Toon confirm SJP to be sponsored by Ashley's firm

Newcastle United have confirmed their stadium will be known as "sportsdirect.com@ St James' Park Stadium" until the end of the season.

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"sportsdirect.com@St James' Park stadium" is the ground's snappy new title

Under-fire owner Mike Ashley angered fans last week with the idea of selling off naming rights to the ground, Newcastle's home of 117 years.

And now managing director Derek Llambias has confirmed Ashley's own company will sponsor the arena: "We will showcase Sports Direct until the end of the season. I'm sure we're going to get a sponsor in for next season."

Newcastle fans have been horrified at the proposals, announced when Ashley took the club off the market. Over 15,000 supporters have signed an online petition to protest at the move.

Mark Jensen, editor of United fanzine The Mag, said: "The idea of turning the history of St James' Park into something that resembles an e-mail address absolutely beggars belief."

Llambias acknowleged the announcement could have been handled more sensitively but said it was an important money-making scheme. "We could have worded it better, and that's why we came out yesterday to explain what we're trying to achieve," he said.

"With the renaming it was always going to be whatever brand it was, at St James' Park. For the remainder of this season, we already have sportsdirect.com on the Gallowgate so we'd like to take that branding through the rest of the stadium."