Is Mike Ashley the worst person ever to have been associated with NUFC?

[Ryan_Taylor]

It has been mentioned in this thread and imho is 100% correct. Mike Ashley is a spoilt child who has been spurned. I realised this when, after Barton's tweets, he was immediately put on a free to anyone who would take him. This is against Ashley's normal MO - get as much wonga as poss. He simply took the huff at being criticised and lashed out like the petulant child he is.

 

Bless, but I think he just wants to be loved - unfortuntely he is in a very toxic relationship and it is v unlikely he will get the "love" he craves.

 

I'm sure his wife Derek loves him very much thank you!

[cannybagoftudor]

Dale - Shame we can't get the photos and blackmail the bassa -  photoshop

[Ryan_Taylor]

If I had the stomach for it. I could 'shop something up

[quayside]

I think he destroyed what could've  Potentially been one of our best teams ever.

 

Which one could have been one of our best teams ever?

 

The one he picked up from Shepherd and co that cost £70 million a year and finished 13th?

 

The one that Keegan took to 11th with Butt and Geremi playing in a 4-3-3?

 

The one that got relegated, promoted and then finished 12th?

 

What best team has Ashley destroyed?

[Robster]

I've barely read much of what's gone on with Rob Elliot but my answer to the thread title, I think, will be yes.

Staggering days.

[Guest sicko2ndbest]

The answer to this depends how his story ends and the benefit of hindsight

[geordiemonster]

Unfortunately, having warmed to him a little bit recently I'd have to revert to my original position of yes.  More and more he seems to be treating the club as some kind of high stakes gamble - see how many players I can sell and replace with free transfer and still stay up.  I also think at times that he is punishing the fans for turning on him after Keegan left.  He (and Llambias) have also shown themselves to be completely incompetent when dealing with transfers - whats the point of putting in a derisory bid for players?  If a club doesn't need to sell then they certainly aren't going to for a fraction of what they want.

[tmonkey]

Reckon he's dodgey as f***. Have always had a sneaky suspicion that Ashley may have been lulled into purchasing this club by the Halls/Shepherd highlighting just how much those two crooks were syphoning off to their own offshore bank accounts through dodgey deals with select agents/contracts/appointment of siblings/dividends/etc etc. It's a perfect little money maker for a closed family unit - you have an entire region piling money into a club that you own, so you take some of that money out for yourself. Five or ten million a year might not be much to a borderline billionaire like Ashley, but what's that over a decade? £50m? £100m? What's it over 3 decades? £200m? £300m? More if the Premiership money increases even further? Who knows..

 

Given what has happened with the club being turned into a living advertisement for Sports Direct (for free of course), the mysterious £100m loan the club needed overnight, the cutbacks during our relegation season (with very little investment since), and the vast amount of income that seems to just disappear into thin air, those suspicions only grow stronger, however unfounded or ridiculous they may be.

[binnsy]

Ashley coming had nothing to do with Freddie,  he was holed up on his hospital bed when Sir John Hall did the dirty on him by selling up and leaving Shepherd screwed as Ashley was the majority shareholder. 

Not going to disagree with the dividends and money going out the club though.

[AyeDubbleYoo]

The club didn't need loans overnight though, did it? Weren't we massively indebted to the bank already?

[binnsy]

Most of the debt was manageable as it was mortgaged against season ticket sales but on the sale of the club it had to be paid off,  that is the biggest bollock that Ashley dropped when not doing due dilligence,  what he thought might have been a bargain when he was paying £130m wasn't when he was then required to stump up a further £50-60m.

[madras]

Most of the debt was manageable as it was mortgaged against season ticket sales but on the sale of the club it had to be paid off,  that is the biggest bollock that Ashley dropped when not doing due dilligence,  what he thought might have been a bargain when he was paying £130m wasn't when he was then required to stump up a further £50-60m.

if the debt was manageable why were halls desperate to get out, why did we have nothing left to hock ?

[binnsy]

Most of the debt was manageable as it was mortgaged against season ticket sales but on the sale of the club it had to be paid off,  that is the biggest bollock that Ashley dropped when not doing due dilligence,  what he thought might have been a bargain when he was paying £130m wasn't when he was then required to stump up a further £50-60m.

if the debt was manageable why were halls desperate to get out, why did we have nothing left to hock ?

 

we had dropped out of the Champions league,  we had players like Owen on huge wages and as a result were losing money, no money coming in from sponsorship, there was nothing left to take out, better for SJH to jump ship than put money back in.  My previous post about debt being manageable probably wasn't the best but the debt that was put on the club from extending the stadium was the bit that was "manageable" due to the mortgage.

[alexf]

is he the worst person in my lifetime?    Pretty much yeah. (another relegation would just about cement it)

[Guest sydneycove]

To be fair the team itself is now much stronger in every position (bar right back) than it was when we went down.

[Guest magpie99]

Whilst not an Ashley apologist, I have to say that despite his screw ups in the past, the management of the club now and the obvious financial stabilsation currently being enacted can only be beneficial for the club in the future.

 

We have the following:

 

A much better squad than in previous years, that is more skillful, defensively sounder and much younger.

 

We have a better youth program with kids coming through the ranks and being given opportunities in the first team or getting chances in other clubs senior teams as loanees. Man Utd have successfuly done this in the past and look where the likes of Cleverley, Wellbeck and Evans are now. Hopefully, we can achieve similar.

 

Many on here will not realise the full extent of the Shepherd/Halls regime just prior to the sale to Ashley. We were heading for a financial black hole that could have resulted in the closure of the club. Ashley screwed up by not enacting due diligence and further compounded matters with his bad decisionmaking and lies initially resulting in relegation. The fact that we came straight back up was testament to his financial backing whilst still dfealing with a horrific debt.

 

Like him or loathe him, Pardew is doing an excellent job in rebuilding the playing side of the club and attempting to play a more eye catching game although we are really yet to see it. We have made some very astute signings and there is evidence that the kids are going to get a decent run with the likes of Krul, Fergusoin, Vuckic and Ameobi junior getting a taste. This option could turn out to save the club a lot of money in the future.

 

Whilst we still need to strengthen the squad in a couple of areas, such as centre back and possibly up front, I feel that the current squad is much more talented whilst maintaining a similar spirit to last yerars squad. We have got rid of some high earners such as Barton and Nolan whilst getting way over the market value for Carroll, who I think will prove to be an expensive mistake for Liverpool.

 

The fact we didnt sign a CF is probably a clear indication that Pardew wants to work more on the 4231 system and feels that once Ben Arfa is fit again, he will slot in behind either Best/Ba/Shola with Vuckic as his back up. I think that is a reasonably strong set up especially when we have the hard working up and down the line wingers in Obertan/Jonas/ Marveaux as support and supply.

 

Defensively, so far, we have shown that Krul is more than ready to take over the number one mantle, Taylor and Colo are developing a strong partnership and Simpson will improve as long as he has support defensively in front of him. The quality of the italian kid remains to be seen but his rep is good and with young Ferguson as back up, Raylor capable either full back side, we have a rewasonably strong squad that maybe can be tweaked here and there with a couple of additions in January.

 

Furthermore, a young team as well and with the likes of Smith and Harper probably offd the wage bill somewhere b etgween January and the start of next season, I am sure plans are alrwady in place to replace them.

 

I am sure Ashley is learning from his mistakes and whilst most on here feel aggrieved at the lack of investment in a CF, I believe it has been a very good window with the quality we have brought in and the departure of over rated and troublesome players.

 

Remember, Rome wasnt built in a day but I feel we will be well safe this season and continue to improve with each passing sdeason from now on.

 

[Theregulars]

Unless Hitler was a fan, yes.

[Dell Boi]

Good post mate, but it would help if the club was transparent with the fans and told us they have no intention of getting a striker in, focusing on youth and the 4-5-1 prospect etc, instead it feels like we've been strung along through God knows how many potential striker targets through this window. Only a couple of months back we were weighing up the prospect of Gervinho and Gameiro, now we're down to Free agents and fuck all.

[Guest magpie99]

Much of the transfer speculation regarding signings over the summer has been spouted off by

agents, other clubs etc etc. The club have always said that any comments about transfers would be issued through the website and that is exactly what has happened.

 

I agree regarding more communication but it is cleasr that Pardew has been the mouthpiece here and he has never actually come out and said who we were after or who we have bid for.

 

I doubt whether we have actually made bids for the majority of players mentioned although I am sure we have shown interest but in the majority of cases, the level of interest in coming to the club by these players or their wage demands have scuppered any actually bids for them. It is actuaslly a good policy because it appears that the players we have signed actually want to be here rather than the almighty dollar dominating proceedings.

 

When you consider the demands of Nolan and the ambitions of Enrique, Barton etc, I can understand why Ashley is becoming more selective in who he employs for the club. If he isnt, we could well find ourselves back in that financial black hole I was talking about earlier.

 

However, you are right. It would be good to hear from the owner from time to time rather than his employees.

[Begbie]

We should really have a vote about who is/was the worst owner of the club: Ashley or Shepherd(+Hall)

[adam1]

I honestly want this cunt knifed in the stomach the next time he's at a home match. In full view of the sky cameras. 

[ToonTastic]

 

Whilst we still need to strengthen the squad in a couple of areas, such as centre back and possibly up front, I feel that the current squad is much more talented whilst maintaining a similar spirit to last yerars squad. We have got rid of some high earners such as Barton and Nolan whilst getting way over the market value for Carroll, who I think will prove to be an expensive mistake for Liverpool.

 

The fact we didnt sign a CF is probably a clear indication that Pardew wants to work more on the 4231 system and feels that once Ben Arfa is fit again, he will slot in behind either Best/Ba/Shola with Vuckic as his back up. I think that is a reasonably strong set up especially when we have the hard working up and down the line wingers in Obertan/Jonas/ Marveaux as support and supply.

 

I can see you've tried hard to make good of the bad situation but the fact is Pardew said we needed a striker in and a centre back and we got neither. The club did a carbon copy of the January window making bids/pretending to make bids for players we were not going to get. If Colo or taylor get injured we are basically fucked at the back with no cover. Lose best as well and where will we get our goals from, Shola ? The squad is weaker than it was, though yeah maybe your right the first team might be a little stronger in certain areas. But the club this summer has not done enough not by a long chalk.

[ShearMagic]

I for one welcome the sustainable business model that Mike Ashley has implemented. It's practical and through some increased revenues through extra sponsorship around the stadium (Sports Direct) and a few sales, our finances are eventually looking good.

 

I'm glad that he doesn't spunk stupid money on players like other clubs do, you have to make sure you get value for money and we weren't able to do that. Hopefully in January it will be different.

 

Far too many clubs (Leeds, Portsmouth) have spent above their means and look where they are now. Well done Mike, I for one appreciate you.

[ToonTastic]

I for one welcome the sustainable business model that Mike Ashley has implemented. It's practical and through some increased revenues through extra sponsorship around the stadium (Sports Direct) and a few sales, our finances are eventually looking good.

 

I'm glad that he doesn't spunk stupid money on players like other clubs do, you have to make sure you get value for money and we weren't able to do that. Hopefully in January it will be different.

 

Far too many clubs (Leeds, Portsmouth) have spent above their means and look where they are now. Well done Mike, I for one appreciate you.

 

Cracking news we get to spend years living within our means not looking for Europe or trophies as that might mean we have to spend some cash. But hey what does trying to win things mean when Ashley can be in profit WAHOOOOOOO

[ShearMagic]

I for one welcome the sustainable business model that Mike Ashley has implemented. It's practical and through some increased revenues through extra sponsorship around the stadium (Sports Direct) and a few sales, our finances are eventually looking good.

 

I'm glad that he doesn't spunk stupid money on players like other clubs do, you have to make sure you get value for money and we weren't able to do that. Hopefully in January it will be different.

 

Far too many clubs (Leeds, Portsmouth) have spent above their means and look where they are now. Well done Mike, I for one appreciate you.

 

Cracking news we get to spend years living within our means not looking for Europe or trophies as that might mean we have to spend some cash. But hey what does trying to win things mean when Ashley can be in profit WAHOOOOOOO

 

Some people have to accept that we're a mid-table club - which is actually quite good considering our position (you know, newly promoted etc)