If it allowed us to keep our football club on a stable financial footing, would you accept Tynecastle Park being renamed? This is one of the proposals being considered by the board that would help to finance the re-development of the main stand, a project said to be costing Hearts more than £50 million.
We have seen several English football clubs going down the ‘naming your stadium after a sponsor’ route in recent years in order to generate extra revenue, with Arsenal (Emirates), Bolton (Reebok) and Wigan (JJB) being good examples of this. It’s clearly something that will have been of benefit to these clubs, otherwise they would never have gone down that particular route, but is it something that would be welcomed by Hearts supporters?
Renaming Tynecastle would be a serious wrench for the fans – almost as big a deal as moving to a new stadium in some cases I’d imagine. Therefore any proposals to do something of this magnitude would have to be backed by extremely sound justifications before it would be truly accepted. And even then, I think some of the traditionalists among us would probably never admit that the club made a good decision, even if it was to their considerable financial benefit and led to on-field success.
I would count myself as something of a football traditionalist and in an ideal world I wouldn’t like to see Tynecastle Park (or any other of the famous old grounds) being called anything else. However if doing this did help to take Hearts onto a new level, one that would allow the club to finally realise the potential that it undoubtedly has, then I wouldn’t be against the idea. If fans of other clubs like Sunderland, Arsenal and Manchester City can accept this then those of Hearts certainly should be able to. It might meet considerable opposition at first, but as long as the long-term benefits (and that’s what they would need to be – we shouldn’t drop a century of history just for short-term financial gain) began to show themselves then I’m sure that people would buy into it. I can remember Sunderland’s fans being up-in-arms about the ‘Sunderland Stadium Of Light’ being announced, but it’s quite surprising how quickly people just got used to it.
The Hearts board have claimed that several companies have contacted them about potentially sponsoring the ‘new’ stadium, but as I said, we’d need to see clear justification that this would be in the best interests of the club in the long term.
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Fact of life these days. My no.1 club huddersfield were at the McAlpine stadium which was to be the Kirkeles Stadium (Kirklees being the local govmnt area) until McAlpine threw in lots of dosh, now its called the Galpharm another company sponsorship deal, who have just been sold, so it could change again. Its rubbish but what can we fans do, money rules in footie now.
Considering what the majority of fans have already bent over and taken up the rear, what makes you think changing the stadium name will bother them? On a lighter note, how about the following suggestions: “The Miko Arena”. “The Vladrome”. “Lith Park”.
“Away up in Gorgie at UBIG Park”…. nah, just doesn’t have the same ring to it. Against it. I fully expect the new stand to be named after the sponsor though, and would have no problem with that.
Vladrome’s quite good……..(!)…..would be very interesting if it turns out to be a Lithuanian bookmaker that gets the deal……….
I understand what you say about tradition etc but that cannot be allowed to stand in the way of progress. However, it’s open to debate as to whether remaning a stadium after a sponsor is “progress” or not. Football is business and absolutely needs to make money and if a lucrutive deal comes along then the club would be deficient if it was given due consideration. Perhaps there’s a way to ensure that “Tynecastle” is sacrosanct and that it remains the identity of the club/ground, i.e. The UBIG Tyncastle stadium or The Adidas Tynecastle Stadium ….. I’m sure you get the picture. What I would hate to see is a wholesale change every few years as major sponsors come in and out. Whatever happens the word “Tynecastle” should be prominently displayed on the new stand somehow so that this part of our identity remains.
Forgot to mention …..stonesy, how exactly have we “bent over and taken up the rear”?
Agreed on Tynecastle staying in the title of any new ground – that’s a fair shout.
Pedro says: ?The name of Tynecastle is cherished and we wouldn?t like to give it away but if there is a proposition which is viable for the club and which would allow us to bring the likes of Ronaldo here, then we would entertain it.? I think that?s fair enough actually. We keep the name unless in extremis an offer comes in that provides us with cash to improve the playing side beyond our wildest dreams.
P.S. I know bugger all about the bending over thing.
I think stonesy has equated being a Hearts fan with agreeing with everything that Romanov (& his cronies) say and do. It *is* possible to have entirely seperate views on that!
Did you have a poll on this or is it something the board have decide on there own?
Without wanting to speak for Stonesy, I think his point relates to the lack of noise the fans have made so far about the ridiculous way that the team has being managed i.e. we continue to get big crowds, etc.
I thought it probably was. I think comments relating to fans “allowing” someone to do whatever to their club are rahter ill founded. I am a season ticket holder and would remain so regardless of which league we play in – this is because I follow Hearts through thick and thin and enjoy (?!?) doing so. When a club is in trouble is precisely the time when “real” fans should be going to games to show their support, contribute ther money etc. If a club is on the slide then empty stands and a loss of revenue self perpetuate this slide. I absolutely support the fans right to protest or raise a voice about their club but in reality how often does this result in tangible change – not too often I would suggest. In our case Robinson sold up because Romanov came along and made him an offer he liked, it had nothing to do with fans chanting “Pieman Pieman GTF” every week. Saying that, I did attend various Save our Hearts rallies and certainly felt that there was a certain camraderie and spirit amongst fans.