The Business of Newcastle United

My love of Newcastle United is well known amongst my pupils; many minutes of Monday morning lessons have been eaten up whilst they attempt to prevent the start of a lesson by asking how the team got on at the weekend. Fortunately for me the discussions have been quite enjoyable this year… so far….

In response I have often used the business of NUFC as mini case-studies with discussions ranging from leadership and management skills (countless examples of good / bad practice here), to diversification and considering the benefits / risks of entering a new market (I wonder how many geordie wives and girlfriends will be receiving these this Christmas…)

The most recent headlines to come out of St. James’ Park have been useful for the marketing element of the Business Studies course as entrepreneur Mike Ashley , the chairman of NUFC, has used the club to market his Sports Direct PLC empire which could lead to class discussions on the role of branding and sponsorship.

This brings us to the latest club headline where the NUFC stadium lettering is being removed to make way for more Sports Direct advertising and is being sold on ebay, which will link in nicely to my AS microeconomics group investigating market equilibriums and consumer surplus. I wonder how good one of these letters would look in my classroom…?