Newcastle United: St. James' Park Name Change Is a Disgrace

The St. James' Park name change—never a popular decision for any Newcastle United fan—has progressed on to phase two.

Today, the famous St. James' Park sign just outside of the stadium was ripped down, a decision that will likely spark outrage amongst the Geordie Nation.

The decision was made by owner Mike Ashley and managing director Derek Llambias, whom Newcastle fans now refer to as the "Cockney Mafia."

Their reasoning for the outrageous move is that it could "showcase" the stadium to potential sponsors, in an attempt to bring in up to £10 million of revenue in return for the name change.

While this seems all good and well, it must be noted that Llambias has been trying (and failing) to bring in a stadium sponsor since 2009, and the two name changes (to "sportsdirect.com@St. James' Park Stadium" and "Sports Direct Arena" respectively) have done nothing to increase the club's chances of gaining a sponsor, indicating that this latest move will have little success either.

Furthermore, Sports Direct is Mike Ashley's own company, so for the time being, the change will bring nothing by means of revenue into the club. In fact, the name change will only act as free advertising for Ashley's company.

Based on the reactions of most, if not all, supporters, the taking down of the St. James' Park sign will be more of a deterrent than anything else. Potential sponsors will be scared off by this warning that fans will react badly to their sponsorship, as they have been for the last 3 years.

Ashley and Llambias should be able to find some sort of middle ground here. Surely the St. James' Park moniker doesn't have to be completely thrown away to make way for the new sponsor, especially considering that the stadium has held the same name since way back in 1892.

Newcastle's City Council agrees with me as well, and they now act as the last power who could potentially put an end to this defacing of St. James' Park.

Luckily, most media outlets still refer to the stadium by it's original name and maybe—with a little help from some local protests—Ashley will be persuaded to reconsider his plan.

Despite their 5-0 weekend loss to Tottenham Hotspur, Newcastle fans should be enjoying their team's high league position but, once again, off-the-field issues threaten to overshadow their work on the field.