If there is one aspect of a football club that is forbidden from being tampered with by a chairman or owner it's the history and heritage of the stadium it calls home. For 119 years Newcastle United and St James' Park became synonymous with one another....that was until Mike Ashley arrived in town. After previously angering supporters by tinkering with title and changing it to 'SportsDirect.com @ St James' Park' two years earlier, Ashley, with skin thicker than a rhino hide, went one step further by enforcing a full, official rebrand to the Sports Direct Arena citing the need to "showcase" the sponsorship opportunity to any "interested parties". Just when relations between Ashley and supporters were softening he brazenly slapped a sticker for his company over the face of Geordie tradition in the name of profit. Free advertising for him and another reason for the Toon faithful to jab a pin into their Ashley voodoo dolls. Obviously the fallout was nuclear as fans rebelled against the regime yet again, some of whom resorted to criminal damage to ensure Ashley got the message. St James' Park was here to stay, whether he liked it or not.
