What was your reaction to the news that the stadium was going to be renamed sportsdirect.com@St James' Park?

Shock was my initial reaction, but not surprise. Given what has happened under the present owner, nothing surprises any of us any more. St James' Park has been part of the fabric of the city for more than a century and to sell it off like some kind of unwanted trinket is beyond belief.

It is a sad reflection of the way the current regime has been discredited in the wake of the Kevin Keegan tribunal case, so it doesn't really come as a shock. It is just the latest in a long list of own goals.

What has been the reaction to the news among supporters?

We have been inundated by supporters expressing their disgust. As a result we collected more than 17,000 names in an online petition in just a matter of days. That has resulted in the local MP, David Cleland, putting a motion to Parliament in opposition to this. The level of ill feeling towards the owner continues to grow and grow. For many it is the final straw.

Do you see a time when the supporters will turn their backs on the club?

It has got to the point where supporters don't believe anything that comes out of the club. The relationship between the supporters and club has totally broken down and they don't seem to be making any effort to rebuild it. The club has admitted lying to the supporters for PR purposes, during the Keegan tribunal, and since then it has just gone from bad to worse.

That has been highlighted by the type of people who are supporting us at the moment. Many of them are not traditional football followers, but they have been so moved by what is happening to the club that they want to take some action - they have reached breaking point. The only protest we have got left against the owner is to buy him out.

Can you remember a time in the history of the club when the relationship between the fans and the owner was as bad as this?

Newcastle has a history of issues between the supporters and the owners. That goes back to the 1950s when a centre half, Frank Brennan, opened a sports shop in the town centre, which was in direct competition with a shop owned by Stan Seymour, the then chairman. Brennan was sold to Gateshead and as a result of that there was a big demonstration.

In the 1970s, Malcolm Dicks took the club to court, we have had campaigns like "United Supporters For Change" and "Save our Seats", but this is as low as it has ever got. Yet despite all that, the supporters have shown incredible loyalty this season. The last game against Doncaster attracted 44,000. The loyalty of the fans to the team has shone through despite the problems off the field.

Are there plans for any kind of protest?

Some groups have spoken about protesting during Saturday's game with Peterborough but other fans are going against that, by saying "the team is everything: we need to back the players". The crowds we have got this year have surprised even an old-timer like me: last weekend we got a bigger crowd than Chelsea.

It must hurt to see a man who is not from Newcastle, discrediting the history of your club.

It is not about where he is from, it is about how he deals with the club. Whether he is from Newcastle, London, or anywhere else, we just want the club to be run properly. All we are asking for is some stability. The owners have made mistake after mistake but they don't seem to learning from them. The fans feel more distanced from Ashley than they have done from any owner at any time in the club's history.

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