Mike Ashley

[Toonpack]

The fact we've gone from three club shops in the town to one says it all. The Monument Mall shop used to bring in £2m a year.

 

 

What has caused that, is it anything beyond the lack of on-field success?

 

 

Merchandise revenue has fallen since Ashley came in.

 

Erm there's a recession on. Be surprised if all clubs (apart from the obvious few) aren't the same. It's not ALL down to the FCB.

[Toonpack]

The fact we've gone from three club shops in the town to one says it all. The Monument Mall shop used to bring in £2m a year.

 

What has caused that, is it anything beyond the lack of on-field success?

 

Monument Mall hiked up the rent when they upgraded it and the club never really put any effort into the Eldon Square one.

 

The fact we don't have a shop in the Airport departure lounge is criminal.

 

Why's it criminal, I go through there every week and the only shop I see selling stuff is duty free booze and tabs, even when we did have a presence there it was a cart.

 

If it would make money there'd be shops all over, the owners a retailer FFS

[Interpolic]

I'd be interested to see shirt sales year-on-year.  Not convinced bringing a home one out every year is as profitable as is made out, certainly makes a lot of people far less likely to buy one I'd say.

[Interpolic]

Plus I'd be surprised if Ashley would prefer people to buy stuff through the club than through Sports Direct, quite the opposite.

[bowlingcrofty]

The fact we've gone from three club shops in the town to one says it all. The Monument Mall shop used to bring in £2m a year.

 

What has caused that, is it anything beyond the lack of on-field success?

 

Monument Mall hiked up the rent when they upgraded it and the club never really put any effort into the Eldon Square one.

 

The fact we don't have a shop in the Airport departure lounge is criminal.

 

Why's it criminal, I go through there every week and the only shop I see selling stuff is duty free booze and tabs, even when we did have a presence there it was a cart.

 

If it would make money there'd be shops all over, the owners a retailer FFS

 

Put a club shop in there and sell shirts at £30-35 quid a pop and you'd sell thousands over the summer.

[Toonpack]

The fact we've gone from three club shops in the town to one says it all. The Monument Mall shop used to bring in £2m a year.

 

What has caused that, is it anything beyond the lack of on-field success?

 

Monument Mall hiked up the rent when they upgraded it and the club never really put any effort into the Eldon Square one.

 

The fact we don't have a shop in the Airport departure lounge is criminal.

 

Why's it criminal, I go through there every week and the only shop I see selling stuff is duty free booze and tabs, even when we did have a presence there it was a cart.

 

If it would make money there'd be shops all over, the owners a retailer FFS

 

Put a club shop in there and sell shirts at £30-35 quid a pop and you'd sell thousands over the summer.

 

No you wouldn't, really you wouldn't, we never did when we had a cart in there.

[Guest neesy111]

The fact we've gone from three club shops in the town to one says it all. The Monument Mall shop used to bring in £2m a year.

 

 

What has caused that, is it anything beyond the lack of on-field success?

 

 

Merchandise revenue has fallen since Ashley came in.

 

Erm there's a recession on. Be surprised if all clubs (apart from the obvious few) aren't the same. It's not ALL down to the FCB.

 

It fell under Shepherd's last year.

[Guest Pedro_de_geordieo]

Good read

 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/teams/newcastle-united/10144080/Why-did-Newcastle-United-owner-Mike-Ashley-buy-the-north-east-club-six-years-ago.html

[BlueStar]

Dismissing it all on his own daft news site now.

 

http://www.sportsdirectnews.com/sports-business/27124-newcastle-play-down-for-sale-speculation.php

 

A spokesman for the club declined to comment when approached by SDN.

 

"Hi there, I'm calling on behalf of Mike Ashley.  Could someone give us a statement on behalf of Mike Ashley please?  No?  OK."

[Guest Howaythetoon]

That site gets most of its 'news' from 3rd parties btw, all writers/journos are freelancers. Its a site designed simply to drive traffic to SD and generate leads.

[Guest Howaythetoon]

I'd happily pay 1K to watch an NUFC side as good as KK's or Sir Bobby's trying to actually win things and in a pleasing way too. Given the amount of good money I spend on tat in my life it would be well worth it.

 

To watch what Pardew serves up.... I would pay a tenner a ticket!

 

That said, I reckon lower ticket prices is a good thing and I wouldn't like to see ours rise even if we were playing good stuff and doing well.

 

Our commercial revenue is appalling though. We have a very shitty kit deal, a shitty sponsor deal and we get nowt in advertising around the ground and even what we do get is from local firms meaning pennies. We outsourced our catering and even the club shop and website makes f*** all.

 

The corporate end is dead these days, people just don't want to pay good money to watch a s*** team and a toxic brand.

 

When KK was manager big companies and very rich men were fighting to get a box and to get tickets. Same with Sir Bobby's era. Today anyone on here can get a seat in an executive box even against the mackems.

 

You do realise what outsourcing means don't you ??

 

It usually means you get a better deal than the cost of running something yourself. Which furthermore is guaranteed for the length of the contract, no ups and downs, guaranteed steady moolah.

 

The commercial revenue is poor, granted, but to sell corporate you've got to have a company with major presence in an area to entertain visitors. Not so sure there's that many around here now, certainly not with schmoosing, entertainment budgets like they used to be.

 

Of course I do, I'm a business owner/manager.

 

For me, outsourcing is like handing over a bit of your business to someone else. While we no doubt get a steady return over the course of a few years, we have no control over the quality nor can we improve our margins while tied to such a deal. To me, its a kop-out. Under FS we made decent money from catering and events and such. I think we make like 2m a year from this as it stands which is piss poor to be honest. 53,000 fans every other week and thousands of people working and being in and around SJP every week?

 

Ashley outsourcing is another clear sign of an exit strategy btw.

 

Me, if I were Ashley I'd buy a Macdonald's franchise and stick one in each stand. The club would make a fortune. I'd even bolt one to the stadium for non-match days too.

[binnsy]

For anyone interested this is a list of the questions, taken from the 500 received that have been given to the club to answer following the meeting in the labour club on Monday night,  some good ones some daft ones as you would expect...

 

Joe Kinnear

1.Why Joe Kinnear? What are his credentials?

2.Was he the only candidate?

3.Aren’t you concerned about his health?

4.Why not somebody like Chris Mort?

5.Why the delay in announcing?

6.Did Llambias walk or was he pushed?

7.Doesn’t this appointment undermine Alan Pardew/ other staff?

8.Who allowed JK on TalkSport?

 

 

General Q’s about JK

1.How will this work? (ie who’s responsible for what - clarity of JK’s role)

2.Who has the final say on players?

3.How do the players feel - especially those whose names he mangled?

4.What action did the Club take after TalkSport?

5.Do the Club not feel embarrassed by TalkSport?

 

 

General Mike Ashley/ Ownership

1.Why did MA buy the Club?

2.Does he still “want” to own NUFC?

3.Can you help us understand what you are trying to achieve with NUFC?

4.What does Mike Ashley want? Why does he do things he knows anger fans?

5.Will you ever issue a statement (from YOU) or communicate directly with fans?

6.Would you sell?

7.Would you consider some form of scheme to allow (partial) fan ownership?

8.How much we now owe Ashley has he been taking the installments back?

9.Would MA accept further (outside) investment into NUFC?

 

 

General NUFC

1.What happened to the “five year plan”?

2.Do you think you are following your own Mission Statement (refresh???)

3.How can we be confident in club when direction changes more than the wind?

4.What does the last week to to encourage stability?

5.What progress have you made as a club?

6.& do you actually understand how important the customer is?

7.What was the MASSIVE commercial deal that was going to be announced at the end of the season?

8.Would you ever consider bringing a safe standing/ singing section back?

9.Will SJP ever be upgraded to hold more?

10.What’ the thinking behind “membership” also do you know how poor an offer it is?

11.Also as a side question can they look at away games, in particular lifting the ban on non season ticket holders and also taking the full quota of tickets offered by the home clubs

12.Have you published the revised disabled supporters’ ticketing policy yet? Who are you consulting with?

 

 

Transfer/ Team questions

1.What is the transfer strategy? Has it changed? Are will still buy young & cheap?

2.Why didn’t we sign players last summer to build on 5th place?

3.Why weren't the buys/ sales sorted the week after the last game as promised?

4.Can we get out of the Wonga deal?

5.Do we always have to bring in money first before buying?

6.Could the club look into fan input on how the club is ran?

7.Is the rumour true about Aubameyang been offered shares in SD in a contract offer?

8.How often do you practise corners and do you have any tactics

9.with us £18mil up on transfers and the wage bill down + TV deal, why arent we spending big eg Aubameyeng

10.And how long are we going to have to put up with the fact that the likes of Gutierrez and Tiote are constantly bigged up as being 'key players' for the team when in reality the only thing they contribute is holding us back?

 

Any other business

•Pre - season tournament held at St James' Park each year. Newcastle United and 3 of Sir Bobby's former clubs all taking part. Four teams in the tournament with the opposition rotated each year so they all get a turn. Imagine the interest in this man! They could even donate the gate money to the Sir Bobby Robson Foundation

•Why not do themed screenings of classic matches in the off-season?

•Why not embrace the city, embrace the club and its fans - it would help build a winning team.

 

 

[Ameritoon]

Any other business

•Pre - season tournament held at St James' Park each year. Newcastle United and 3 of Sir Bobby's former clubs all taking part. Four teams in the tournament with the opposition rotated each year so they all get a turn. Imagine the interest in this man! They could even donate the gate money to the Sir Bobby Robson Foundation

 

I do that all the time in FM, can't believe it's never been done before.

[biggs]

genuine belief here that if he gets the booing ,banners and media against him that he will do everything in his power to shaft us the fans good and proper by selling our best players for personal gain

[Village Idiot]

I dread the day you attempt the "Bobby Robson tournament" because I'm 90% certain we'll refuse the invitation because it'll clash with some idiotic American/Asian tour

[BottledDog]

Are people suggesting an expensive lawyer as a preferable director of football.

 

 

Think I'll be forever bemused at the love that Chris Mort still generates.

[Guest antz1uk]

Are people suggesting an expensive lawyer as a preferable director of football.

 

 

Think I'll be forever bemused at the love that Chris Mort still generates.

 

This x 10

[Interpolic]

Are people suggesting an expensive lawyer as a preferable director of football.

 

 

Think I'll be forever bemused at the love that Chris Mort still generates.

 

It's almost as if you always manage to be behind whatever Ashley's up to at any given time, without ever going to the trouble of criticising any past decisions in any detail.

[Guest neesy111]

Are people suggesting an expensive lawyer as a preferable director of football.

 

 

Think I'll be forever bemused at the love that Chris Mort still generates.

 

This x 10

 

[Guest]

There was at the very least fan interaction from him. We've had none of that for 5 years under Llambias.

[Guest Roger Kint]

genuine belief here that if he gets the booing ,banners and media against him that he will do everything in his power to shaft us the fans good and proper by selling our best players for personal gain

 

Not enough in the world for this man. ffs personal gain? Its like selling your house for half price to a family of chav scum because you hate the neighbours. He gets no fucking gain!

[Guest Roger Kint]

Are people suggesting an expensive lawyer as a preferable director of football.

 

 

Think I'll be forever bemused at the love that Chris Mort still generates.

 

This x 10

 

[Crayola Kid]

genuine belief here that if he gets the booing ,banners and media against him that he will do everything in his power to shaft us the fans good and proper by selling our best players for personal gain

 

Not enough in the world for this man. ffs personal gain? Its like selling your house for half price to a family of chav scum because you hate the neighbours. He gets no f***ing gain!

 

This is something I dont  completely understand - the personal gain thing.  Does anyone know, and I have to say I do not know the answer, whether a business owner can simply take cash out out a business account and put it in his own personal account?

 

I mean, say NUFC sold two players this summer for 30M quid.  Is there a legitimate pathway for that money to be dropped into Ashley's own account, now or in the future, other than as a declared payment against outstanding loans owed to him, which would then be diminished by the amount paid?

 

Anyone? 

 

 

[Guest Roger Kint]

genuine belief here that if he gets the booing ,banners and media against him that he will do everything in his power to shaft us the fans good and proper by selling our best players for personal gain

 

Not enough in the world for this man. ffs personal gain? Its like selling your house for half price to a family of chav scum because you hate the neighbours. He gets no f***ing gain!

 

This is something I dont  completely understand - the personal gain thing.  Does anyone know, and I have to say I do not know the answer, whether a business owner can simply take cash out out a business account and put it in his own personal account?

 

I mean, say NUFC sold two players this summer for 30M quid.  Is there a legitimate pathway for that money to be dropped into Ashley's own account, now or in the future, other than as a declared payment against outstanding loans owed to him, which would then be diminished by the amount paid?

 

Anyone? 

 

 

 

Theres nothing really stopping him taking money out at all, he has done so over the years. Its the idiocy of selling the best players for 'personal gain' resulting in getting us relegated and losing tens of millions in the process that is such a backward notion. His greatest personal gain would be to spend as little as possible while ensuring we stay in the PL and paying off his debts til he starts taking out profit year on year. In other words what he is doing now.

[Crayola Kid]

genuine belief here that if he gets the booing ,banners and media against him that he will do everything in his power to shaft us the fans good and proper by selling our best players for personal gain

 

Not enough in the world for this man. ffs personal gain? Its like selling your house for half price to a family of chav scum because you hate the neighbours. He gets no f***ing gain!

 

This is something I dont  completely understand - the personal gain thing.  Does anyone know, and I have to say I do not know the answer, whether a business owner can simply take cash out out a business account and put it in his own personal account?

 

I mean, say NUFC sold two players this summer for 30M quid.  Is there a legitimate pathway for that money to be dropped into Ashley's own account, now or in the future, other than as a declared payment against outstanding loans owed to him, which would then be diminished by the amount paid?

 

Anyone? 

 

 

 

Theres nothing really stopping him taking money out at all, he has done so over the years. Its the idiocy of selling the best players for 'personal gain' resulting in getting us relegated and losing tens of millions in the process that is such a backward notion. His greatest personal gain would be to spend as little as possible while ensuring we stay in the PL and paying off his debts til he starts taking out profit year on year. In other words what he is doing now.

 

Do you know this to be true though?  I mean, the accounts are scrutinised publicly for this kind of business, can you really just put your hand in the till as an owner (any type of business) without tax implications etc?

 

You can maybe guess, I'm no accountant.  It doesnt feel like it should be that straightforward, though?