PLANS to rebrand Middlesbrough FC's Cellnet Riverside Stadium 02 have been shown the red card.

The stadium is to be renamed after British Telecom (BT) decided to change the name of its mobile phone arm to 02.

But BT's plan has been thrown into disarray because a property group is considering taking legal action.

Burford, which was behind the Trocadero complex in London's West End, and has a shopping centre called O2 in north-west London, said it was considering expanding the brand across Europe.

The group said it was consulting lawyers over BT's use of O2, and added that it was surprised the telecom firm had not approached it before launching the new name.

BT said yesterday that BT Cellnet, which it is spinning off as a separate company, would be branded mmO2, while the more familiar name for customers would be O2 - chosen for its connection with oxygen.

The move would see the Cellnet name removed from Middlesbrough's stadium and replaced with 02, although it sounds suspiciously like a scoreline.

A Burford spokesman said: "We are taking legal advice about what our position is. It is clearly not passing off, but it is a brand we have used to promote a particular type of product.

"One would have expected BT to have stumbled across the fact that something else was branded O2 and have been in touch."

A BT spokesman said: "We do not believe there is an issue, as the two companies operate in different fields.