Change is afoot as workers spotted on mobile scaffold on St James' Park's East Stand

There will be a new look to St James' Park by the time Newcastle United get the next Premier League season underway.

It was inevitable that there would be a few differences to the look of St James' Park from the end of last season to the beginning of the next one as Newcastle's deal with Castore came to an end and a new deal with Adidas begun.

The Castore logo adorned the canopy over the Gallowgate End of the ground which we suspect will be changed to display the Adidas logo instead, but at the very least those black and white wings of Castore will be removed.

Today, though, a club surfaced on X that shows a rising scaffold on the East Stand where the Newcastle United lettering is displayed hinting that there may be a welcome change incoming.

It's time for the italic typeface to go

Local journalist Dominic Scurr has made an impassioned plea for the lettering to be changed as it's currently in the Sports Direct font, a change that Mike Ashley made when he plastered the name of his discount sportswear stores all over our beloved stadium.

It would be the last remaining mark from those dark times and seeing that lettering change would be the final piece of the puzzle for a lot of fans desperate to put those days behind them.

Of course, from that tiny clip, all we can do is speculate that's what's happening, it could just be a case of putting the Adidas logos to flank the club name, or even be something as simple as routine cleaning.

It may yet change even more if a stadium name change goes ahead

If you really want to delve deep into speculation you could say that they're changing the name of the stadium to announce a new deal for the naming rights, but given that there has been no consultation with fans over this, it's highly unlikely.

However, with PSR crushing the life out of the club, it is something that we will inevitably have to face, but the general consensus now is that fans are coming to terms with the idea that it's something we have to do to catch up to the "big six" and as long as they are consulted on the name change, it won't face the same resistance as when Mike Ashley changed the name to that which we will not mention because it invokes a gag reflex.

We may get a view of the updates sooner, but we'll definitely see them when the Sela Cup returns in pre-season.