Fog on the Taedong

Just when you thought things couldn’t get much worse, along comes Jabba to provide an easy source of further ridicule. 

This time, he’s taken umbrage at the recent local press coverage given to the Time4Change march and as such has banned the Ronny Gill, the Journal and the Sunday Sun from the club. 

Ironically, it is those same publications which are often criticised for being too pally with the club, too willing to toe the party line but not anymore. 

Presumably Jabba is already starting his own Sports Direct edition of Pravda which will be available in the club shop and carry exclusive interviews and match reports in which every player is at least a 7 out of 10 and our goals are feted regardless of results. Pyongyang upon Tyne anyone? 

Press bans aren’t themselves a new thing, with the Telegraph’s Luke Edwards singled out last season over his stories of a Francophone clique in the dressing room and indeed, many years ago, I had a conversation with then Newcastle correspondent Alan Oliver who described a six-month ban during Keegan’s first reign, which he described as one of the hardest periods of his professional life. 

The reality is, for Lee Ryder et al, they are now going to have to work twice as hard to fill the voracious appetite of their readership for stories about our club. However, they can do so without fear of causing offence, which means they can report honestly about both the club and possibly also Wonga (who they had started to embrace).

Perhaps a critical approach to the club’s main sponsor might see some pressure exerted by Wonga, which in turn might see Jabba re-open the doors to the local press.

Until then it makes our owner, and by association our club, look small, petty-minded and frankly ridiculous, causes greater uncertainty and means we once again find ourselves worrying more about relegation than about bouncing back from Sunday's defeat.

Update:

You can read the text of the club's letter here and the National Union of Journalism's response can be found here.

Cash for (no awkward) questions

The Ronny Gill recently partnered up with Wonga to offer a fund to which local sports clubs can apply for grants. No prizes for guessing that the paper's coverage of the company suddenly seems to have got far more positive...

(Thanks to Danny for the link.)

Cisse makes peace as Welby declares war

At last, some positive news: the dispute between Papiss Cisse and the club has been resolved. By "resolved", I mean that Cisse has compromised and agreed to wear a Wonga-branded shirt. I wonder if the club used his casino-frequenting habits as a stick to beat him with? Regardless, it can only be a positive to have our principal goal threat available, especially with JFK continuing to fail spectacularly in his remit to bring in new players.

As for Wonga, they've hit the headlines again today with the news that the Archbishop of Canterbury has announced his intention to force them out of business by expanding existing credit unions, plans which have now received the backing of Business Secretary Vince Cable. Would Cisse have a problem with wearing a Church of England-branded shirt, I wonder?

Quote of the day

"I feel absolutely ashamed of what he's done; there's not just me, there's been other people who've been supporting him. But what he's done now, seeing him in the casino, even if he wasn't gambling, I think this gives a wrong message. People will say, 'Look, this is Islam, they can pick and choose whatever they want', and Islam isn't about picking and choosing."

Newcastle city councillor and Muslim Dipu Ahad on the revelations that Papiss Cisse is "an occasional visitor" at Aspers Casino, where Jabba infamously lost £1m in an evening. Like Ahad, I've been defending Cisse's stance with regard to the Wonga-branded shirts as a matter of principle for some time now (though also querying why he didn't have a similar problem with Virgin Money), and have been inclined to be dismissive of persistent suggestions that his behaviour was cynically motivated by a desire to engineer an improved contract. Now that his nocturnal activities have come to light, I'm afraid those suggestions look to have a lot more weight.

Time to Ciss and make up

OK, so Wongagate is getting serious now, with Papiss Cisse missing from our pre-season tour of Portugal. Whether the decision was his or the club's is unclear (the BBC news story implies the former), but either way relations between the two parties are clearly not in good shape. Just as well that he's not our #9 and main goalscorer, and that we've made a raft of other high-quality additions to the squad to compensate for his loss. Eh? Oh.

The Toon party has flown out for friendlies with Rio Ave (Saturday) and Pacos de Ferreira (Tuesday), off the back of a 4-2 victory at Motherwell in our opening pre-season fixture on Tuesday evening. It may have been a very young and scratch squad that triumphed over the SPL runners-up, but three senior players - Goofy, Moussa Sissoko and Sylvain Marveaux - weighed in with goals while Haris Vuckic, finally back to fitness, opened the scoring.

The prisoner

According to Wikipedia, Stockholm syndrome is defined as "a psychological phenomenon in which hostages express empathy and sympathy and have positive feelings toward their captors or abusers, sometimes to the point of defending them, and sometimes the feeling of love for the captor shows".

Why the pop psychology lesson? Well, Sideshow Bob's latest comments suggest he might be suffering from the condition: "I’m a grateful person and Newcastle have given me the opportunity of playing in the Premier League, which is the elite of football, so I will stay at Newcastle. I have talked many times with San Lorenzo about moving back with them. My desire is to move back but that¹s not going to happen next season. I didn’t move to San Lorenzo last season because Newcastle didn’t want me to leave.I’m not going to move to San Lorenzo now because Newcastle don’t want me to go. I have to respect that decision."

So the good news is that we won't be waving goodbye to our captain and the one player who holds everything together at the back. A relief, to be sure, though you do have to ponder the wisdom of denying him the move he clearly wants - will his frustrations manifest themselves in his levels of performance and commitment next season? Hopefully he's too professional to allow that to happen.

Meanwhile, the Independent have also reported that we've rubbished rumours from L'Equipe that Dreamboat - touted as Sideshow Bob's potential successor as skipper - is on the verge of a move back to his native France, to newly promoted and big-spending Monaco. The article is distinctly quote-free, however - as is an article in the Heil on Sunday claiming that Mr T has followed Papiss Cisse in kicking up a stink about having to wear a Wonga-branded shirt.

Does my APR look big in this?

So Papiss Cisse is allegedly refusing to wear a Wonga-branded shirt on religious grounds? It's not exactly news - the potential issue was raised back in October, when the deal was first inked - and at the time we did wonder how wearing the Virgin Money logo was any different. But the fact that the issue hasn't been resolved is a worry, given that Cisse, erratic though he was for large parts of last season, is our go-to man for goals and currently the only player in the squad you'd definitely to muster double figures. A solution is needed - and that solution isn't to flog him to either Anzhi Makhachkala or Borussia Dortmund.

This all comes as a distraction when we should be looking at bolstering our forward options. Wigan's Arouna Kone reportedly has a £6.5m release clause while there's talk of Demba Ba being made surplus to requirements at Chelsea by returning manager Jose Mourinho. However, the former is the subject of serious interest from both red and blue halves of Merseyside, Ba proved somewhat incompatible with Cisse in his previous spell on Tyneside and both are, like Cisse, practising Muslims so would presumably also have a problem with our new sponsor...

Trotters turn down a fast buck from QuickQuid

Now here's something you don't find every day in the world of football: an instance of ethics and principle triumphing over cold, hard cash. Last week we reported that Bolton's hierarchy were receiving flak from fans and local MPs alike for the decision to sign a shirt sponsorship deal with payday loans company QuickQuid. Remarkably, people power has now prevailed and the club have backtracked, issuing a statement admitting: "Whilst we anticipated some negative responses from the initial agreement, we underestimated the adverse reaction to the sector of business in which the sponsor operated".

What chance a similar scenario playing out at St James' Park? None. While the Wonga deal initially stirred up some controversy and opposition, the kerfuffle has since died down (no doubt to the considerable relief of both club and company) and there's no longer the sort of public pressure that would be required to force Jabba, Llambiarse et al to reconsider. If it was going to happen, it would surely have happened shortly after the original announcement was made - and even then the hierarchy is hardly renowned for its receptiveness to fans' voices. As it is, we're lumbered with endorsing a company who operate in a sector recently lambasted for "widespread irresponsible lending" by the Office of Fair Trading and branded "out of control" by Citizens Advice. And there we were hoping that being associated with irresponsibility and excessive behaviour was very much a thing of the past...

Cashing in

So it seems we're not the only club to come under fire for checking our ethics at the door and leaping blindly into bed with a payday loan company. Following the news that Bolton's new sponsor is QuickQuid, a local MP and several fans have been swift in their condemnation, arguing that the move tarnishes the club's reputation while legitimising an industry described as exploitative. All of which should sound very familiar to regular readers of this site - and we haven't changed our perspective or softened our stance since then.

Incidentally, .com have reported that we're lining up a pre-season friendly against Blackpool and that it's surely no coincidence that we'll both have the Wonga logo emblazoned on the front of our shirts next season...

Wonga side of the law

Bad news for next season's shirt sponsor Wonga with the Government reportedly intent on capping the amount of interest that can be charged on short-term loans.

Presumably this won't have any bearing on the deal which they have agreed with the club for the next few years, but nonetheless it may impact on their ability to invest in the club once the current deal ends.

Cash, no questions

So I go away on holiday for a week and return to find my club's been sold to the devil. Well, not quite, but Wonga certainly aren't the sort of company I'm keen to see us keep. Paul's given his views here, but I thought I'd add my two cents.

I guess we were prepared for the move by the unceremonious dumping of Virgin Money. At the time I noted Llambiarse's comments that the new agreement with the then unnamed sponsor "represents an excellent commercial deal for both parties" and commented that this was a case of "cold, hard cash" talking. And indeed it was.

You don't need to point to the fact that the deal might upset our contingent of Muslim first-teamers - namely Papiss Cisse, Demba Ba, HBA and Mr T - by contravening Sharia law to be critical of it. (Incidentally, there must be plenty of other Muslim players who currently sport the names of gambling companies and alcohol firms on their shirts. Indeed, don't Virgin Money charge interest?) The simple fact is that we are, in effect, taking money from hard-up families who find themselves in tough predicaments with little or no room for manoeuvre, just to line our own pockets.

There can be grand talk about funding youth development and the restoration of the St James' Park name, but it doesn't get rid of the very bad taste left in the mouth by the basic facts. David Conn's Guardian article, mentioned by Paul, is telling in that of late the Witchfinder General of football finance has had nothing but praise for Jabba's running of the club - and now, quite understandably, he's very much of a different opinion.

Some of those who have backlashed against the backlash have pointed out that Wonga already sponsor two football clubs, Blackpool and Hearts, who weren't singled out for criticism for striking their own deals. Admittedly that's a bit unfair, but it has to be conceded that we're considerably more high profile than either of them and Wonga's name on our shirts will give the company far more prominence, so the greater glare of media scrutiny is inevitable. The deal is a tacit endorsement on our part of a firm - and indeed the so-called "legal loan sharking" industry - already under fire from consumers' groups for unethical practice and unscrupulous behaviour.

In the wake of a recent blog post on the ethics of sponsorship in football, I defended our previous association with Northern Rock, one which continued even when the ailing company had been nationalised, on the grounds that their board were convinced the deal offered Northern Rock - a valued local business and employer - the best opportunity of rebuilding its brand and reputation. This time I'm not sure there's any defence - Jabba really should be more careful about who he leaps into bed with. Like most Toon fans (and Conn), I've had a lot more time for him of late, but this smacks of one of his sporadic but spectacular mistakes (see also: sacking Keegan, rebranding the stadium). Having the Sports Direct logo plastered on our shirts would have been preferable.

Wonga vision

Confirmation then of our new sponsor, with the reported deal with Wonga due to take effect from the end of the season.

Wonga, of course, operate as a pay-day loan compamy whose short-term loans charge an annual average interest of 4,214% APR. While they would say that they don't lend money for that length of time, there are a number of campaigners who take a slightly different view and their reputation hardly constitutes a brand with which we should be excited about becoming associated.

One saving grace, or sop in a bid to appease the natives (depending on your point of view), is the decision by Wonga to restore St James' Park to its rightful name, meaning we'll at least be spared the ignominy of running out in the Wonga Arena.

Inevitably Llambiarse is quoted as being pleased with the deal, which should yield us £24 million over four years and as he put it: "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".

What the deal means for Wonga is obviously an increase in the profile they currently enjoy as sponsors of both Hearts and Blackpool. For the club, it doubtless comes down to the bottom line with both Jabba and Llambiarse never afraid of taking the cash even if it represents an unpopular decision.

David Conn, in the Guardian, has already had an opportunity to express his thoughts on the matter - which can be found here.

What is clear is the pleasure in having our stadium back is tempered by the tainting of our club by its association with a company which looks to exploit those in need.

What's harder to grasp is whether the sponsorship will have a negative impact on shirt sales, with the prospect of becoming a walking advert for Wonga one which I personally find pretty unappealing.