Does anyone out there have any kind of confidence in Ashley at all?

[Mr Logic]

Wait and see who they come up with as a replacement.

 

And if that replacement is a knacker?

 

Tar & feathers first answer came to my mind, and I'm a normally staid pacifist.

[Doug]

he cleared 120m of our debts with his personal money. Dont advocate what he has done in the past week or so but he has secured the future of our beloved team. At the end of the day when you own something it is up to you what you do with it. He is not setting out to lose his millions, he is in it to make a profit.

 

I hardly think we've got the most secure of futures now, do you?

 

We lost a manager. I hardly think that jeopardizes the future of the club. We'll get a new manager and move on.

 

Yeah, into the Championship...

 

Funny you should mention that, don't forget that's where we would be right now if Ashley hadn't come in and made changes when he did.

Very true.

[UV]

he cleared 120m of our debts with his personal money. Dont advocate what he has done in the past week or so but he has secured the future of our beloved team. At the end of the day when you own something it is up to you what you do with it. He is not setting out to lose his millions, he is in it to make a profit.

 

I hardly think we've got the most secure of futures now, do you?

 

We lost a manager. I hardly think that jeopardizes the future of the club. We'll get a new manager and move on.

 

Yeah, into the Championship...

 

Funny you should mention that, don't forget that's where we would be right now if Ashley hadn't come in and made changes when he did.

Very true.

 

Ah yes, I was forgetting about all those signings we made in January to address the obvious weaknesses in the team.

[Dave]

He made the one necessary signing tbf.

[AyeDubbleYoo]

He made the one necessary signing tbf.

 

And more importantly, he recognised that the manager was taking us nowhere and made a change. At the time people thought he was incredible - and that was only a few months ago.

 

We'll never get anywhere if we judge people over this kind of time frame. Whether it's on managers appointed/sacked, players signed, money spent or whatever, less than a year is a stupid time period to try and assess a new owner.

[UV]

He made the one necessary signing tbf.

 

And more importantly, he recognised that the manager was taking us nowhere and made a change. At the time people thought he was incredible - and that was only a few months ago.

 

We'll never get anywhere if we judge people over this kind of time frame. Whether it's on managers appointed/sacked, players signed, money spent or whatever, less than a year is a stupid time period to try and assess a new owner.

 

So is Ashley stupid for judging Allardyce in half a season then?

 

What about the people who have already judged "the system" to be a success worthy of sacrificing the manager who single handedly saved us from relegation apparently?

[Jay Jay Sea]

I haven't seen Ashley show any ambition at all in his time at the club. Ashley, in the runningof NUFC, is nothingmore that a large lump of f*cking shit who wouldn't, when it comes to Newcastle Utd, part with his own sh*t.  Yeah he balanced the books by paying off debt but he want's to make a profit, that's all and he will.  He doesn't give a f*ck about the club. I've yet to be convinced of that and never will be.  I hope the sack of sh*t moves on and soon, taking his 'system' with him. Chap earlier said that Ashley bought the club because he wanted a 'bit of fun'.  That chap is spot on yet not a soul is laughing are they?

[dustynrg]

I'm not sure if it's been said elsewhere because thankfully I've been away for a few days, but didn't it all go tits up when Chris Mort went back to his day job? Ashley's biggest mistake by far was appointing an ex casino manager as CEO or MD or whatever the hell his title is.

 

His PR skills are non existent, that statement on Saturday was a disaster for the club  and written by his 10 year old child (if he has one - otherwise there's no hope for his English writing skill).

 

 

[AyeDubbleYoo]

He made the one necessary signing tbf.

 

And more importantly, he recognised that the manager was taking us nowhere and made a change. At the time people thought he was incredible - and that was only a few months ago.

 

We'll never get anywhere if we judge people over this kind of time frame. Whether it's on managers appointed/sacked, players signed, money spent or whatever, less than a year is a stupid time period to try and assess a new owner.

 

So is Ashley stupid for judging Allardyce in half a season then?

 

What about the people who have already judged "the system" to be a success worthy of sacrificing the manager who single handedly saved us from relegation apparently?

 

Well fair point, all I would say is that Ashley is just as responsible for saving us from relegation as Keegan is. If he has to take the blame for Keegan leaving then the original appoitment must be to his credit.

 

On Allardyce, yes Ashley only worked with him for a short time, but it was clear that the club was going backwards. With Sam all of the signs were bad, so I think that mitigates the concerns over how quickly he was judged.

 

You can't wait to see if you're relegated before acting, can you?

[Guest The Darkside]

mmmm, not really 

[quayside]

Ashley is a chancer.

 

He made much of his money by floating about 50% of his chain of retail sports shops on the Stock Market and trousered  £0.9billion in the process. Credit must go to him for building up a business to the point of being able to float it. But since Sports Direct floated on the Stock Exchange it has been a disaster. Results have been poor, the share price has plummeted, the PR of the company is shambolic and Ashley continues to rely on people close to him who are proven to be not up to the job. Attempts to improve the PR side have failed as people brought in to do the job find Ashley and his people impossible to work with.

 

No one should be surprised by what we are going through right now. There are many cases of billionaires who make their money in a particular industry and think they can simply launch themselves into a new business using the same principles. You do not need to be a business guru to work out that there are many fundamental differences between a chain of retail shops and Newcastle United. The acid test is whether Ashley is intelligent enough to learn from his experiences of owning us, or indeed whether he even wants to learn...   

[merlin]

Ashley is a chancer.

 

He made much of his money by floating about 50% of his chain of retail sports shops on the Stock Market and trousered  £1.9billion in the process. Credit must go to him for building up a business to the point of being able to float it. But since Sports Direct floated on the Stock Exchange it has been a disaster. Results have been poor, the share price has plummeted, the PR of the company is shambolic and Ashley continues to rely on people close to him who are proven to be not up to the job. Attempts to improve the PR side have failed as people brought in to do the job find Ashley and his people impossible to work with.

 

No one should be surprised by what we are going through right now. There are many cases of billionaires who make their money in a particular industry and think they can simply launch themselves into a new business using the same principles. You do not need to be a business guru to work out that there are many fundamental differences between a chain of retail shops and Newcastle United. The acid test is whether Ashley is intelligent enough to learn from his experiences of owning us, or indeed whether he even wants to learn...   

 

This is a great post, and sums up my views ; apart from all the a/m info about Ashley's business affairs, he reputedly gambled a large sum of money on Bradford/Bingley shares going up quickly during the early part of the Credit Crunch and lost 100m pounds - money that could have built us a really good side..

there are also tales of maverick gambles of that coin guessing game in order to settle bills etc., so if these stories are true then he IS a chancer and he took one too many in his gamble with KK...

[Thomson Mouse]

None whatsover.

 

I was in the disappearing fast category after Keegan left, but the ridculous statements and 'leaks' coming from the club are disgraceful and have totally finished Ashley and co off for me.

[Dokko]

My confidence in him was lost long before this episode, he's been questionable since he's got here. Nice to see people waking up and smelling the coffee rather than the bullshit he's been spoon feeding the fans since he got here.

[madras]

even if keegan was in the wrong the way it has been handled has been typical NUFC (shambolic)

[Bad Mongo]

My confidence in him was lost long before this episode, he's been questionable since he's got here. Nice to see people waking up and smelling the coffee rather than the bullshit he's been spoon feeding the fans since he got here.

Exactly. I was optimistic myself, based on the sounds he made, but it's clear to me now that he's a fraud. He hasn't delivered on any promise that matters.

[Dokko]

My confidence in him was lost long before this episode, he's been questionable since he's got here. Nice to see people waking up and smelling the coffee rather than the bullshit he's been spoon feeding the fans since he got here.

Exactly. I was optimistic myself, based on the sounds he made, but it's clear to me now that he's a fraud. He hasn't delivered on any promise that matters.

 

Nothing but cheap parlour tricks and tactical speeches, political games and publicity stunts.

 

The 3 year season ticket deal was a massive warning sign, i'd feel sick right now if i'd had signed up to that thinking i was watching a KK team being built.

 

Total arsehole, can't wait till he goes.

[Bad Mongo]

The 3 year season ticket deal was a massive warning sign, i'd feel sick right now if i'd had signed up to that thinking i was watching a KK team being built.

It should be possible to do something about this, as all his statements clearly have been fraudulent and misleading. Isn't there some kind of law against false advertising and fraud? He's made millions* of pounds on it.

 

edit *I base this number on absolutely nothing, of course.

[Dokko]

The 3 year season ticket deal was a massive warning sign, i'd feel sick right now if i'd had signed up to that thinking i was watching a KK team being built.

It should be possible to do something about this, as all his statements clearly have been fraudulent and misleading. Isn't there some kind of law against false advertising and fraud? He's made millions of pounds on it.

 

Since is a direct debit (from what i gather) i reckon you'd be able to cancel the last two years without much fuss. Last thing he wants is a legal battle with disgruntled fans over tickets.

[ATB]

Yes

[mrmojorisin75]

confidence in ashley to do what, exactly?

 

carry on as he has since taking the club over, i.e. do what he considers the right thing?  then i have a lot of confidence in him to do that yeah

 

to do what we want as fans?  not a lot

 

time will tell who is right - remember this is the person who brought KK back from out of nowhere in the first place, why do people now think he couldn't make an equally good appointment again?

 

With the structure that has been put in place which the club are now claiming has been the case since Keegan was hired, what has happened with Keegan was totally inevitable sooner or later to anyone with even the most vague knowledge of the man.

 

With what we are being told now, how can you say that it was a good appointment except from a financial point of view for Ashley (getting supporters to buy advance STs on the back of his appointment)? At best it was an incompetent appointment for the system to work, at worst a cynical one.

 

no chance then, that as it was his first ever managerial appointment that he thought he might be able to get it all to work then?  ashley i mean UV

 

as always the forums split again into two camps - why couldn't it be that keegan was appointed with the best of intentions and things just didn't work out?

 

to he was an incompetent appointment amazes me seeing as he virtually saved us from relegation, to read it as cynical says more about your preconceptions of the man to me

 

Are you arguing that it wasn't obvious that Keegan was always likely to walk if he was not in charge of transfers (so not incompetence), or that getting a legendary manager in for 8 months to "virtually save us from relegation" and act as nothing more than a media facing figurehead during the off season while pretending to be in charge and asking supporters to sign up for 3 years in advance was not a cynical use of the man?

 

In what possible way under the circumstances was Keegan a good appointment except in the short term for Ashley's bank balance?

 

i don't even know where to start picking holes in this really as you've glossed over everything i said (as per) and asked a serious of questions that don't follow on from the last ones, but i'll start with this for a bit of balance:

 

"act as nothing more than a media facing figurehead during the off season while pretending to be in charge"

 

keegan was totally powerless here was he?  what did they do, kidnap his dog and tell him he had to go in front of the cameras and tell them everything was fine...i'll guess that didn't happen so why do you think keegan said and did what he did?  i'm guessing it was because over the course of the close season relationships broke down and culminated in the last day

 

see what i'm getting at here?  you're acting as if YOU KNOW that from minute of them bringing KK back he was imasculated by dennis wise and that was the plan all along

 

are you really naive enough to believe that?

 

next: "asking supporters to sign up for 3 years in advance"

 

they asked, they didn't demand and from my recollection it wasn't a direct advertising campaign based on KK was it?  it was a "cynical" means for the people with the cash to save themselves some money over the three years, and yes the club benefitted just as they did from the bond scheme and the platinum club and all the other shit of that ilk along the way - don't act like it's something fucking new just 'cause ashley did it

 

lastly: "In what possible way under the circumstances was Keegan a good appointment except in the short term"

 

how about saving us from relegation?  irrelevant to you apparently...restoring some pride in fucking club after souness, roeder & allardyce - it's that refound 'pride' and 'fight' if you will that is seeing demonstrations at the ground and so on and so forth...we didn't see it when allardyce left did we?  no because he was contributing to the demise of the club, keegan has redressed that balance

 

this is for a lot of people, not just you; STOP ACTING LIKE SPOILT FUCKING BAIRNS WHO'VE BEEN UPSET BY BIG BAD MIKE, HE'S NOT THE DEVIL INCARNATE FOR CHRISTS SAKE...HE'S ASSERTED HIS AUTHORITY ON THE CLUB HE OWNS AT THE EXPENSE OF AN EMPLOYEE, ALBEIT ONE WE ALL LOVE

 

to conclude getting keegan back when half the world thought it was a bad move, including me, and taking such a chance was a cynical moneymaking scheme is either childish or downright idiotic - the guy could have bombed and took us down...it was a gamble that paid off on the pitch but didn't work off it, that is all

 

 

[BottledDog]

confidence in ashley to do what, exactly?

 

carry on as he has since taking the club over, i.e. do what he considers the right thing?  then i have a lot of confidence in him to do that yeah

 

to do what we want as fans?  not a lot

 

time will tell who is right - remember this is the person who brought KK back from out of nowhere in the first place, why do people now think he couldn't make an equally good appointment again?

 

With the structure that has been put in place which the club are now claiming has been the case since Keegan was hired, what has happened with Keegan was totally inevitable sooner or later to anyone with even the most vague knowledge of the man.

 

With what we are being told now, how can you say that it was a good appointment except from a financial point of view for Ashley (getting supporters to buy advance STs on the back of his appointment)? At best it was an incompetent appointment for the system to work, at worst a cynical one.

 

no chance then, that as it was his first ever managerial appointment that he thought he might be able to get it all to work then?  ashley i mean UV

 

as always the forums split again into two camps - why couldn't it be that keegan was appointed with the best of intentions and things just didn't work out?

 

to he was an incompetent appointment amazes me seeing as he virtually saved us from relegation, to read it as cynical says more about your preconceptions of the man to me

 

Are you arguing that it wasn't obvious that Keegan was always likely to walk if he was not in charge of transfers (so not incompetence), or that getting a legendary manager in for 8 months to "virtually save us from relegation" and act as nothing more than a media facing figurehead during the off season while pretending to be in charge and asking supporters to sign up for 3 years in advance was not a cynical use of the man?

 

In what possible way under the circumstances was Keegan a good appointment except in the short term for Ashley's bank balance?

 

i don't even know where to start picking holes in this really as you've glossed over everything i said (as per) and asked a serious of questions that don't follow on from the last ones, but i'll start with this for a bit of balance:

 

"act as nothing more than a media facing figurehead during the off season while pretending to be in charge"

 

keegan was totally powerless here was he?  what did they do, kidnap his dog and tell him he had to go in front of the cameras and tell them everything was fine...i'll guess that didn't happen so why do you think keegan said and did what he did?  i'm guessing it was because over the course of the close season relationships broke down and culminated in the last day

 

see what i'm getting at here?  you're acting as if YOU KNOW that from minute of them bringing KK back he was imasculated by dennis wise and that was the plan all along

 

are you really naive enough to believe that?

 

next: "asking supporters to sign up for 3 years in advance"

 

they asked, they didn't demand and from my recollection it wasn't a direct advertising campaign based on KK was it?  it was a "cynical" means for the people with the cash to save themselves some money over the three years, and yes the club benefitted just as they did from the bond scheme and the platinum club and all the other shit of that ilk along the way - don't act like it's something fucking new just 'cause ashley did it

 

lastly: "In what possible way under the circumstances was Keegan a good appointment except in the short term"

 

how about saving us from relegation?  irrelevant to you apparently...restoring some pride in fucking club after souness, roeder & allardyce - it's that refound 'pride' and 'fight' if you will that is seeing demonstrations at the ground and so on and so forth...we didn't see it when allardyce left did we?  no because he was contributing to the demise of the club, keegan has redressed that balance

 

this is for a lot of people, not just you; STOP ACTING LIKE SPOILT FUCKING BAIRNS WHO'VE BEEN UPSET BY BIG BAD MIKE, HE'S NOT THE DEVIL INCARNATE FOR CHRISTS SAKE...HE'S ASSERTED HIS AUTHORITY ON THE CLUB HE OWNS AT THE EXPENSE OF AN EMPLOYEE, ALBEIT ONE WE ALL LOVE

 

to conclude getting keegan back when half the world thought it was a bad move, including me, and taking such a chance was a cynical moneymaking scheme is either childish or downright idiotic - the guy could have bombed and took us down...it was a gamble that paid off on the pitch but didn't work off it, that is all

 

 

[Guest fraser]

If this question's been asked elsewhere apologies but there is now a variety of threads in which Mike Ashley is discussed. What is the advantage (other than tying in a customer) of a company, the club, apparently having so much cash. By this I mean the income from season tickets, including where people have paid in advance for three seasons; cash from TV rights (not including the additional payments and prize money, paid either ad hoc or at the conclusion of the season); cash from corporate customers for season-long facilities?

 

There may well be other cash paid to the club but some of this is in the course of a conventional commercial activity  (food, merchandising).

[The Prophet]

Regardless of whether you trust him or not I'm unsure as to why he's taking so much stick from the fans.

 

He's very inexperienced in footballing terms, he's been in the game how long now, a season or so? This shows the problem with trying to adjust from running a buisness to running a football club, it takes time. Unfortunately if he does need this time to settle in I think he's picked the wrong club to own. A club with an impatient fan-base, desperate for success who are sick to death of being let down by the regime.

 

Now if you believe everything you read Ashley has always been keen to seek advice on all his decisions. He was advised to set up the board room structure for example. This further points to his inexperience, such a ruthless decision maker would not need to seek advice if he was certain what to do in his own mind.

 

Now I think far too many fans are misinterpreting this inexperience as him being pure evil. It is still my beleif every decision Ashley has made he has had the best intrest of the club at heart. Now Ashley has made mistakes and it might just be good for him and the club if he sells up. However there is no need what-so-ever for the abuse he's getting when I'm sure he's fully aware he's made a mistake due to a simple lack of footballing experience.

[Guest SpinTheBlackCircle]

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/serious-concerns-over-newcastle-bosss-firm-924086.html

 

Embattled Newcastle United owner Mike Ashley was under pressure on a second front today after a shareholder action group attacked his company's pay plans.

 

 

Investors in Mr Ashley's stock market-listed retail group Sports Direct International are being urged to vote against pay proposals for executives at its annual shareholder meeting tomorrow.

 

The billionaire owner of Newcastle United is already suffering a furious backlash from club fans after last week's departure of manager Kevin Keegan.

 

Fans are reportedly pledging to boycott his Sports World stores and are also said to have told Mr Ashley not to attend away games.

 

Now investor advisory group Pirc has slammed Sports Direct's bonus plans in yet another blow to the group, which has had a troubled history in the City since flotation in February last year.

 

Pirc said the targets under its incentive pay scheme for top bosses were "not sufficiently challenging" and that departure bonuses in contracts were not appropriate.

 

The group also said it had "serious" corporate governance concerns over the senior line-up, with Mr Ashley also acting as deputy chairman with joint responsibility for strategy development.

 

"Pirc has concerns that there is a concentration of power in the hands of the executive deputy chairman, who controls the company and its strategic direction," said Pirc.

 

Mr Ashley, who owns 72.2 per cent of Sports Direct shares, is expected to face shareholders at the company's offices near Mansfield tomorrow.

 

Sports Direct, which owns Lillywhites and owns brands including Lonsdale and Slazenger, has been hammered over corporate governance issues since taking the firm public.

 

It has been criticised for its lack of communication with the City, failing to offer regular like-for-like sales figures, which strip out the effect of new store trade.

 

Its financial performance has also come under fire and the group reported in July that annual pre-tax profits more than halved to £85 million from £174.5 million the previous year.

 

The group pledged on reporting the figures that it would offer comparable store sales information on an annual basis.

 

But founder Mr Ashley has failed to win over the City's affections having at one time branding unhappy investors as "cry babies".

 

He netted a £929 million windfall on the group's stock market and has since bought back shares when the stock price fell dramatically.

 

Mr Ashley also bought Newcastle United last year - paying £133 million.

 

Sports Direct was not immediately available for comment.