Newcastle fans ask for Wonga logo to be dropped
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Newcastle United fans are calling on kit maker Puma to drop Wonga’s logo from replica shirts.
Newcastle fans are calling on kit maker Puma to drop the Wonga logo from replica shirts.
The Newcastle United Supporters Trust (NUST) wants the kit supplier and the controversial payday loans company to offer fans the option to buy a replica shirt without the Wonga logo on it.
The move follows a a NUST online survey of over 1,000 participants which found the majority of fans were unhappy with the sponsorship deal.
The 4-year deal, which was officially announced last week (9 October), has attracted criticism from local MPs and fans because of the payday loan company’s high interest rates. Wonga, said to charge annual interest rates of up to 4,000 per cent, was criticised by the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) earlier this year for using aggressive and misleading debt collection methods.
Michael Thewlis, a board member of NUST, says: “Our fans have asked us to contact Puma and Wonga to see if they are prepared to offer shirts without the new sponsor’s logo - which already happens for some children’s shirts across football and for adult shirts at Celtic and Rangers in Scotland. – and this is something we will take forward.“
Wonga were unable to provide comment by the time this article was published, while calls to Puma were not returned.
Readers' comments (8)
John | Wed, 17 Oct 2012 11:36 am
What utter rubbish!! Actually 2/5 th's of fans surveyed were unhappy, how is this a 'majority'?
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Arthur bainbridge | Wed, 17 Oct 2012 11:48 am
Who are these fans,if there's only a 1000 from 52000 in the stadium it's the tail,wagging the dog,either you buy a shirt or you don't ,would these fans rather the mackems had the money,in short live with it
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Carl Grant | Wed, 17 Oct 2012 11:57 am
Get over it they are a finance company like any other, yes they have higher rates. So what! it is an individuals responsibility when excepting finance from such a company. Half the shirts going are sponsored by some form of banking/lending institution, what's the difference???
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Anonymous | Wed, 17 Oct 2012 12:57 pm
NUST is not a voice for Newcastle united fans. They don't speak for me. What a joke.
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jonathon ball | Wed, 17 Oct 2012 2:22 pm
i wish some people would get a grip, get on with it for petes sake
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Seb Joseph | Wed, 17 Oct 2012 4:00 pm
Thanks for your comment John. We phrased the survey breakdown the way we did because of the percentage info we had on the responses. Of the 1,000 supporters that took part in the survey, 23% said they were 'fairly unhappy' and 21% that were 'very unhappy'. This was compared to the 4% that said they were 'very happy' and the 13% that said they were 'fairly happy' with the new deal. An additional 39% of the respondents said they neither happy nor unhappy. Based on this break down we felt that it was correct to say that the “majority of those that took part were unhappy with the deal”. We wanted to make sure that we accurately surmised its findings.
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Anonymous | Thu, 18 Oct 2012 3:12 pm
Another bonkers decision by Mike Ashley. Just like his attempt to re-brand St James' Park as the Sports Direct Arena.
Wae'aye man, of course us dumb Geordies will dump 120 years of our history so you can flog more tracky bottoms.
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Anna, Reading | Wed, 24 Oct 2012 8:06 pm
I think who you choose as a sponsor says a lot. Newcastle is a football team but also a brand.
Representing a company that in my opinion is unethical, praying on the vulnerable and desperate does not say a lot for Newcastle Club.
It's true a lot of football clubs do represent financial companies. But this is not the same as a bank or building society.
I wouldn't want Wonga on my footbally shirt either!
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