by Graeme Smith

Created on: November 07, 2009   Last Updated: November 08, 2009

When a friend of mine tried to explain to me why he had attended a protest outside St James' Park with fifteen hundred other Newcastle United fans, I struggled to accept his logic. I've only been to Newcastle once, but I knew I had to take a jacket, scarf and gloves. In fact, the same goes for all outdoor protests. I'd prefer to moan in front of the box, hot brew in hand, than manically wave banners and thrust placards into the air. Oh, and chant of course.

At least that's what I thought because reading the news this week that Mike Ashley, owner of Newcastle United, and the poor sod at the receiving end of my friend's abuse, had come up with the innovative idea of rebranding St James' Park. I was happy to abandon my calm, tea-loving persona and aptly bellowed, 'Howay man!'

Okay, so maybe there wasn't any Geordie dialect and I never can get the accent right anyway, so it's a good job. But whatever it was that came out of my mouth had the same meaning. Scapegoats in football are certainly far from rare, but to be so irritating is definitely unusual.

Cue the man with the pint. He actually got off on the right foot snuggling up with supporters, fickle to his wallet that had saved their club from financial ruin. And then came, of course, the return of The Messiah; for once the sun was shining on Tyneside. But the clouds quickly gathered. Dennis Wise came in, Mike downed his pint, Keegan went and Newcastle United dropped. Meanwhile, he couldn't make his mind up whether he wanted to sell the place or not. It's difficult to avoid saying that the drink went to his head.

It was actually in taking the club off the market again that this final sin was committed. To maximise commercial revenues, the statement read, the club will be welcoming offers for the stadium naming rights. So much for the hopes that he was actually a Newcastle United fan.

Unfortunately for the real fans and for those who, like me, have a fondness for the club, it looks as though he'll get his way. With the likes of Barry Moat failing to meet asking prices, and Ashley turning stubborn when they don't, I suppose our only hope is that Saint James himself will rise from his grave and have enough pennies to send Ashley back to London and give the Magpies the chance to fly high again.

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