Mike Ashley

[AlanSkÃrare]

Think back to when he bought us, in with the fans jumping around us singing his name, and how quickly he fkd all that up. Surely he loved that though, the worship he got, why would he not want to try and get that back.

 

Because 90% of the things he's done since then has pointed to him not giving a flying duck about the sporting agenda.

[Hudson]

Think back to when he bought us, in with the fans jumping around us singing his name, and how quickly he fkd all that up. Surely he loved that though, the worship he got, why would he not want to try and get that back.

 

Business men don't do this sort of thing for the praise and hero worship. They do it because it has benefit to there business.

[AyeDubbleYoo]

I think he bought us for fun originally, as well as the opportunities for Sports Direct. It just went wrong quickly because of some bad early decisions.

 

If he'd just wanted to advertise SD he could have easily done it cheaper than this.

[Unbelievable]

I think he bought us for fun originally, as well as the opportunities for Sports Direct. It just went wrong quickly because of some bad early decisions.

 

If he'd just wanted to advertise SD he could have easily done it cheaper than this.

 

I'd go along with this. What strikes me is he started off by handing Fat Sam a relatively massive transfer kitty when he had just arrived, promised to plough 20 million of his own money into the club on a yearly basis and was living the dream in terms of being a sociable club owner trying to mingle with the fans. After the whole Wise/Keegan fiasco and the flack he copped, he has obviously lost his enthousiasm for the club. Even last season's excellent results and the end of the mass public critcism of his running of the club has not changed his stance in this regard; I think he considers buying the club as a mistake and would sell as soon as het got his money back. Unfortunately for us, he bought us at the height of economic prosperity and no realistic buyer has presented himself due to the economic crises that followed, so we are being run as a going concern on a shoestring budget until somebody comes forward to take us off his hands. Massive shame.

[AyeDubbleYoo]

I think he bought us for fun originally, as well as the opportunities for Sports Direct. It just went wrong quickly because of some bad early decisions.

 

If he'd just wanted to advertise SD he could have easily done it cheaper than this.

 

I'd go along with this. What strikes me is he started off by handing Fat Sam a relatively massive transfer kitty when he had just arrived, promised to plough 20 million of his own money into the club on a yearly basis and was living the dream in terms of being a sociable club owner trying to mingle with the fans. After the whole Wise/Keegan fiasco and the flack he copped, he has obviously lost his enthousiasm for the club. Even last season's excellent results and the end of the mass public critcism of his running of the club has not changed his stance in this regard; I think he considers buying the club as a mistake and would sell as soon as het got his money back. Unfortunately for us, he bought us at the height of economic prosperity and no realistic buyer has presented himself, so we are being run as a going concern on a shoestring budget until somebody comes forward to take us off his hands. Massive shame.

 

Also I think that he's gone through the worst point of his ownership and is now getting better. Obviously a lot depends on us not getting relegated this season.

[oldtype]

I think he bought us for fun originally, as well as the opportunities for Sports Direct. It just went wrong quickly because of some bad early decisions.

 

If he'd just wanted to advertise SD he could have easily done it cheaper than this.

 

I'd go along with this. What strikes me is he started off by handing Fat Sam a relatively massive transfer kitty when he had just arrived, promised to plough 20 million of his own money into the club on a yearly basis and was living the dream in terms of being a sociable club owner trying to mingle with the fans. After the whole Wise/Keegan fiasco and the flack he copped, he has obviously lost his enthousiasm for the club. Even last season's excellent results and the end of the mass public critcism of his running of the club has not changed his stance in this regard; I think he considers buying the club as a mistake and would sell as soon as het got his money back. Unfortunately for us, he bought us at the height of economic prosperity and no realistic buyer has presented himself due to the economic crises that followed, so we are being run as a going concern on a shoestring budget until somebody comes forward to take us off his hands. Massive shame.

 

Pretty much sums it up.

 

In the modern economic climate, Arabs or other arbitrarily-rich commodity moguls are probably the only realistic buyers for a football club of our price tag. Unless we strike ridiculously lucky Ashley is going to be here for the forseeable future.

[Benwell Lad]

I think he bought us for fun originally, as well as the opportunities for Sports Direct. It just went wrong quickly because of some bad early decisions.

 

If he'd just wanted to advertise SD he could have easily done it cheaper than this.

 

I'd go along with this. What strikes me is he started off by handing Fat Sam a relatively massive transfer kitty when he had just arrived, promised to plough 20 million of his own money into the club on a yearly basis and was living the dream in terms of being a sociable club owner trying to mingle with the fans. After the whole Wise/Keegan fiasco and the flack he copped, he has obviously lost his enthousiasm for the club. Even last season's excellent results and the end of the mass public critcism of his running of the club has not changed his stance in this regard; I think he considers buying the club as a mistake and would sell as soon as het got his money back. Unfortunately for us, he bought us at the height of economic prosperity and no realistic buyer has presented himself due to the economic crises that followed, so we are being run as a going concern on a shoestring budget until somebody comes forward to take us off his hands. Massive shame.

 

Someone I know who sits close to Ashley told me that for a hard nosed bastard he was actually upset by the constant singing about him when he was public enemy No.1, especially in the prescence of family/friends. He did lose a lot of the "fan" like enthusiam at that time.

A while ago I recall Pardew expressing a wish to "get the owner interested again" or words to that effect. It's currently open season on anything Pardew says (or doesn't say) but I think he was spot on with that sentiment.

It may never happen again but I think an interested, passionate Ashley enjoying his football and behaving like a fan would be a lot better for NUFC than a brooding, distant, disinterested one.

[TheGuv]

It could have been so different if he had backed Keegan over Wise (such a retarded decision every time i think about it).

 

But the real downfall seemed to be when Llambias came in for Mort in June 2008, since then it's been mishap after mishap.

 

I did enjoy it though when he first came to the club. That first year or so was such an exciting team, he was in with the crowd, he seemed to be one of us and everything seemed to be going quite well on and off the field for that short period of time in his ownership

[Guest reefatoon]

It could have been so different if he had backed Keegan over Wise (such a retarded decision every time i think about it).

 

But the real downfall seemed to be when Llambias came in for Mort in June 2008, since then it's been mishap after mishap.

 

I did enjoy it though when he first came to the club. That first year or so was such an exciting team, he was in with the crowd, he seemed to be one of us and everything seemed to be going quite well on and off the field for that short period of time in his ownership

 

Have to agree about Dekka coming in.

[Skeletor]

Mort was well liked by the fans. The Chris Mort > Derek Llambias transition is definitely when Ashley started his downward spiral with the fans.

[David Icke - Son of God]

Mort was well liked by the fans. The Chris Mort > Derek Llambias transition is definitely when Ashley started his downward spiral with the fans.

 

Bizarre thing is that Mort was as duplicitous as the rest of them when it came to the whole DoF/Wise thing. In fact wasn't it his idea?

 

He was a great PR man mind.

[Guest neesy111]

Remember it was Mort that put in the managerial structure and recommended we got Wise in, he pushed many problems onto Llambias.  Typical Lawyer bullshit.

[colinmk]

I think he bought the club because as well as the extra advertising for SD, he wanted to be that guy we saw at the start. Popular owner, taking the club up to the top etc. Once he found out how much it was going to actually cost(through his own stupidity) he probably got a bit of a scare.

 

He then made a number of idiotic decisions and the fans turned on him obviously and he didn't like that. Relegation quickly followed which again was down to his own mistakes and this has cost him a lot more money. Now he just wants it back one way or another and has pretty much washed his hands with the football side of things.

[Guest tollemache]

Yeah I think his primary motivation was that he assumed he'd be successful at it and loved the idea of having a football team. You only have to look at his behaviour when he first took over to see that.

 

The question I think is whether his motivation changed in the wake of the hate campaign against him post-Keegan, and whether he now simply wants to claw back his investment and sell for the best possible price, or whether he's still determined to pull it round and make a real success of it. And I don't think we've seen enough yet to know which is the reality. I'm not sure what the real test of that would be, really.

[Kanji]

If he ever sacked Dekka and brought in a football man to be our chairman and really turned things around from the board's point of view and became more competitive in transfer dealings (not being so stubborn) he could easilly regain a ton of support from the common fan, in my opinion.

[Unbelievable]

Yeah I think his primary motivation was that he assumed he'd be successful at it and loved the idea of having a football team. You only have to look at his behaviour when he first took over to see that.

 

The question I think is whether his motivation changed in the wake of the hate campaign against him post-Keegan, and whether he now simply wants to claw back his investment and sell for the best possible price, or whether he's still determined to pull it round and make a real success of it. And I don't think we've seen enough yet to know which is the reality. I'm not sure what the real test of that would be, really.

 

Really? I think it's fairly obvious from his (lack of) actions which of those two scenarios is the reality. The only "test" would be if somebody offered him his money back or thereabouts. He'd be off like a shot.

[NG32]

If he ever sacked Dekka and brought in a football man to be our chairman and really turned things around from the board's point of view and became more competitive in transfer dealings (not being so stubborn) he could easilly regain a ton of support from the common fan, in my opinion.

 

 

Remember the days when we chased David Dein.  Oh my.

[Guest tollemache]

Yes, if someone offered him his money back that'd be a test. Til that happens though, I don't think there's any reason for him not to try to make the club as successful as possible. Whether he wants to sell for a good price, or he wants success for its own sake, that is the best course of action. Aiming to make us a lower-mid table team forever and ever and then sell would be silly for him to do - he might as well try to build us into a better side and sell for more. So I don't think we've seen enough to be able to say for sure whether he's thinking in terms of selling or not. He'd be behaving the same way either way.

[Unbelievable]

Yes, if someone offered him his money back that'd be a test. Til that happens though, I don't think there's any reason for him not to try to make the club as successful as possible. Whether he wants to sell for a good price, or he wants success for its own sake, that is the best course of action. Aiming to make us a lower-mid table team forever and ever and then sell would be silly for him to do - he might as well try to build us into a better side and sell for more. So I don't think we've seen enough to be able to say for sure whether he's thinking in terms of selling or not. He'd be behaving the same way either way.

 

Are you aware we have made a substantial profit on transfer dealings in every season under Mike Ashley bar his first?

[madras]

Yes, if someone offered him his money back that'd be a test. Til that happens though, I don't think there's any reason for him not to try to make the club as successful as possible. Whether he wants to sell for a good price, or he wants success for its own sake, that is the best course of action. Aiming to make us a lower-mid table team forever and ever and then sell would be silly for him to do - he might as well try to build us into a better side and sell for more. So I don't think we've seen enough to be able to say for sure whether he's thinking in terms of selling or not. He'd be behaving the same way either way.

 

Are you aware we have made a substantial profit on transfer dealings in every season under Mike Ashley bar his first?

so ?

 

why look at that financial aspect in isolation ?

[Unbelievable]

Yes, if someone offered him his money back that'd be a test. Til that happens though, I don't think there's any reason for him not to try to make the club as successful as possible. Whether he wants to sell for a good price, or he wants success for its own sake, that is the best course of action. Aiming to make us a lower-mid table team forever and ever and then sell would be silly for him to do - he might as well try to build us into a better side and sell for more. So I don't think we've seen enough to be able to say for sure whether he's thinking in terms of selling or not. He'd be behaving the same way either way.

 

Are you aware we have made a substantial profit on transfer dealings in every season under Mike Ashley bar his first?

so ?

 

why look at that financial aspect in isolation ?

 

Because obviously it is rather telling when it comes to determining which of those two scenarios tollemache presented, i.e. just happy to tick over until taken over or still very much determined to try and make the club successful) is the more likely.

[Guest bimpy474]

We are never going to spend big under Ashley as he has no ambition for us to do so, say like Jack Walker did at Blackburn, or like the owners of Man City, Chelsea etc.

 

While it's noble to get the club to become self sufficient that isn't going to help us break into the top 4. There has to be a balance, something we haven't got. Unfortunately on here and other places, if you say that, like Dave and others have, you are saying we should spend mental amounts.

 

There's middle ground to be found and that's what Dave and others mean but our board are playing the game in to narrow of a playing field, aiming so narrow with transfer targets it has left us in trouble (along with Pardew's shit football) Imo.

[AyeDubbleYoo]

We are never going to spend big under Ashley as he has no ambition for us to do so, say like Jack Walker did at Blackburn, or like the owners of Man City, Chelsea etc.

 

While it's noble to get the club to become self sufficient that isn't going to help us break into the top 4. There has to be a balance, something we haven't got. Unfortunately on here and other places, if you say that, like Dave and others have, you are saying we should spend mental amounts.

 

There's middle ground to be found and that's what Dave and others mean but our board are playing the game in to narrow of a playing field, aiming so narrow with transfer targets it has left us in trouble (along with Pardew's shit football) Imo.

 

It's more a question of where the balance should be struck though, isn't it? We are spending something, and we are attracting quality players. Ideally we would just like more.

[Guest bimpy474]

We are never going to spend big under Ashley as he has no ambition for us to do so, say like Jack Walker did at Blackburn, or like the owners of Man City, Chelsea etc.

 

While it's noble to get the club to become self sufficient that isn't going to help us break into the top 4. There has to be a balance, something we haven't got. Unfortunately on here and other places, if you say that, like Dave and others have, you are saying we should spend mental amounts.

 

There's middle ground to be found and that's what Dave and others mean but our board are playing the game in to narrow of a playing field, aiming so narrow with transfer targets it has left us in trouble (along with Pardew's shit football) Imo.

 

It's more a question of where the balance should be struck though, isn't it? We are spending something, and we are attracting quality players. Ideally we would just like more.

 

Spot on Ian, just a little more for me. It does appear it's one target, if that fails we wait until the next window, while working on the replacement target building up to that window.

 

I'm convinced that when Pardew says we have a list, it's not like my 7 year old chrimbo list.....a foot long. It's like mine, 1 or 2 things. They give themselves no options if things fail.

[AyeDubbleYoo]

It would be nice to know they had more alternatives lined up, but I suppose there aren't that many young, good and cheap players around in every position we need. Everything crossed for the next two weeks.