Mike Ashley

[AyeDubbleYoo]

I just don't want an absolutely massive Sports Direct right in the middle of Oxford St. Meh.

[Al Moody]

Never go shopping on Oxford St anyway, it's full of mugs.

 

Now it'll be even more full of mugs.

 

 

 

[Minhosa]

From the largest music shop in the world to the largest jumble sale in the world.

 

It's in such a prestigious location that shop. Tourists from all over the world will wander past/inside it.

 

What a fucking advert for London and England. Donnay and Lonsdale tat as far as the eye can see.

[biggs]

Another cracking piece from George

here here 

[alexf]

Sports direct. Whenever I've been in there it's absolute chaos where there appears to be no layout at all with everything randomly put anywhere.

[Cajun]

Sports direct. Whenever I've been in there it's absolute chaos where there appears to be no layout at all with everything randomly put anywhere.

 

It is a 'professional' jumble sale.

[Guest Roger Kint]

Its a smear on the good name of jumble

[Cajun]

true.

 

That said I have been to the Newcastle Sport Direct, if anyone has the misfortune to go to Stevenage visit theirs. Makes the Newcastle one look like it was designed by German organisation consultants. Absolute mess and I am pretty sure when the stock comes in the staff just throw it all up in the air and where it lands is where it stays.

 

I went to find a jokey picture but if anyone has been there they would look at this and take a few moments wondering if it was actually a real photo -

 

 

 

http://i44.tinypic.com/x6hceo.jpg

 

 

 

[Guest neesy111]

The current SD place on Oxford Street is pretty small and a bit of a dump, that's a massive upgrade for them.  Rent must be enormous.

 

Aye, it's tiny compared to the one in Eldon Square.

[LRD]

That photo was taken in the shop area of SD, really?

[Cajun]

No, well it could well be one of their stores as the Stevenage one isn't far off but I was joking

[Matt]

It's in such a prestigious location that shop. Tourists from all over the world will wander past/inside it.

 

What a fucking advert for London and England. Donnay and Lonsdale tat as far as the eye can see.

 

There is nothing prestigious about Oxford St, it's an absolute dump.

[LRD]

It looks like a fecking dump. If SD is anywhere close to that jumble, I wouldn't want to step in.

 

Just imagine going under that pile to find your size. You'll probably find the dried-out corpse of the previous customer in there.

[Theregulars]

It's in such a prestigious location that shop. Tourists from all over the world will wander past/inside it.

 

What a f***ing advert for London and England. Donnay and Lonsdale tat as far as the eye can see.

 

There is nothing prestigious about Oxford St, it's an absolute dump.

 

Bollocks, it's a landmark.

[Stifler]

As it's pretty much the only sportswear shop in the UK you would have thought he would have taken advantage of it and made it more organised inside the store, it must be a headache working there.

 

I have a feeling they may pull out of Eldon Square after they had a disagreement with the owners (INTU) over rent rates for Republic which they own. Recent rumours have said that they are interested in the old Peacocks unit in Monument mall.

[Cajun]

As it's pretty much the only sportswear shop in the UK you would have thought he would have taken advantage of it and made it more organised inside the store, it must be a headache working there.

 

I have a feeling they may pull out of Eldon Square after they had a disagreement with the owners (INTU) over rent rates for Republic which they own. Recent rumours have said that they are interested in the old Peacocks unit in Monument mall.

 

He's probably not fussed about it for exactly that reason. He pretty much dominates the high street sports shop market so people can put up with the mess or tough shit.

[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 p*ss 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.

 

OK you don't understand outsourcing then.

 

Businesses don't hand over "core" business they outsource peripheral stuff. NUFC's core business is not making/sourcing pies/sausage rolls or brewing/selling beer or bovril.

 

Companies who do catering (for example) are geared to be able to undertake the same catering for less (economies of scale) than a non-catering company trying to set up a catering side-line. You don't outsource to make less money, you outsource to make more money.

 

All the money you get from an outsourced deal is 100% margin, you have no overhead, run it yourself and your margin is variable.

 

BTW SJH first outsourced the catering.

 

Seems like I don't when you put it like that

 

Anyway, its something I personally wouldn't do myself. I can see why Ashley would though, along with other areas of the club as he has no interest in the long-term or building something, he wants the club to cost as little as possible to run and to claw as back as much as it can for him so he can get out.

[Toonpack]

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 p*ss 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.

 

OK you don't understand outsourcing then.

 

Businesses don't hand over "core" business they outsource peripheral stuff. NUFC's core business is not making/sourcing pies/sausage rolls or brewing/selling beer or bovril.

 

Companies who do catering (for example) are geared to be able to undertake the same catering for less (economies of scale) than a non-catering company trying to set up a catering side-line. You don't outsource to make less money, you outsource to make more money.

 

All the money you get from an outsourced deal is 100% margin, you have no overhead, run it yourself and your margin is variable.

 

BTW SJH first outsourced the catering.

 

Seems like I don't when you put it like that

 

Anyway, its something I personally wouldn't do myself. I can see why Ashley would though, along with other areas of the club as he has no interest in the long-term or building something, he wants the club to cost as little as possible to run and to claw as back as much as it can for him so he can get out.

 

Every fan should want that, leaves more "margin" for the team (even if he recoups some of his £££'s along the way). Also I reiterate, SJH started the outsourcing, it's really not a bad/negative thing.

[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 p*ss 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.

 

OK you don't understand outsourcing then.

 

Businesses don't hand over "core" business they outsource peripheral stuff. NUFC's core business is not making/sourcing pies/sausage rolls or brewing/selling beer or bovril.

 

Companies who do catering (for example) are geared to be able to undertake the same catering for less (economies of scale) than a non-catering company trying to set up a catering side-line. You don't outsource to make less money, you outsource to make more money.

 

All the money you get from an outsourced deal is 100% margin, you have no overhead, run it yourself and your margin is variable.

 

BTW SJH first outsourced the catering.

 

Seems like I don't when you put it like that

 

Anyway, its something I personally wouldn't do myself. I can see why Ashley would though, along with other areas of the club as he has no interest in the long-term or building something, he wants the club to cost as little as possible to run and to claw as back as much as it can for him so he can get out.

 

Every fan should want that, leaves more "margin" for the team (even if he recoups some of his £££'s along the way). Also I reiterate, SJH started the outsourcing, it's really not a bad/negative thing.

 

I do, but not to the point where areas then become neglected or go stale. For example SJP is badly in need of modernising.

 

The corporate areas which is where we should be trying to bring in better money is a piss take. Floor tiles missing, stools and chairs falling apart etc.

 

 

[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.

 

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.

 

Is Mr Mort your dad or summink?

 

I think you'll find the times people feel the need to look at it from the other side (which apparently grinds your gears something rotten) is precisely because someone hasn't gone to the trouble of criticising past decisions in any detail beyond 'he's a nonsensical cnut'.

 

Oh, and I'm proper loving his latest stunt by the way. Totally behind it.

 

I just find the comment strange, how come you weren't crying out for a Director of Football when the lawyer was in charge, or when the casino owner was in charge?

 

Err, probably because (outside of the rare occasion a manager actually wants one like AVB at the spuds) I'd never normally cry out for a director of football.

 

If we must have one, then I'd rather even Joe 'fackin' Kinnear over someone who has practically no involvement in actual football.

[Exiled in Texas]

Sports Direct already own Lillywhites in Piccadilly Circus, and that place is always packed.  I would imagine that his Oxford St location will be stocked and managed similar to Lillywhites.

[JH]

Wa wa wa there's nothing we can do about Ashley.

 

Pfft...

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-23109817

 

[Rich]

Will that make a buyer magically appear?

[NEEJ]

It's a good sales pitch imo. 'Buy our club, do a good job and you won't have chairs thrown at your head.'

[Away Toon]

If Fulham can get sold in a day, for a good (rumoured) price, how come this twit can't sell the club. We know he's trying.