Sports Direct

[dustynrg]

He's quite a bizarre chap, Mr. Ashley - trying to piss off an entire City, intentional or otherwise, is rather silly. All it takes is for some lunatic to take extreme measures and then what? At best, he'll be watching over his shoulder wherever he goes for a long, long time. Strange fella.

 

He and Llambias think we are a bunch of thick Geordie twats who will shout for a week or two and then just give in, that's what happened after keegan, that's what happened after relegation. They'll be laughing at us with their little friend Dennis and thinking what a hoot, stupid Geordie bastards.

[Interpolic]

He's quite a bizarre chap, Mr. Ashley - trying to piss off an entire City, intentional or otherwise, is rather silly. All it takes is for some lunatic to take extreme measures and then what? At best, he'll be watching over his shoulder wherever he goes for a long, long time. Strange fella.

 

He and Llambias think we are a bunch of thick Geordie twats who will shout for a week or two and then just give in, that's what happened after keegan, that's what happened after relegation. They'll be laughing at us with their little friend Dennis and thinking what a hoot, stupid Geordie bastards.

 

That's the key point to be fair - any action needs to be sustained over a long period of time.  And they can't put the club back on the market to shut us up this time, or you wouldn't have thought so anyway.

[Guest toonlass]

He's quite a bizarre chap, Mr. Ashley - trying to piss off an entire City, intentional or otherwise, is rather silly. All it takes is for some lunatic to take extreme measures and then what? At best, he'll be watching over his shoulder wherever he goes for a long, long time. Strange fella.

 

He and Llambias think we are a bunch of thick Geordie twats who will shout for a week or two and then just give in, that's what happened after keegan, that's what happened after relegation. They'll be laughing at us with their little friend Dennis and thinking what a hoot, stupid Geordie bastards.

 

That's the key point to be fair - any action needs to be sustained over a long period of time.  And they can't put the club back on the market to shut us up this time, or you wouldn't have thought so anyway.

 

 

[TaylorJ_01]

We should DDOS the sportsdirect.com website! Not that I know how to do it but it would certainly piss him off.

 

Any good hackers?

[Dave]

We should DDOS the sportsdirect.com website! Not that I know how to do it but it would certainly piss him off.

 

Any good hackers?

 

I have to say, I like this idea.

[TaylorJ_01]

We should DDOS the sportsdirect.com website! Not that I know how to do it but it would certainly piss him off.

 

Any good hackers?

 

I have to say, I like this idea.

 

I was awaiting a 'You have been banned. Dave does not meddle in such immature acts' banner flash up on my screen

[J7]

The protest didn't work last time, and probably made things worse, however thats only because they were that strong, they stopped, everyone believed him and we just sat there as he tried to sell the club. Little did we know he was just waiting for things to die down a bit so he could take the club off the market again.

 

Protests will only work if things are stepped up, people go further, and they last longer. Give him a reason to want to get out as quick as possible. Him and Llambais are just waiting for it to blow over again. If the peak is now, then they know it will only get better. It has to get worse and worse for them.

[TaylorJ_01]

We should DDOS the sportsdirect.com website! Not that I know how to do it but it would certainly piss him off.

 

Any good hackers?

 

"In the Police and Justice Act 2006, the United Kingdom specifically outlawed denial-of-service attacks and set a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison."

 

Oh well maybe not.

[Guest DDIIMACK]

I love Mike Ashley. Haven't laughed/cried so much in years.

 

Much better than anything on telly. I mean, you COULDN'T MAKE THIS UP!

 

ONE THING AFTER ANOTHER!

 

In the words of the great Stone Roses "my guts can't take anymore" (sugar spun sister).

 

My ribs actually ACHE from laughing tonight when I saw Llambias on Sky Sports. Feck, the man can't even string two words together.

 

Then he says "blah blah blah @ St James' Park" "cos we were NEVER going to get rid of that" like that makes it better!

 

Thank you thank you thank you to Mike Ashley, Llambias, Wise, Keegan and the people of Newcastle for making me laugh so much.

 

Can't wait for the day this is turned into a film or telly programme. I'm thinking something in the style of 24HR Party People or It's all gone pete tong. Except it's not made up!!

 

:celb: ;D

[Keefaz]

We should DDOS the sportsdirect.com website! Not that I know how to do it but it would certainly piss him off.

 

Any good hackers?

 

I have to say, I like this idea.

 

I was awaiting a 'You have been banned. Dave does not meddle in such immature acts' banner flash up on my screen

 

Can one of our Scandinavian friends do it? I think you get hanged or something for DDoS attacks in the UK.

[jimmymag]

Nixon and Jonny: You two just keep bending over and hanging onto your knees while Llambias gets the vaseline and Ashley prepares himself to right royally f*** you up the arse. What would it take for you two to say "enough is enough"?

 

Nice to know the arguments are more thought out and constructed

 

Can I make it any clearer? I'm not a fan of him at all, I f***ing hate him, he's tearing my club apart and is showing no compassion whatsoever. Just because I don't want to pick up a pitch fork and descend upon SJP looking for his head on a spear doesn't mean I accept what hes doing. Nice try though.

 

But you aren't prepared to do anything to show your displeasure at him tearing our club apart. You are sitting quietly by and letting him do it. Sometimes a silence speaks volumes.

 

I'm 'sitting back and letting him do it' because it's all I can do.

 

I would happily stand up and make my voice heard if I thought it was going to work, but it won't because ASHLEY DOESNT GIVE A f***. Everything up to the changing of the stadium name has shown that.

 

Some people are living in la la land and refuse to admit that Ashley has the power and holds all the cards. An upset fanbase will not make him sell up.

 

Maybe it is partly apathy, but I don't see how an angry-fuelled outburst is going to make things better - it'll only get worse.

 

How the hell is it going to get worse from fans making their voices heard?

 

To be honest Jonny, we are lucky to top of a very poor division as it is. We are hardly setting the league alight are we?

 

I'm not saying we are. Are you actually reading what I'm posting? I'm not happy in the slightest, I think we're utter s*** and the league table is being very generous to us. I feel exacty what you feel. I'm just think differently about acting out about it.

 

I am reading what you are reading. But I don't understand how you can comfortably continue to sit there doing nothing.

 

I'm not comfortable about it, but there's little alternative. We don't need to tell Ashley how we feel, I think even that daft cunt realises he's a hate figure now.

 

I wouldn't want to be in the trenches with Jonny or Kezman.

 

Jonny obviously hasn't studied world history. There are many examples where apathy has led to atrocities, and many examples where fighting for a just cause, against the odds, has won the day.

 

I wonder where Jonny's line in the sand is?

[ChezGiven]

I think what Johnny is saying is that the one thing Ashley has learnt is that he can get away with murder.

 

Lets see this weekend how things pan out. Is there something organised?

 

[timnufc22]

A rational reason to protest?

 

If the papers cover it the next day, with headline of "fans protest over SJP name branding" then at the end of the day, brands who are out there potentially looking at this and thinking about taking up the rights would probably have doubts. Whether those would be massive doubts, a small doubts, whatever, Im sure there would be some doubts there due to fear of the whole thing bieng counter-productive.

 

"Well its going to be sports direct then"... yes, fair enough, but when he is gone, that name is gone. If someone takes over the club, they might not cut off the sponser of another company.

 

Also, in a weird way, having it sports direct until hes gone feels more 'unofficial' as oppose to a brand name that orignally had no connection with the club.

[timnufc22]

I think what Johnny is saying is that the one thing Ashley has learnt is that he can get away with murder.

 

Lets see this weekend how things pan out. Is there something organised?

 

 

Before the game from 1pm. After the game till 6pm.

[dustynrg]

A rational reason to protest?

 

If the papers cover it the next day, with headline of "fans protest over SJP name branding" then at the end of the day, brands who are out there potentially looking at this and thinking about taking up the rights would probably have doubts. Whether those would be massive doubts, a small doubts, whatever, Im sure there would be some doubts there due to fear of the whole thing bieng counter-productive.

 

"Well its going to be sports direct then"... yes, fair enough, but when he is gone, that name is gone. If someone takes over the club, they might not cut off the sponser of another company.

 

Also, in a weird way, having it sports direct until hes gone feels more 'unofficial' as oppose to a brand name that orignally had no connection with the club.

 

I think protest is necessary because we can't sit back and do nothing, and yes a protest would bring it to the attention of any potential sponsors. But any decent potential sponsors would walk away from this after doing 5 minutes of research,protest or no  protest. I am convinced he will keep the name for Sports Direct, and he will be loving the publicity, he is a sadist of the nastiest kind. And I repeat, SHearer will be getting the blame for this sooner than later (he took us down and look where we are Llambias will say), and there will be Newcastle fans who fall for that as well, I'd put my mortgage on that.

[ohmelads]

I'm 'sitting back and letting him do it' because it's all I can do.

 

I would happily stand up and make my voice heard if I thought it was going to work, but it won't because ASHLEY DOESNT GIVE A f***. Everything up to the changing of the stadium name has shown that.

 

Some people are living in la la land and refuse to admit that Ashley has the power and holds all the cards. An upset fanbase will not make him sell up.

 

Maybe it is partly apathy, but I don't see how an angry-fuelled outburst is going to make things better - it'll only get worse.

 

This is precisely the attitude which has landed us where we are.

 

He doesn't hold all the cards for the simple reason that massive championship attendances are helping to bankroll the club through this mess. Take them away and who has to fund it? If he puts it on the club's debt that's money coming off his asking price. Whatever way you cut it, it hits his wallet. But nothing has been done to hit Ashley where it hurts. Ever. Is it any wonder he doesn't care when 44,000 fans are turning up?

 

I really am beginning to fear that a boycott will be the only way out. Sometimes you have to take a step back before you can go forwards.

[Jayson]

This is precisely the attitude which has landed us where we are.

 

He doesn't hold all the cards for the simple reason that massive championship attendances are helping to bankroll the club through this mess. Take them away and who has to fund it? If he puts it on the club's debt that's money coming off his asking price. Whatever way you cut it, it hits his wallet. But nothing has been done to hit Ashley where it hurts. Ever. Is it any wonder he doesn't care when 44,000 fans are turning up?

 

I really am beginning to fear that a boycott will be the only way out. Sometimes you have to take a step back before you can go forwards.

 

Do you think its worth risking this season, purely to achieve him making a little less if we went up? Because i dont see much else of an effect it could have.

 

He would still hold on for promotion & if it wasnt achieved he would likely leave either way. He wont be leaving until the outcome of this season is decided, unless the fans try to force a negative one much sooner than expected.

 

Then i would doubt that that is the best outcome atall. It wouldnt be easy to get out of this decision after losing the majority of our best players, regardless of what owner we have. Its far to easy to underestimate that, because we're Newcastle United..and this leagues crap and blah blah blah. It all comes down to our players being better than theirs.

 

Theres a lot of "we must fight", "if you do nothing you're apathetic and letting the club get ruined" etc talk going around. When really the majority of this fighting talk is based on impulse. I havent yet seen a well reasoned argument as to how we could effect this season in a way that would be beneficial to our club whilst also damaging the owner. You cannot significantly seperate the two at this point enough for them not to have an effect on eachother. I care more about the club being successful, than i do about "fighting" Mike Ashley.

[ohmelads]

Do you think its worth risking this season, purely to achieve him making a little less if we went up? Because i dont see much else of an effect it could have.

 

I'll have to quote this in bits cos you've addressed several issues here.

 

The achievement would be forcing him out of the club - not making him poorer for the sake of it.

 

He would still hold on for promotion & if it wasnt achieved he would likely leave either way. He wont be leaving until the outcome of this season is decided, unless the fans try to force a negative one much sooner than expected.

 

Then i would doubt that that is the best outcome atall. It wouldnt be easy to get out of this decision after losing the majority of our best players, regardless of what owner we have. Its far to easy to underestimate that, because we're Newcastle United..and this leagues crap and blah blah blah. It all comes down to our players being better than theirs.

 

I'm not convinced it's the right thing to do either, not while we're top of the league. I wouldn't advocate it right now, because when you're in first and your position is bloody precarious it doesn't make sense to rock the boat. But that could all change in a matter of weeks if we pick up a few injuries or he sells a few players. I think a lot of people will see what he does in January. Llambias has already said he'd be looking at more loan signings in January - and he didn't mention whether more players would be leaving. We could be a lot weaker come February and we're eeking out wins as it is.

 

What worries everyone though is even if we go up, he has had ample opportunity to show his commitment to this club and he's run it like a circus, operating in the transfer market on a shotestring budget. He's admitted he knows nowt about how to run a club yet insists he'll call the shots. If we go up we'll be straight back down with Ashley in charge, I'd put big money on it.

 

So where does that leave us? Our best hope is promotion and a quick sale. The new owner will have a bloody hard job but if he makes a good fist of it we could stay up. Even if that means bank loans - you have to speculate to accumulate and noone would buy the club without having that in mind. But ideally we need a new owner this season, someone who can make plans for the summer and hit the ground running. You make it sounds like we're giving up promotion by forcing Ashley out, but promotion is far from guaranteed at the moment and the club is not being run well at all. Right now I'd put promotion at 50/50 because injuries and the January window will probably make us weaker.

 

Theres a lot of "we must fight", "if you do nothing you're apathetic and letting the club get ruined" etc talk going around. When really the majority of this fighting talk is based on impulse. I havent yet seen a well reasoned argument as to how we could effect this season in a way that would be beneficial to our club whilst also damaging the owner. You cannot significantly seperate the two at this point enough for them not to have an effect on eachother. I care more about the club being successful, than i do about "fighting" Mike Ashley.

 

This is where we disagree. I don't think it's based on impusle at all, I think this is the straw that broke the camel's back and the anger people are venting is a result of 2 years of seeing their club taken apart.

 

I believe it's reached a situation now where if we do nothing he has carte blanche and he knows it. The more complacent he gets, the more he will asset strip and damage the club. Look at the events of the past week and if a line has not been crossed then our fans deserve everything that's coming.

[Guest sicko2ndbest]

Do you think its worth risking this season, purely to achieve him making a little less if we went up? Because i dont see much else of an effect it could have.

 

I'll have to quote this in bits cos you've addressed several issues here.

 

The achievement would be forcing him out of the club - not making him poorer for the sake of it.

 

He would still hold on for promotion & if it wasnt achieved he would likely leave either way. He wont be leaving until the outcome of this season is decided, unless the fans try to force a negative one much sooner than expected.

 

Then i would doubt that that is the best outcome atall. It wouldnt be easy to get out of this decision after losing the majority of our best players, regardless of what owner we have. Its far to easy to underestimate that, because we're Newcastle United..and this leagues crap and blah blah blah. It all comes down to our players being better than theirs.

 

I'm not convinced it's the right thing to do either, not while we're top of the league. I wouldn't advocate it right now, because when you're in first and your position is bloody precarious it doesn't make sense to rock the boat. But that could all change in a matter of weeks if we pick up a few injuries or he sells a few players. I think a lot of people will see what he does in January. Llambias has already said he'd be looking at more loan signings in January - and he didn't mention whether more players would be leaving. We could be a lot weaker come February and we're eeking out wins as it is.

 

What worries everyone though is even if we go up, he has had ample opportunity to show his commitment to this club and he's run it like a circus, operating in the transfer market on a shotestring budget. He's admitted he knows nowt about how to run a club yet insists he'll call the shots. If we go up we'll be straight back down with Ashley in charge, I'd put big money on it.

 

So where does that leave us? Our best hope is promotion and a quick sale. The new owner will have a bloody hard job but if he makes a good fist of it we could stay up. Even if that means bank loans - you have to speculate to accumulate and noone would buy the club without having that in mind. But ideally we need a new owner this season, someone who can make plans for the summer and hit the ground running. You make it sounds like we're giving up promotion by forcing Ashley out, but promotion is far from guaranteed at the moment and the club is not being run well at all. Right now I'd put promotion at 50/50 because injuries and the January window will probably make us weaker.

 

Theres a lot of "we must fight", "if you do nothing you're apathetic and letting the club get ruined" etc talk going around. When really the majority of this fighting talk is based on impulse. I havent yet seen a well reasoned argument as to how we could effect this season in a way that would be beneficial to our club whilst also damaging the owner. You cannot significantly seperate the two at this point enough for them not to have an effect on eachother. I care more about the club being successful, than i do about "fighting" Mike Ashley.

 

This is where we disagree. I don't think it's based on impusle at all, I think this is the straw that broke the camel's back and the anger people are venting is a result of 2 years of seeing their club taken apart.

 

I believe it's reached a situation now where if we do nothing he has carte blanche and he knows it. The more complacent he gets, the more he will asset strip and damage the club. Look at the events of the past week and if a line has not been crossed then our fans deserve everything that's coming.

 

You are sounding like a lot of fans on here who are waiting to see his next move before doing anything. First it was:

 

We'll hold off until he apoints Al

 

Then

 

We wont protest as we dont want to risk losing any potential new owners

 

now its

 

See what he spend in January

 

How many fucking chances are you going to give this fat cunt. By now you know its going to end badly or you are a deluded fool. He will again make a profit (in his 3rd successive window) and we will be weaker as a result

 

Stop being so fucking naive!

[Guest Haris Vuckic]

How much have Sports Direct paid for that then?

 

Oh wait. IT'S NOT FINANCIALLY BENEFICIAL TO THE CLUB WHATSOEVER YOU FAT f***! :angry:

[Paully]

How much have Sports Direct paid for that then?

 

Oh wait. IT'S NOT FINANCIALLY BENEFICIAL TO THE CLUB WHATSOEVER YOU FAT f***! :angry:

 

 

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sp...cle6903812.ece?

[Guest hatter]

I was jut walking to work this morning and thougt "What a fat cunt Mike Ashley is". It shows he just thinks of us another of his shitty twatty sportsdirect shops. I wish he would just Fuck Off. This bloke is making us a laughing stock.

[Cronky]

This whole re-naming business has become a fiasco, and is symptomatic of the kind of bumbling decision-making that this regime is prone to. Maybe Ashley is one of those difficult bosses who appears to be delegating, but who then intervenes without giving himself time to think or get to know the situation properly.

 

However, there are certain ideas about him that don't hold up, namely -

 

1) He's only in it for the money - all the evidence is that he's lost millions and is continuing to do so. The profit / loss account on transfers isn't the only indication of what's going on in the balance sheet. It's only the most conspicuous and the one we as fans care most about, because we all want to see good players coming in.

 

2) He's doing it all out of spite - as he's admitted himself, there have been cock-ups, not conspiracies. Just because you hate him, doesn't mean he hates you. Things can go tits up despite the best of intentions.

 

3) He never wanted to sell - He publicly named a price, he publicly dropped the price, no-one has claimed that they came up with the money. Our club is not an attractive proposition in a climate when money is tight and people are not keen on taking risks.

 

Above all, trying to force the guy out only makes sense if there's a better alternative available. You might say that things can't get any worse, but that's just a mantra to persuade yourself that the decision is easy. It's perfectly possible for things to get worse.

[Keefaz]

This whole re-naming business has become a fiasco, and is symptomatic of the kind of bumbling decision-making that this regime is prone to. Maybe Ashley is one of those difficult bosses who appears to be delegating, but who then intervenes without giving himself time to think or get to know the situation properly.

 

However, there are certain ideas about him that don't hold up, namely -

 

1) He's only in it for the money - all the evidence is that he's lost millions and is continuing to do so. The profit / loss account on transfers isn't the only indication of what's going on in the balance sheet. It's only the most conspicuous and the one we as fans care most about, because we all want to see good players coming in.

 

2) He's doing it all out of spite - as he's admitted himself, there have been cock-ups, not conspiracies. Just because you hate him, doesn't mean he hates you. Things can go tits up despite the best of intentions.

 

3) He never wanted to sell - He publicly named a price, he publicly dropped the price, no-one has claimed that they came up with the money. Our club is not an attractive proposition in a climate when money is tight and people are not keen on taking risks.

 

Above all, trying to force the guy out only makes sense if there's a better alternative available. You might say that things can't get any worse, but that's just a mantra to persuade yourself that the decision is easy. It's perfectly possible for things to get worse.

 

He so incompetent it appears malicious. He probably unwittingly guided by Satan, or a mackem demon.

[Guest Haris Vuckic]

How much have Sports Direct paid for that then?

 

Oh wait. IT'S NOT FINANCIALLY BENEFICIAL TO THE CLUB WHATSOEVER YOU FAT f***! :angry:

 

 

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sp...cle6903812.ece?

 

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