Talking about a bank, mortgages and savings account is not normally the domain of a sports blog and, considering the fact my financial track record is about as impressive as George Bush’s foreign policy it isn’t generally a subject I like to offer advice on.
However, given their prominent links to North-East sport and the vital sponsorship backing they have given to Newcastle United, Newcastle Falcons, Durham CCC and, most recently, the Newcastle Eagles, I would urge everyone out there to support the Newcastle-based bank Northern Rock during their present troubles.
There are probably some of you out there who have no idea what I’m talking about and who cannot understand why I haven’t talked about Sunderland’s win over Reading - correctly predicted by me of course - Durham’s push for the County Championship, England’s calamitous World Cup defence in the Rugby or the Twenty20 World Cup, but bear with me.
Northern Rock are, as anyone who bothers to watch the news or read the front end of a newspaper will know, being stretched to breaking point by the credit crisis in the USA. Despite being one of the country’s leading mortgage lenders the bank are, strange as it may seem, suffering a cash flow crisis which some have predicted could force them to fold.
Well, I don’t think we should let that happen. I’m not normally one to defend capitalist institutions, but while Northern Rock are ultimately a bank which is interested in making money like any other, they have done some very important things for the region with the charitable Northern Rock Foundation (5% of the company’s profits are given to the foundation) and they have also backed several of the region’s biggest sports clubs.
Without Northern Rock, Durham would not be able to sign players like Shivnarine Chanderpaul, just as the Falcons would struggle to sign a player like New Zealand prop Carl Hayman. While, with Northern Rock’s vital assistance, the Eagles are also about to launch a new era in British Basketball which will see them push to challenge the best teams in Europe, not just at home.
When you are a top Premier League football team, shirt sponsors are not difficult to come by, but Northern Rock put their money where their mouth is when Newcastle United needed a new main club sponsor.
The Bank are committed to supporting the region’s sporting endeavours and while they obviously benefit from brand association and the various other marketing spin-offs which come with sponsorship, they have been a big help to our main clubs when they have needed it. They also happen to employ thousands of local people.
Because of that, I hope the region’s sports fans support Northern Rock at this difficult time. According to people who know far more about these sorts of things than I do, you can help the company by opening up a savings account with them - you need just £1.
If you have less than £2,000 in the account, the law guarantees the refund of that money by the Bank of England, even if the bank goes bust, so really you have nothing to lose other than a few minutes of your time!
I hate telling people what to do and there are some of you who will feel a little uncomfortable bailing out a company worth millions of pounds. But surely it’s better to have a bank which is entrenched in the fabric of the local community and aims to help its sports clubs succeed rather than another faceless one based in London which does absolutely nothing for the North-East other than cash in!
Normal sporting service will resume shortly I promise!
- Post to:
del.icio.us
Digg
Newsvine
Nowpublic
Reddit
« Previous | Home | Next »