A little less than a year ago, Newcastle decided that the best way to attract a sponsor was to break from 119 years of tradition and change the name of St. James' Park to Sports Direct Arena. The objective in renaming the stadium after owner Mike Ashley's sporting goods company (with no direct financial benefit to the club) was to show potential sponsors what corporate branding on the stadium looks like, because no one has ever seen that before and photoshop doesn't exist.
So, to the horror of Newcastle fans, the St. James' Park sign was taken down and attempts to spray paint it back on ultimately failed. But with the addition of new sponsor Wonga came the decision to reinstate the St. James' name and on Wednesday, the sign was put back up. A small group of fans was assembled for a photoshoot on Wednesday and they popped champagne in front of the sign.
This is the kind of thing that happens during a long international break.
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