Newcastle United managing director Derek Llambias has defended the decision to rebrand St James's Park as the Sports Direct Arena.

The stadium name change has caused anger amongst a hoard of supporters, including cricketers Graeme Swann and Steve Harmison.

The businessman has claimed that the decision, which was made alongside club owner Mike Ashley, is an attempt to compete with their rivals.

"I totally respect the tradition and history of the club," The Mirror quotes Llambias as saying. "That is always going to be there but we need to move with the times and this is progression. We need to move on.

"We are not disrespecting our fans at all. Far from it. We are trying to make it affordable to come to the stadium and watch us, and put good players on the pitch."

Owner Ashley has had a tumultuous relationship with the Magpies supporters, but Llambias thinks that the renaming of the North East stadium is a "golden opportunity".

"This money will be reinvested into building the club up," he added. "We have done that on the pitch this season, lowering our first team age by 27 years to 25. They have energy and enthusiasm and hunt in pack out there.

"This is a golden opportunity. This is untapped income. We want to be there competing up with Spurs. We can do that."

Newcastle currently sit third in the Premier League table, six points adrift of leaders Manchester City.