Newcastle training ground to be renamed

Newcastle United's training ground is to be renamed as part of a new sponsorship deal.

The Benton facility will be known as 'The Knox' from 1 July after the club signed a commercial partnership with the sports drink company.

The deal also includes sleeve sponsorship on the training kit, which represents another first in the club's history.

It marks a shift in approach following the appointment of chief executive David Hopkinson, who previously served as Real Madrid's head of global partnerships.

The club announced that commercial revenue grew by 44% to £120.1m last season, but this figure was still a long way off, say, Manchester City, who generated £340.4m in the same period.

"When I think about our competitors, they are formidable and they have already got a head start on us," Hopkinson said just this week.

"But all they've got is as head start on us and we've got a tremendous opportunity for growth right in front of us.

"We've used the phrase headroom in terms of a player budget, but what I also look at is the commercial opportunity, we have significant headroom to catch up.

"It means we've got to work harder, we've got to work smarter with high conviction and energy every single day to capture that headroom. We've got to catch these guys."