Newcastle United are no longer associated with Sports Direct.
The man who owns them sold the club on October 7th. On December 6th, news broke that the signs were going to be removed from St James’ Park, much to the delight of fans. A day later, the SD logo no longer appeared on the club’s official website.
And on December 8th, Newcastle tweeted out the first official picture of a Sports Direct-less St James’ Park.
It’s a beautiful sight, and another indication of the bright future ahead of us. We are no longer held down by the shackles of Mike Ashley. The red and blue scorn will no longer stop us from progressing.
The removal of the Sports Direct signs is a big deal for Toon fans, who are arguably just as excited about this as they were on Saturday when we beat Burnley.
Newcastle photographer catches key moments of Sports Direct signs being removed
Thankfully, there are plenty of official photos of tradesman getting to work and taking down the hideous advertising boards from around the ground and giant lettering that has tarnished the East Stand for years.
These boards were all over St James’ Park. There were six just in this picture alone. It will have been a huge job to remove them all from in and around the stands.
While fans would happily have removed the signs for free and saved the new owners a few quid, most supporters probably didn’t have this kind of gear just kicking about in their garage.
The huge letters were left to lie amongst the seats before being removed from the ground. Goodness knows what each letter weighed.
While the Sports Direct lettering has been taken down, you can still see where it was. You can also see the old ‘Newcastle United’ sign too.
A fresh coat of paint over the East Stand should cover up any lasting reminder of the Mike Ashley era.
And there it is in all its glory. Not a Sports Direct sign in sight. St James’ Park is back to its beautiful best.
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