Mike Ashley

[Minhosa]

I think they had included all the exposure and every time Newcastle were mentioned in the paper he was referred to as "Sports Direct Tycoon". It wasn't solely relating to the adverts at SJP. I don't know how accurate it is myself but I dont think it will be far off, he's been here quite a long time now.

 

I actually think Ashley's involvement with NUFC has done very little to add anything to the Sports Direct brand. If anything it has a negative effect, most people you talk to about the club think he's a bit of dick and that what he has done to our stadium is brainless. It seems unlikely that its led to more punters going to his shops. Clearly the advertising space at SJP has some monetary value but its limited imo.

 

Why do you think he bought us then? Or why hasn't he sold us? It can't be keeping the club because it's a gas and he's having loads of fun....

 

What his original motive was has been widely debated. Theories include his intention being to "flip" it, to use it to promote the SD brand and showing off to mates like Paul Kemsley. Maybe at different points in time it has been all three of those. I just don't think the promotion of the SD brand bit of it has been effective.

 

There were quotes from Karren Brady at the time (yeah, I know) that he thought he was 'God like' and could do no wrong, could walk on water.

 

It was just after he'd became an official billionaire and I assume he felt he had the midas touch.

 

I personally think it was an 'off the cuff' purchase designed to flaunt his wealth that he'd given no real long term thought to. The lack of due diligence indicates that it was a fairly irrational purchase.

 

[AyeDubbleYoo]

Think that's basically it. He just fancied it.

[timeEd32]

What pisses me most of....this man is far richer than some of the American businessmen who spend a boat load on their NFL teams, etc.

 

That's not a fair comparison at all.

[quayside]

Well that's not tangible is it, so your guess is as good as anyone else's.  Known facts are that Sports Direct have gone from strength to strength and the exposure of the Premier League knows almost no bounds.  The amount of publicity SD has had since Ashley bought NUFC, well there's no comparison versus what was the case before that.  If you don't believe that all publicity is good publicity (especially at the extraordinary levels we're talking, where Ashley is now a household name and Sports Direct often features heavily on the Sports/News pages as well as the Business pages) then that's your prerogative, but you'll find plenty of people down the years who disagree, such as that chap from RyanAir who is in the papers every few months bragging about how he'll rip his customers off next.

 

My guess is, of course, no better than anybody else's. I think I made it clear that I was expressing an opinion and it can only be that, because (as you say) no one can quantify the effect that a piece of general, non targetted advertising has on an existing brand. I happen to think that Ashley's involvement with NUFC has played no part in the undoubted success of SD in recent years. IMO the success has been to do with him eliminating competitors and buying up brands so that he is pretty much the only major player left in his marketplace.     

[Interpolic]

It's a wonder companies pay millions of pounds for advertising and PR then, somebody should tell them.

[madras]

Why do you want us to give money to Mike Ashley that we could be spending on players?

 

I don't, ideally I would like us to reinvest all our profits like any football club should. I just think he is entitled to some level of debt repayment... overall the terms are pretty good compared to a commercial loan on the open market.

catch 22. if any profits are reinvested playing side the team could/should get better but ashley stays as we are unlikely to find a buyer that would give him enough to break even on the deal or he takes some of the profit back as debt repayment possibly dropping the price he would want to sell up but to the detriment of the playing side.

[quayside]

It's a wonder companies pay millions of pounds for advertising and PR then, somebody should tell them.

 

Its no wonder at all. If you are launching a new product, or trying to renew interest in an old one, you have to advertise it with specific targetted advertising and promotion. You can attach some value to the advertising depending on how well that product sells subsequently. But I said that it was impossible to quantify the effect of non targetted advertising of an existing brand, which is exactly the type of advertising that has been inflicted on SJP. And I happen to think Ashley's involvement with NUFC has done nothing for the SD brand in terms of getting people throgh the doors of his shops. Mostly they end up going to a SD store because its the only one left in town, or they buy online because SD is the only supplier of what they want to buy. 

[Dave]

If NUFC hasn't helped SD in the slightest, then why the ever-increasing amount of signs in/on the ground, why the stadium renaming, why the outsourcing of the merchandise site etc etc? Pure spite?

[AyeDubbleYoo]

If NUFC hasn't helped SD in the slightest, then why the ever-increasing amount of signs in/on the ground, why the stadium renaming, why the outsourcing of the merchandise site etc etc? Pure spite?

 

Who said we hadn't helped SD in the slightest?

[Dave]

Er, quayside. His post is right before mine.

[AyeDubbleYoo]

 

I'm shocked.

[Dave]

What?

[madras]

he's shocked.

[Mick]

Well that's not tangible is it, so your guess is as good as anyone else's.  Known facts are that Sports Direct have gone from strength to strength and the exposure of the Premier League knows almost no bounds.  The amount of publicity SD has had since Ashley bought NUFC, well there's no comparison versus what was the case before that.  If you don't believe that all publicity is good publicity (especially at the extraordinary levels we're talking, where Ashley is now a household name and Sports Direct often features heavily on the Sports/News pages as well as the Business pages) then that's your prerogative, but you'll find plenty of people down the years who disagree, such as that chap from RyanAir who is in the papers every few months bragging about how he'll rip his customers off next.

 

I don't know how typical I am but I had never heard of Sports Direct until Ashley bought the club.

[AyeDubbleYoo]

That he said it hadn't helped SD. I would say it has helped them, but that Mike Ashley could have easily achieved a much higher level of promotion much cheaper than what he has spent on us.

 

For example, how much do Barclays pay to have their name on the Premier League?

[SEMTEX]

That he said it hadn't helped SD. I would say it has helped them, but that Mike Ashley could have easily achieved a much higher level of promotion much cheaper than what he has spent on us.

 

For example, how much do Barclays pay to have their name on the Premier League?

 

Barclays pay for advertising rights, Mike Ashley has bought an asset that he can sell. Do not like the comparison.

[AyeDubbleYoo]

That he said it hadn't helped SD. I would say it has helped them, but that Mike Ashley could have easily achieved a much higher level of promotion much cheaper than what he has spent on us.

 

For example, how much do Barclays pay to have their name on the Premier League?

 

Barclays pay for advertising rights, Mike Ashley has bought an asset that he can sell. Do not like the comparison.

 

True, that's a fair point. It's not an exact comparison, just trying to think how else you could spend £250m to promote your sports brand.

[quayside]

If NUFC hasn't helped SD in the slightest, then why the ever-increasing amount of signs in/on the ground, why the stadium renaming, why the outsourcing of the merchandise site etc etc? Pure spite?

 

There's two different issues in your post. To clarify (I hope) I think that the advertising you refer to has been a mistaken effort to promote SD's business. I don't think it does anything. The merchandising and whatever outsourcing arrangements the club has with SD (unclear at this stage) are entirely different. 

[quayside]

If NUFC hasn't helped SD in the slightest, then why the ever-increasing amount of signs in/on the ground, why the stadium renaming, why the outsourcing of the merchandise site etc etc? Pure spite?

 

Who said we hadn't helped SD in the slightest?

 

I was referring to the advertising and promotion of SD through NUFC not any merchandising arrangements, akthough I don't pretend to know exactly what those arrangements are.

[Mick]

 

 

There's two different issues in your post. To clarify (I hope) I think that the advertising you refer to has been a mistaken effort to promote SD's business. I don't think it does anything. The merchandising and whatever outsourcing arrangements the club has with SD (unclear at this stage) are entirely different. 

 

Why would we have plastered the advertising around the pitch with foreign SD adverts during European games if he had nothing to gain?

 

Why would the club spend money advertising SD at all if it wasn't for gain?

[quayside]

Well that's not tangible is it, so your guess is as good as anyone else's.  Known facts are that Sports Direct have gone from strength to strength and the exposure of the Premier League knows almost no bounds.  The amount of publicity SD has had since Ashley bought NUFC, well there's no comparison versus what was the case before that.  If you don't believe that all publicity is good publicity (especially at the extraordinary levels we're talking, where Ashley is now a household name and Sports Direct often features heavily on the Sports/News pages as well as the Business pages) then that's your prerogative, but you'll find plenty of people down the years who disagree, such as that chap from RyanAir who is in the papers every few months bragging about how he'll rip his customers off next.

 

I don't know how typical I am but I had never heard of Sports Direct until Ashley bought the club.

 

Me neither. But at that time Sports Direct was recently floated, underperforming company. Since then Ashley has virtually eliminated all competition in its market place and is several times the size it was in 2007. The debate here is how much NUFC has played a part in that. I think that his involvement in the club and his brazen attempts to promote SD through it are generally viewed negatively and have done nothing to contribute to where SD is today. The growth of SD has come due to factors other than Ashley's involvement with us imo.

[quayside]

 

 

There's two different issues in your post. To clarify (I hope) I think that the advertising you refer to has been a mistaken effort to promote SD's business. I don't think it does anything. The merchandising and whatever outsourcing arrangements the club has with SD (unclear at this stage) are entirely different. 

 

Why would we have plastered the advertising around the pitch with foreign SD adverts during European games if he had nothing to gain?

 

Why would the club spend money advertising SD at all if it wasn't for gain?

 

The fact that the club does it doesn't mean I think that it is effective. This is purely my opinion and no one can (not even SD) would be able to quantify the effect the advertising has.

[ikri]

I think they had included all the exposure and every time Newcastle were mentioned in the paper he was referred to as "Sports Direct Tycoon". It wasn't solely relating to the adverts at SJP. I don't know how accurate it is myself but I dont think it will be far off, he's been here quite a long time now.

 

I actually think Ashley's involvement with NUFC has done very little to add anything to the Sports Direct brand. If anything it has a negative effect, most people you talk to about the club think he's a bit of dick and that what he has done to our stadium is brainless. It seems unlikely that its led to more punters going to his shops. Clearly the advertising space at SJP has some monetary value but its limited imo.

 

Why do you think he bought us then? Or why hasn't he sold us? It can't be keeping the club because it's a gas and he's having loads of fun....

 

I think the official & rumoured reasons are both probably true.  He believed that he had the opportunity to purchase the club & quickly re-sell it for a profit, at the time he believed that he had a midas touch and couldn't possibly fail.  Plus what better status symbol for a billionaire is there than to own a football club?  Better than a yacht or large mansion, every fucker has those, but a football club?  That's real status. Buy it quickly before anyone else can, flip it & reap the rewards.

 

Then reality hits.  The club has debts everywhere and the bank has just demanded repayment, suddenly he finds out the reason that every other potential purchaser has run a mile when they've looked at the books.  He has to spend a lot of money repaying those debts and even if he can make a 30m profit on his original investment he's still losing money.  He'd overpaid for the shares and if he'd done due diligence he'd have known that, the club was probably worth what he paid minus the immediate debts.  If he'd paid that he'd have been able to get out quickly, either breaking even or making a small profit.

 

Looking back & knowing what was to come it's obvious that we'd have been better off if Ashley had done due diligence & run a mile with the rest of the potential investors.  We'd have still have had some huge financial problems that were likely to come due any time, but the Man City buyers would have turned up & Hall would have likely sold out to them instead (or potentially the other buyers who Ashley thought he could flip to, though with our luck it'd have been the Blackburn chicken brothers). 

 

Ashley initially tried to play it off as something he'd always wanted to do but with the finances quickly turning sour and the fans following his proffered enthusiasm turned to apparent dislike and spite.  He's an incredibly successful businessman who has made a billion, lost millions and recovered to make even more and yet every time he touches the club it fails. 

 

I think there are a couple of positions fit Ashley now:

1) He hates the club because it represents failure and he's not a man who does failure and the only benefits the club now gives him is as a billboard for his shitty brand and a whipping boy for him to take his spite out on.  He won't sell up because he hates the club and he enjoys spiting the fans.

2) He genuinely believes that he should be able to make a success of the club as he has managed to do with every other business venture and all his bizarre and stupid decisions are based on that belief.  He won't sell up until he's either made a success of the club or he's sold it for a profit.

 

Unless he can make a profit on the club I can't see him selling, no matter what the fans think.

[Dr Venkman]

 

Well that's not tangible is it, so your guess is as good as anyone else's.  Known facts are that Sports Direct have gone from strength to strength and the exposure of the Premier League knows almost no bounds.  The amount of publicity SD has had since Ashley bought NUFC, well there's no comparison versus what was the case before that.  If you don't believe that all publicity is good publicity (especially at the extraordinary levels we're talking, where Ashley is now a household name and Sports Direct often features heavily on the Sports/News pages as well as the Business pages) then that's your prerogative, but you'll find plenty of people down the years who disagree, such as that chap from RyanAir who is in the papers every few months bragging about how he'll rip his customers off next.

 

I don't know how typical I am but I had never heard of Sports Direct until Ashley bought the club.

 

Me neither. But at that time Sports Direct was recently floated, underperforming company. Since then Ashley has virtually eliminated all competition in its market place and is several times the size it was in 2007. The debate here is how much NUFC has played a part in that. I think that his involvement in the club and his brazen attempts to promote SD through it are generally viewed negatively and have done nothing to contribute to where SD is today. The growth of SD has come due to factors other than Ashley's involvement with us imo.

 

You think the level of exposure a premier league club has given SD over 5 years has done nothing to increase SD business? Seriously?

[Minhosa]

Well that's not tangible is it, so your guess is as good as anyone else's.  Known facts are that Sports Direct have gone from strength to strength and the exposure of the Premier League knows almost no bounds.  The amount of publicity SD has had since Ashley bought NUFC, well there's no comparison versus what was the case before that.  If you don't believe that all publicity is good publicity (especially at the extraordinary levels we're talking, where Ashley is now a household name and Sports Direct often features heavily on the Sports/News pages as well as the Business pages) then that's your prerogative, but you'll find plenty of people down the years who disagree, such as that chap from RyanAir who is in the papers every few months bragging about how he'll rip his customers off next.

 

I don't know how typical I am but I had never heard of Sports Direct until Ashley bought the club.

 

Me neither. But at that time Sports Direct was recently floated, underperforming company. Since then Ashley has virtually eliminated all competition in its market place and is several times the size it was in 2007. The debate here is how much NUFC has played a part in that. I think that his involvement in the club and his brazen attempts to promote SD through it are generally viewed negatively and have done nothing to contribute to where SD is today. The growth of SD has come due to factors other than Ashley's involvement with us imo.

 

I tend to agree with this. I don't think the outcome for SD would've been any different whatsoever with or without his NUFC purchase.

 

As for the questions on why plaster their brand everywhere, I guess his view is why not? It's his asset, he'll have no desire to allow any other brands or competition gain exposure and there may be some indirect benefits in terms of headlines (Sports Direct Arena) but does that actually deliver more footfall into his shops than say an advertising campaign in the sun, chronicle or mirror would do? I don't think so, not for me.