10-20 mil per season. The Virgin deal was where we should have been at that time money wise. According to the numbers our next deal should have gone up a few mil and not down a few mil. Looking at the latest trends for clubs our size and average success the last few seasons, not even factoring in the stadium, this is a bad business deal. CAshley actually left money on the table here and hurt the club financially with this deal. Now from a PR point of view, Wonga could see the back lash coming and I believe they think by changing the name to SJP back they will win the fans over. Sadly mistaken.
Sorry to double post but completely unrelated topics, hours apart. According to "The Independent" Newcastle's Muslim players have been told that wearing the new kits with Wonga on them would break Sharia Law. My reaction to this new bit of supposed news: " Wait. What?"
Morning reading (for those of us stateside): Vuckic out for season (again) -- in related news, Gosling also injured (again) Steven Taylor could be back for the derby Ryan Taylor out for the season (still) Tour of Brazil? International injury roundup -- (hint, it's not pretty)
Some highlights from an interview AP did with the Evening Chronicle today. http://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/newc...indow-shopping-is-under-way-72703-32054323/2/
Just when we thought it was safe to look ... Shola's been called into the Nigeria squad for a friendly next week and is being given a chance to make the AFCON squad.
On Skysports there is an article talking about Faustino Asprilla possibly being brought back to the club in a coaching capacity.
A good piece on the things that could be currently troubling us. Though I think the 442 is more to appease Ba than get Cisse firing.
More stirring of the pot: Raising the Ba: Newcastle striker demands double his wages to stay Perhaps this should be titled "Ba-Bye" if true. Agents. SMH Thx, Jay!