I sort of agree to be honest. It's not the biggest thing in the world if it were to be renamed though.
Is it the second smallest budget in the league we have for turnover? Naming stands after people would probably put off would be potential investors from getting involved with us with regards to naming a stand after their company. No matter who we chose we'd have a group of fans disagreeing with the decision no matter who it was and mentioning names who were "more deserving" of the accolade. Say we name all four stands after people to do with our history, what happens if someone in the future betters the achievement of someone who's already got a stand? Nobody knows what the future holds but i'll give an example. John Stones goes onto play close to 100 times for England, wins the premiership X amount of times, Champions League x amount of times etc during his career. Surely that's worth more than a gym named after him as he started here. But you couldn't go and take the naming of a stand away from someone and replace them as it wouldn't feel right. A case can be made for too many people. For example our four stands could be named after Rimmington, Cryne, Redfearn and Wilson. One guy has done it all here, one guy saved our club, one is our most decorated midfielder ever and a former club captain and the other managed us to our one and only top flight season. But then you'd have people say for one reason or another someone else deserves it more (Glavin, Tommy Taylor etc). No decision would ever be fully backed by our fanbase.
The Norman Rimmington West Stand has a certain ring to it and it would be a nice touch to honour him in this way.
We should be looking at corporate sponsorship of the East, West and North stand. CK Beckett stand. We all know its the Ponty End. 3 other stands, revenue.
There are thousands of people though. Is it really fair to narrow it down to four? Ashley Ward was with us for a couple of years (if that) and the money we sold him for built the North Stand....but does he deserve to have a stand more so than Tommy Taylor? There are far too many greats to be able to narrow it down four IMHO.
Personally I would struggle to get to more than two - Norman Rimmington and Eric Winstanley. Both served the clubs for many years in a number of roles and deserve the recognition. We might not have been the most successful while they were here, but success is fleeting and can be outdone in the future. Both deserve our appreciation for their efforts, loyalty and dedication. We should remember people for what they have done and how long they have done it for, not necessarily how successful they were in a relatively short and transient career.
Personally I think the entrance /exit or gangways should be named as well as numbered I know they has t be numbered for safety but they could also have an Oakwell favourites name and picture above couldn't they?
