Mike Ashley

[Pixelphish]

What an enjoyable day it will be when he finally sells up. Just imagine it for a few moments.

[Skeletor]

What an enjoyable day it will be when he finally sells up. Just imagine it for a few moments.

 

http://media.tumblr.com/tumblr_ldp0iewmxF1qzsln6.gif

[Kanj]

What an enjoyable day it will be when he finally sells up. Just imagine it for a few moments.

 

This place would go absolutely mental. Would be legendary and infamous day for all of us.

 

Add to that the day Ashley walks and eventually Kinnear & AP get sacked as well. Epic.

[Guest]

What an enjoyable day it will be when he finally sells up. Just imagine it for a few moments.

 

This place would go absolutely mental. Would be legendary and infamous day for all of us.

 

Add to that the day Ashley walks and eventually Kinnear & AP get sacked as well. Epic.

 

Similar to this day?

 

http://www.newcastle-online.org/nufcforum/index.php/topic,40533.0.html

 

 

[Wilson]

What an enjoyable day it will be when he finally sells up. Just imagine it for a few moments.

 

http://horacecopes.files.wordpress.com/2011/06/goat-feels-good.jpg

[Wilson]

What an enjoyable day it will be when he finally sells up. Just imagine it for a few moments.

 

This place would go absolutely mental. Would be legendary and infamous day for all of us.

 

Add to that the day Ashley walks and eventually Kinnear & AP get sacked as well. Epic.

 

Similar to this day?

 

http://www.newcastle-online.org/nufcforum/index.php/topic,40533.0.html

 

 

 

oh you bastard

[Dave]

What an enjoyable day it will be when he finally sells up. Just imagine it for a few moments.

 

This place would go absolutely mental. Would be legendary and infamous day for all of us.

 

Add to that the day Ashley walks and eventually Kinnear & AP get sacked as well. Epic.

 

Similar to this day?

 

http://www.newcastle-online.org/nufcforum/index.php/topic,40533.0.html

 

 

 

Out of the frying pan into the fire.

[GM]

What an enjoyable day it will be when he finally sells up. Just imagine it for a few moments.

 

This place would go absolutely mental. Would be legendary and infamous day for all of us.

 

Add to that the day Ashley walks and eventually Kinnear & AP get sacked as well. Epic.

 

Not sure I want an "infamous" day. We've had enough of them. Would much rather we had a 'famous' day, when a decent owner takes control and starts about rebuilding the club back to where we could and should have been with proper investment and decent management.

[Interpolic]

Mike Ashley said:

 

'I am delighted to have this opportunity to invest in Newcastle United.  The

club has a fantastic infrastructure, for which Sir John and the board must take

much of the credit. I am pleased that Sir John has agreed to remain as Life

President of the club.  Newcastle United has a wonderful heritage and the

passion of its fans is legendary. I am sure that, like me, they are already

excited about the prospects for next season under the new manager's

stewardship.'

 

[littlelunchbox]

What an enjoyable day it will be when he finally sells up. Just imagine it for a few moments.

 

I can imagine something worse.  Like having numpties similar to the ones that brought Blackburn.

 

One tight git leaves and another comes in,  they might even relieve JFK of his duties hurray! Who needs a DOF right? Then we can save more money also by keeping Pardew because of his 'modest' wages compared to the rest of the prem managers. 

 

Pards get let loose on transfer targets but still on a tight budget, he brings in all 6foot 5"inches of pure 'footballing' specimens.

 

Hoofball heaven and then eventual relegation.  Pards leaves and another guy takes over that we never heard of.  etc etc...

 

 

 

 

[Guest chopey]

Sounds plausible and I would love it to be true, but I still think he has lost all interest and is just keeping us ticking over until such a time when he gets a good return on his investment, either through TV money or the purchase and sale of players

[colinmk]

What an enjoyable day it will be when he finally sells up. Just imagine it for a few moments.

 

This place would go absolutely mental. Would be legendary and infamous day for all of us.

 

Add to that the day Ashley walks and eventually Kinnear & AP get sacked as well. Epic.

 

Not sure I want an "infamous" day. We've had enough of them. Would much rather we had a 'famous' day, when a decent owner takes control and starts about rebuilding the club back to where we could and should have been with proper investment and decent management.

 

[Kanj]

What an enjoyable day it will be when he finally sells up. Just imagine it for a few moments.

 

This place would go absolutely mental. Would be legendary and infamous day for all of us.

 

Add to that the day Ashley walks and eventually Kinnear & AP get sacked as well. Epic.

 

Not sure I want an "infamous" day. We've had enough of them. Would much rather we had a 'famous' day, when a decent owner takes control and starts about rebuilding the club back to where we could and should have been with proper investment and decent management.

 

That's what I meant mate. Sorry for the poor word choice, the moment of bliss thinking about it fucked my word choice up.

[mofo]

http://www.themag.co.uk/the-mag-articles/mike-ashleys-transfer-window-suggests-sale-of-newcastle-united-is-imminent/

 

Mike Ashley’s Activity Suggests Sale Of Newcastle United Is Imminent

 

I have been tremendously heartened by the way Joe Kinnear spent the whole transfer window clinging to a branch, upside down and asleep. I am not in the least upset at the club’s relative inactivity in the international market for player purchases.

 

In my view, and I have no special knowledge but do have an obsessive fascination in the bizarre mental make-up of the Toon’s glorious owner, as well as being impervious to wishful thinking, I believe Mike Ashley is already waving us goodbye.

 

The most interesting fact about this boring yet unpredictable billionaire, and this story has been in several newspapers, is that, after his parents mortgaged their house to borrow money which they then provided to young Mike to get going as a sports retailer, the ungrateful upstart fell out with them so badly he stopped speaking to them. They still live in the same house they mortgaged for him, while he has at least one very large house in a plutocratic corner of north London, a larger pile of money, and, as we know, a yacht moored in the Med. Having been beholden to close relatives and not having liked it, he has decided, I believe, not to take orders from anyone ever again.

 

The structure of his highly successful business is very unusual. As is well known, he took Newcastle United private when it had suited Sir John to operate through a public company. Sports Direct is a PLC, but Ashley’s own shares in Sports Direct are held by a private company, MASH Holdings. It is rare for a large chunk of a public company to be owned by a private one.

 

The payment of dividends, the valuation of debt, and, crucially, the shuffling of cash become opaque if certain accounting techniques peculiar to private companies are used. It would be much harder, for example, to use profits on player sales (which technically are capital gains, and therefore not taxable as trading profits) to pay wages if the company were public. Mike Ashley, I believe, does not like people second-guessing him, and does not regard himself as being accountable to anyone – he sees no reason to give interviews, for example.

 

Yet this man who knows best, takes no orders, and refuses to be accountable, appoints a loose cannon with a dicky heart to be his executive for incoming transfers, putting the nose of Derek Llambias thoroughly out of joint and prompting his resignation. We have no evidence that Pardew was upset about Kinnear, but he will have been, I have no doubt. At the same time we know that Ashley regards outgoing transfers as so important that he does them himself. He asked Arsenal which part of Cabaye they wanted to buy when they didn’t offer what Ashley thought he was worth. Nobody else thought Cabaye was worth that much, but Ashley did, and as a result he wasn’t sold. Indeed he allowed, or forced, Cabaye to listen to a phone conversation in which Cabaye was humiliated.

 

In relation to Cabaye, the easy and logical thing for Ashley to have done would have been to sell him for £10m. It would have produced a profit, and he could have blamed the sale on the player, as he did with Andy Carroll. He could then have used half the money for a couple of incoming transfers. This was exactly what I believe was discussed on the yacht – who to buy if Cabaye were sold. But he didn’t do that. Why not? Was it just because he had dreams of repeating the Carroll coup? Not if he had been listening to the lukewarm reaction of the Arsenal executive. No. He kept hold of Cabaye in order to keep Pardew, and indeed Graham Carr, on board.

 

Not everyone will agree with this. And I share the view of many that Kinnear was appointed precisely in order to destabilise Pardew, and to call off the many transfers lined up by Carr and Pardew (Gomis, Thauvin, Aubameyang) which Ashley did not want to conclude. Ashley, correctly in my view, distrusts Pardew’s judgement of players. He also trusts Carr’s judgement, but doesn’t see Pardew as manager for much longer. His next manager, who will not be Kinnear, will be someone whose judgement Ashley trusts, and who will be allowed to make his own decisions.

 

But some time in the last few weeks a buyer – I would bet a lot of money on this – has hoved into view. I don’t know who it is. It might be this Ukrainian chap who looks like a skittle. It might be one of those Americans we were all talking about a few months back.

 

But someone is talking to Ashley about a sale. And Ashley might not understand much about football club management, but he understands the value of stability. After all, he rewarded Pardew, and virtually everyone else, with an eight-year contract.

 

I’m guessing. I might be wrong. But wouldn’t it make sense for Ashley to steady the ship pending the sale of our club to an unknown billionaire who could then do something popular early doors and sack Pardew? Wouldn’t it make sense for the next manager to be the appointee of a dashing new owner? Sacking Pardew and appointing George Graham or Glenn Hoddle or Lee Clark or someone, frankly, dun- coloured and disappointing would simply bind the hands of the new owner. This would jeopardise the sale. And Ashley will know the next owner will want to appoint a top-rank manager who will cost a lot of money and will want to spend a lot of money. A Ukrainian oil billionaire of Newcastle United would want to compete with Sheikh Mansour and Roman Abramovich, I would have thought.

 

 

And Ashley is desperate to sell. He’s not in this for the long haul. He wants a quick route into the Champions’ League with Rangers. Can’t you just smell it?

 

Thought it was worth a post.

 

Nonsense.

[GM]

What an enjoyable day it will be when he finally sells up. Just imagine it for a few moments.

 

This place would go absolutely mental. Would be legendary and infamous day for all of us.

 

Add to that the day Ashley walks and eventually Kinnear & AP get sacked as well. Epic.

 

Not sure I want an "infamous" day. We've had enough of them. Would much rather we had a 'famous' day, when a decent owner takes control and starts about rebuilding the club back to where we could and should have been with proper investment and decent management.

 

That's what I meant mate. Sorry for the poor word choice, the moment of bliss thinking about it fucked my word choice up.

 

No problems. Guess we're all feeling a bit on edge/grouchy generally.

[Dinho lad]

http://www.themag.co.uk/the-mag-articles/mike-ashleys-transfer-window-suggests-sale-of-newcastle-united-is-imminent/

 

Mike Ashley’s Activity Suggests Sale Of Newcastle United Is Imminent

 

I have been tremendously heartened by the way Joe Kinnear spent the whole transfer window clinging to a branch, upside down and asleep. I am not in the least upset at the club’s relative inactivity in the international market for player purchases.

 

In my view, and I have no special knowledge but do have an obsessive fascination in the bizarre mental make-up of the Toon’s glorious owner, as well as being impervious to wishful thinking, I believe Mike Ashley is already waving us goodbye.

 

The most interesting fact about this boring yet unpredictable billionaire, and this story has been in several newspapers, is that, after his parents mortgaged their house to borrow money which they then provided to young Mike to get going as a sports retailer, the ungrateful upstart fell out with them so badly he stopped speaking to them. They still live in the same house they mortgaged for him, while he has at least one very large house in a plutocratic corner of north London, a larger pile of money, and, as we know, a yacht moored in the Med. Having been beholden to close relatives and not having liked it, he has decided, I believe, not to take orders from anyone ever again.

 

The structure of his highly successful business is very unusual. As is well known, he took Newcastle United private when it had suited Sir John to operate through a public company. Sports Direct is a PLC, but Ashley’s own shares in Sports Direct are held by a private company, MASH Holdings. It is rare for a large chunk of a public company to be owned by a private one.

 

The payment of dividends, the valuation of debt, and, crucially, the shuffling of cash become opaque if certain accounting techniques peculiar to private companies are used. It would be much harder, for example, to use profits on player sales (which technically are capital gains, and therefore not taxable as trading profits) to pay wages if the company were public. Mike Ashley, I believe, does not like people second-guessing him, and does not regard himself as being accountable to anyone – he sees no reason to give interviews, for example.

 

Yet this man who knows best, takes no orders, and refuses to be accountable, appoints a loose cannon with a dicky heart to be his executive for incoming transfers, putting the nose of Derek Llambias thoroughly out of joint and prompting his resignation. We have no evidence that Pardew was upset about Kinnear, but he will have been, I have no doubt. At the same time we know that Ashley regards outgoing transfers as so important that he does them himself. He asked Arsenal which part of Cabaye they wanted to buy when they didn’t offer what Ashley thought he was worth. Nobody else thought Cabaye was worth that much, but Ashley did, and as a result he wasn’t sold. Indeed he allowed, or forced, Cabaye to listen to a phone conversation in which Cabaye was humiliated.

 

In relation to Cabaye, the easy and logical thing for Ashley to have done would have been to sell him for £10m. It would have produced a profit, and he could have blamed the sale on the player, as he did with Andy Carroll. He could then have used half the money for a couple of incoming transfers. This was exactly what I believe was discussed on the yacht – who to buy if Cabaye were sold. But he didn’t do that. Why not? Was it just because he had dreams of repeating the Carroll coup? Not if he had been listening to the lukewarm reaction of the Arsenal executive. No. He kept hold of Cabaye in order to keep Pardew, and indeed Graham Carr, on board.

 

Not everyone will agree with this. And I share the view of many that Kinnear was appointed precisely in order to destabilise Pardew, and to call off the many transfers lined up by Carr and Pardew (Gomis, Thauvin, Aubameyang) which Ashley did not want to conclude. Ashley, correctly in my view, distrusts Pardew’s judgement of players. He also trusts Carr’s judgement, but doesn’t see Pardew as manager for much longer. His next manager, who will not be Kinnear, will be someone whose judgement Ashley trusts, and who will be allowed to make his own decisions.

 

But some time in the last few weeks a buyer – I would bet a lot of money on this – has hoved into view. I don’t know who it is. It might be this Ukrainian chap who looks like a skittle. It might be one of those Americans we were all talking about a few months back.

 

But someone is talking to Ashley about a sale. And Ashley might not understand much about football club management, but he understands the value of stability. After all, he rewarded Pardew, and virtually everyone else, with an eight-year contract.

 

I’m guessing. I might be wrong. But wouldn’t it make sense for Ashley to steady the ship pending the sale of our club to an unknown billionaire who could then do something popular early doors and sack Pardew? Wouldn’t it make sense for the next manager to be the appointee of a dashing new owner? Sacking Pardew and appointing George Graham or Glenn Hoddle or Lee Clark or someone, frankly, dun- coloured and disappointing would simply bind the hands of the new owner. This would jeopardise the sale. And Ashley will know the next owner will want to appoint a top-rank manager who will cost a lot of money and will want to spend a lot of money. A Ukrainian oil billionaire of Newcastle United would want to compete with Sheikh Mansour and Roman Abramovich, I would have thought.

 

 

And Ashley is desperate to sell. He’s not in this for the long haul. He wants a quick route into the Champions’ League with Rangers. Can’t you just smell it?

 

Thought it was worth a post.

 

Nonsense.

 

And we should be trusting this guy's claims because... ?

[GM]

Personally, I think a lot of that is wishful thinking on the part of the author. I can't blame fans for becoming rather fantastical when the reality of their club is as it has latterly become here, but there's nothing to suggest this is anything more than just so much conjecture. As such, it's worthless.

[TRon]

Although there's no chance anyone wants to buy us, it is an absolute fact that he wants to buy Rangers (ITK).

 

It does make you wonder, if he's so disillusioned about Newcastle and wants to sell up, why he is wanting to buy another football club with equally partisan supporters? If he gets called a cockney cunt here, I doubt the jibes will be any less cutting if the Scots take a disliking to him.

[Shearergol]

Although there's no chance anyone wants to buy us, it is an absolute fact that he wants to buy Rangers (ITK).

 

It does make you wonder, if he's so disillusioned about Newcastle and wants to sell up, why he is wanting to buy another football club with equally partisan supporters? If he gets called a cockney cunt here, I doubt the jibes will be any less cutting if the Scots take a disliking to him.

 

I think he was attracted by the transfer embargo, but now it's been lifted he doesn't see the point.

[ikri]

Although there's no chance anyone wants to buy us, it is an absolute fact that he wants to buy Rangers (ITK).

 

It does make you wonder, if he's so disillusioned about Newcastle and wants to sell up, why he is wanting to buy another football club with equally partisan supporters? If he gets called a cockney cunt here, I doubt the jibes will be any less cutting if the Scots take a disliking to him.

 

No hidden debts + he could spend a pittance in Scotland & easily qualify for the Champion's League

[Matt]

No hidden debts + he could spend a pittance in Scotland & easily qualify for the Champion's League

 

Given some of the characters involved with Rangers over the last couple of years, there will be plenty of unexpected surprises awaiting whoever owns the club. Certainly no more than all these debts we had which were in fact in plain sight for anyone to see.

[BONTEMPI]

This twat needs chinning!  Which chin is up to you.

[Wilson]

the mike, the.

[quayside]

No hidden debts + he could spend a pittance in Scotland & easily qualify for the Champion's League

 

Given some of the characters involved with Rangers over the last couple of years, there will be plenty of unexpected surprises awaiting whoever owns the club. Certainly no more than all these debts we had which were in fact in plain sight for anyone to see.

 

True. Although the bank calling our debt in on a change of ownership clause seems to have surprised him. It shouldn't have but he was in new territory and the right to a due diligence process was waived it seems.

[Hughesy]

I just don't understand that.  Pretty much every bank loan contains a change of control clause as a mandatory prepayment event.  His lawyers would have told him that.