Wonga Renames Newcastle's Stadium As St James' Park From Next Season

Newcastle United has agreed a new four-year deal with wonga.com which will make the digital finance company the Club's lead commercial sponsor.
In addition to sponsoring the team shirt from the start of the 2013/14 season and working on a range of other initiatives with fans, Wonga will invest at least £1.5m in two of the Club's most important projects.
Wonga is investing in Newcastle United's young talent by providing significant financial support for the Academy. The investment will enable the Club to transform its Academy into one of the leading centres of youth football development in the country, enabling us to nurture the top playing stars of the future.
The Academy has around 150 boys between the ages of nine and 18 on its books. In addition to standard evening and weekend training sessions, the Academy has 35 boys attending on weekday afternoons from Monday to Thursday for classroom learning as well as training.

Wonga has also committed to invest in the Newcastle United Foundation Enterprise Scheme. The existing programme helps 15-16 year-olds find employment by developing their skills and experience through practical and educational courses. Wonga's investment will vastly expand the scheme and help more young people in the North-East in their future careers.
Other initiatives with Wonga will include a straight talking forum with the fans for discussing ideas for fan involvement in the Club and working on a specific new initiative to involve fans in the design of the shirt.
Derek Llambias, Managing Director of Newcastle United, said: "We are building a club that can regularly compete for top honours at the highest level.
"As everyone knows, a strong commercial programme is vital to this goal and I am delighted to welcome Wonga into the fold as our lead commercial partner, alongside Puma and Sports Direct.
"Throughout our discussions Wonga's desire to help us invest in our young playing talent, the local community and new fan initiatives really impressed us and stood them apart from other candidates."
Wonga provides small, short-term loans online and via smartphones. To date the company has provided over six million loans, while generating industry-leading satisfaction rates from customers.
Errol Damelin, founder and CEO of Wonga said: "We're really proud to be involved with Newcastle United.
"It is one of the biggest and most important clubs in the UK by any measure and has a fantastic following around the world. We're also really excited about investing in future stars both on and off the field. The Academy and the Enterprise Scheme gives us the opportunity to make a big difference.
"We have just launched our small business offering and there are more great products to come. We know our customers love football and it goes without saying that, alongside Newcastle United, we will continue to support Blackpool and SFA Cup Winners Hearts."

Wonga will rename Newcastle's Sports Direct Arena as St James' Park from the start of next season.


The payday loans company were announced as the shirt sponsor in a four-year deal today, and in a surprise move it was revealed they had also bought the stadium naming rights.

Rather than naming the stadium to advertise their brand, the company has opted to revert to the stadium's original name.

St James' Park was renamed the Sports Direct Arena in November 2011, in a temporary deal with owner Mike Ashley's sportswear empire.

As well becoming the club's main commercial sponsor, Wonga will invest at least £1.5m in the club's Academy and the Newcastle United Foundation Enterprise Scheme, which sees 15-16 year olds given employment opportunities through training courses.

Derek Llambias, Managing Director of Newcastle United, said: "We are building a club that can regularly compete for top honours at the highest level.

"As everyone knows, a strong commercial programme is vital to this goal and I am delighted to welcome Wonga into the fold as our lead commercial partner, alongside Puma and Sports Direct.
"Throughout our discussions Wonga's desire to help us invest in our young playing talent, the local community and new fan initiatives really impressed us and stood them apart from other candidates."

Other initiatives with Wonga will include a forum with the fans for discussing ideas for fan involvement, and working on a specific new initiative to involve fans in the design of the shirt.

Errol Damelin, founder and CEO of Wonga said: "We're really proud to be involved with Newcastle United.

"It is one of the biggest and most important clubs in the UK by any measure and has a fantastic following around the world. We're also really excited about investing in future stars both on and off the field.

"The Academy and the Enterprise Scheme gives us the opportunity to make a big difference."

Swanhends wrote:From Twitter: "@matchoftheda: Wonga will give a motivational speech to the Newcastle players next week demanding they each give one thousand and ten percent for the shirt"

In order to get the name change back...the players bless em have had to accept having their names changed...can I reiintroduce you to Wonga Ameobi, Hatem Ben APRfa and Same Day Loanas Gutierrez.

gunnerlistick wrote:You will get a pic of those talking Granny's on your shirt ??

Rev wrote:Wonga sounds dirty.

halamadrid2 wrote:loooooooooooooool

Wonga sponsors you??? might as well add comparethemarket.com to the mix ROFL

Shaykh Ibrahim Mogra, assistant secretary general of the MCB, said: "There are two aspects to this. We have the rulings of the religious law and we have the individual's choice and decision on how they want to follow or not follow that rule.

"The idea is to protect the vulnerable and the needy from exploitation by the rich and powerful. When they are lending and are charging large amounts of interest, it means the poor will have short-term benefit from the loan but long-term difficulty in paying it back because the rate of interest is not something they can keep up with. The Islamic system is based on a non-interest-based system of transaction."

Frédéric Kanouté, the former Spurs striker, refused to wear the 888.com logo of the gambling website when he was with Seville in La Liga because of his religious beliefs. He was allowed to play games for Seville with an unbranded shirt but had to wear the logo on his training equipment.

"Freddie was allowed to wear a top without the 888.com and that is a reasonable request to be made by the player," added Mogra. "Assuming all four are on the pitch at the same time, if you have seven out of 11 [who have the advertising on their shirts] you have sufficient coverage. It is not asking too much, I believe."

The Football Association entered the debate when its general secretary, Alex Horne, expressed his reservations about Newcastle's deal. "The Football Supporters' Federation of Britain told us in no uncertain terms it's not appropriate, [Sunderland non-executive vice-president] David Miliband has told us he does not think it is appropriate," Horne said.

"We are talking to the leagues on Friday about it. If you consider it as in the category of things that are inappropriate for children like gambling and alcohol, it feels like it is in that category to me."