Matt

We need to stop fretting about what he's doing at SD as if it has a direct impact on NUFC's operations. SD haven't paid a dividend in years as they've spent every spare penny buying up failed businesses- that money has come from SD's operations and borrowings. They have already written down the holding in Debenhams and in any case this has no cash impact as the shares were bought and paid for some time ago. Maybe Ashley wants money for some other personal project or another yacht- but it's not been put towards the SD business. And until NUFC as a business can produce regular and predictable positive cashflow, it will never be a 'cash cow'. Assuming he took a distribution from the business last summer, he's managed that twice in the decade he's owned the club (aside from when he made an additional loan after the second relegation). That is a shit cow.

He just wants their stock and assets...he is a parasite. Becoming CEO would be the best due diligence in the world- he would know exactly how much SD should bid for the remaining 70%- and when. Seems the market has taken the development well- they clearly see Ashley as a better prospect than the current management.

I read a few comments from people at the game suggesting that's exactly what happened- the photo doesn't say much admittedly. Has happened a few times in Senior Cup games over the years, then a few years down the line they are playing for Benfield.

How many Sunday league teams have hundreds of people watching them? There are still 8 levels of the Saturday pyramid below where Gateshead are now.

It will be clear- it's not the first time he has repaid part of the shareholders loan (he also did it after the Carroll sale)

Depends how long you want to wait to be served- The Cow and Tap East (microbrewery based in the shopping centre) will both be rammed. There are a load of pubs on Stratford High St (other side of Westfield), but I wouldn't fancy any of them as an away fan.

You could keep going a bit further east- loads of pubs near Leytonstone tube and you'll be back in Stratford in about 10 mins. All the bars in and around Westfield will be absolutely rammed. There are also a couple of places in the Olympic village area (Neighbourhood, Village Vanguard)- soulless but they sell beer.

There isnt enough hardcore support for it to hold up. Blyth would need well over 1000 average (taking into account wet winter midweeks with low gates) and would need a full time team for it to happen. I honestly think the club is in the right place, the National is just too big a jump without a generational shift in attitudes. Never sure why the board cop stick for the lack of ambition seeing as the chairman put in £200k of his own cash last season to keep things on an even keel. If another 4 people fancied doing that each year then they’d be fine a level above i guess.

Yep, although they get decent gates too.

Did they sign Jack Baldwin and Jimmy Dunne in a double swoop from World War II?

Champo season

I thought that sounded bizarre, and it turns out that whoever wrote that for the ES doesn’t understand what a set of group accounts look like. It’s Sports Direct which entered into the facility, not MASH. Which we already knew because SD will have reported that a year ago.

Because they're distressed and sees the opportunity to buy some assets and stiff the creditors. Then he starts with the landlords and tries to get concessions from them. They don't agree, the store closes and will sit empty and earning zero until someone else moves in- that's a powerful lever. I don't think they care about the nature of the underlying business at all- for SD it's a relatively low-risk bet. But operationally, SD is taking is eye off its core business and it's weighed heavily on their share price as they put together this rag-tag bunch of failed businesses.

23 minutes in Blyth playing the reserves? There physio is playing LB apparently. Aye, he's been used in emergencies once or twice over the years. Retired quite young to focus on physio work. It's not Derek Wright out there!

Game falls at a bad time between the Orient trophy game away and a big league game vs Darlington. Its too much to expect of part time players.

might explain the loan if he's fleeced loads of cash out of the club summer gone, gets rafa a player so he doesn't quit and will be paid for by the TV money soon anyways that said the cunt doesn't want to sell so hey ho If a sale was agreed subject to survival, then the company would be in a ‘locked box’ environment which stops cash coming in or out of the business so the buyers get what they paid for. Might explain the current arrangement.

We have a stellar track record with tough-tackling Italian full-backs.

Doesn't really make any difference, it's all payments from NUFC ultimately to MASH Holdings. Nor to Jackie's question does it really impact the sale of the club in terms of structure. Where it does make an impact is that an under-invested business will be worth less than one which is more stable and does not require remedial spending. As for the filing of security, chances are we've put in an overdraft facility. It's only recently the club terminated the previous arrangement with Barclays as it has more than enough cash so ditched the overdraft. It's a short-term cash need awaiting assured PL funds so that would be a sensible approach. Does suggest to me that Ashley recouped around £40-50m last summer.

There was some comment in one of the fan forums about SD paying from now - a likely story.

They will be taken into consideration when agreeing the sale price and would almost certainly be repaid upon the sale. Unless the new owners are incredibly stupid or desperate.

This interviewer has learnt her intonation from Family Guy's Trisha Takinawa.

No doubt at all. But it's not what is driving that business. They would probably be £40-50m worse off now if they'd have had to pay for all the advertising over the years, if the exposure could get multiple times bang for buck then SD would be advertising all over the place and raking it in.

Not paying them out though. Apart from a few divis post-IPO it's not paid out a penny. So the overall shareholder return in almost entirely in the share price.

Shares in SPD are now below the launch price in 2007, not that his ownership of NUFC has been a factor at any point of the rollercoaster ride that's gone on in the interim, as much as a lot of people think it has been.

When Ashley took over I figured that he'd run us better than before. Why would he crash us into a wall and damage the value of his own business? Yet he's done it repeatedly.