Fans react as Newcastle United reveal new-look St. James's Park with ALL Sports Direct advertising removed

On Monday, photos emerged showing that work had begun on removing Sports Direct lettering and advertising boards.

And on Wednesday evening, Newcastle’s official club Twitter account posted a photograph showing St. James’s without a Sports Direct board or letter in sight.

Mike Ashley, United’s unpopular former owner, is the majority owner of the Frasers Group, which owns Sports Direct.

But since the £300million takeover of Newcastle by the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund, PCP Capital Partners and RB Sports & Media consortium back in October, the advertisements were living on borrowed time.

Co-owner Amanda Staveley previously spoke of her desire to remove the signs as she said: “The Sports Direct signs, I'm looking forward to coming down. It's a slight frustration when I go into the stadium and I try and take a picture which doesn't have Sports Direct in it.”

While the removal of the final remnant of Ashley’s ownership will bring much catharsis to the Newcastle fan base, the fact that outlines of the lettering can still be seen after their removal bring with it a symbolic reminder of the damage done during Ashley’s 14 year tenure at the club.

Here's how Newcastle fans responded to the update…

@KevinAldworth: “Just need the owners to get rid of the italic Newcastle United now that the previous owner installed and return it to the original text/font that adorned the East Stand before. Time for a petition to get this sorted maybe?!”

@emil_franchi: “That’s some decent Tipp-ex that.”

@007_wgc: “Beautiful. Still needs a lick of paint where those signs were.”

@aj_burnham: “The metaphorical stain of Sports Direct now represented by a literal stain.”

@wearz: “14 years felt like 34 years. Welcome back NUFC."

@marktoon72: “We have it back...that's the SJP I remember!”

@Tinalouise84: “Wow how amazing is that man, I counted 60 SD signs on Saturday before the spectators came in. SJP now looks so refreshed.”

@AdamQuinnin: “How much better does this look man?”

@Ryan_Hedley26: “Photo of the year.”

@StevenNUFC: "File this under "things you love to see" #NUFC.”

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