The name game

Work has apparently started on the rebranding of Shearer's bar at St James' Park, with the hostelry to be renamed 9.

Given the frosty relationship which the Lion of Gosforth enjoys with Jabba, it is hardly a shock that we've looked to rebrand, albeit the fact that it began on the day that Shearer was using his Sun column to criticise the return of JFK makes it look like a spiteful knee-jerk reaction.

I can't believe the two are linked, given the time it inevitably takes to commission designs for a pub rebrand, and to be fair the decision can be viewed in one of two ways depending on your point of view. It is either a fitting tribute to the many fine strikers to have worn the number 9 shirt over the year (Milburn, Super Mac, Andy Cole, Sir Les, Shearer et al.) or it's a cheap shot at Wor Al.

It'll be interesting to hear whether the current incumbent of the shirt has any views on effectively being a walking advert for a bar, given his understandable reluctance to be sponsored by Wonga.