Llambias defends St James' change

Derek Llambias
12 April 2012

Newcastle managing director Derek Llambias has revealed a hugely controversial decision to sell the naming rights to St James' Park could generate up to £10million a year.

The Magpies announced their plans early on Thursday morning, and that in the meantime, the stadium will be known as the Sports Direct Arena. The latest move comes after the club took advice from branding experts, and Llambias is convinced it has to happen if Newcastle are to maintain pace with the Barclays Premier League's big boys.

He told BBC Radio Newcastle: "I would hope it would generate between £8million and 10million a year. That would give us another player."

He added: "The club needs to be self-sufficient, and this will help us be self-sufficient. Yes, we do need to go that one step further to compete. Yes, we do.

"We have had an exceptional year, and long may it continue, but the fans want us to buy more players. We need to bring in a striker in January, we will need replacements in the summer and we need to give ourselves as much as possible.

"There is no guarantee we will find a sponsor between now and then, but we have to give ourselves the opportunity and this is one.

"We have to keep going at it. We can't just say 'Oh, it hasn't worked out, let's go back to what we were'. We have to give ourselves the maximum opportunity to sell it."

The news comes with the Magpies riding high in third place in the league table and just as peace between the Ashley regime and the supporters appeared to be breaking out with manager Alan Pardew and his players having restored some of their battered pride.

Llambias admitted they were risking taking the gloss off a start to the season which has seen a further 4,000 season tickets sold in a cut-price offer in recent weeks, but insisted there was no alternative.

He said: "I totally respect the tradition and history of the club. That is always going to be there, but we need to move with the times and this is progression. We need to move on. We are not disrespecting our fans at all. Far from it."

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