Mike Ashley

[NewJerseyMag]

Feels like the Seymour/Westwood era.

 

At least the ground looks good, with the exception of the tacky SD s**t.

[Exiled in Texas]

Ashley is a business man - not a fan. 

He makes his decisions looking at the balance sheet not the pitch, so he has a different focus to the fans. He wants to make money (either for NUFC or for SD) and how he does that does not necessarily mean that the quality of the product on the field has to be good.

 

If Ashley thinks that SD is getting value from their brand exposure through NUFC, then he is probably content with the arrangement.  The difference is that fans are only interested in the product put forth on the field, and we don't value the SD advertising (especially as it doesn;t show up on the balance sheet at NUFC).

[LoveItIfWeBeatU]

http://www.thejournal.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/tarnishing-newcastle-uniteds-reputation-sad-5821252

 

The tarnishing of Newcastle United's reputation is a sad and sorry state of affairs

31 Aug 2013 08:21

 

Newcastle United are a mere 72 hours away from the ignominy of living down to Tyneside’s subterranean expectations of their summer business.

 

 

 

To only bring in one loan signing in a summer where football is awash with new-found TV riches is some achievement, but they are on the brink of managing it. Perhaps Joe Kinnear can add it to that gold-plated CV of his.

 

There is a bigger narrative that is building steam here, though: one that won’t even be halted by desperate, last-ditch business before Monday’s late-night deadline. This has been the summer when the steady and unmistakable tarnishing of Newcastle United’s reputation has begun to build a toxic momentum.

 

That is not a sentence that anyone would write lightly.

 

There is so much about the club that swells the breast with pride: from the superb work of their Foundation to the stoic dedication of the many club employees who do their best to uphold the finest traditions of Tyneside’s most storied institutions.

 

Take, for example, the way Morecambe officials talked about Newcastle on Wednesday night. In the hushed shadow of the stands at Globe Park it was possible to hear Shrimps employees hailing the club as a “class act”.

 

Little things like supplying a signed shirt for a charity auction might not find their way on to a balance sheet but they ensure the club is in surplus with many in the game.

 

What a shame that the owner and his anointed director of football have singularly failed to live up to the standards set by those who see the club’s crest as standing for something more than a meal ticket back into the game or a vehicle for their already successful sportswear business.

 

What a shame that neither man appears to grasp the responsibilities they have in their privileged positions or understand that they are accountable to the thousands who will file through the gates this afternoon.

 

The mistakes this summer have been legion, but let’s begin with the pub politics that saw Kinnear get the job in the first place. On a sunny Saturday in June, the owner summoned Derek Llambias and Graham Carr to the Orange Tree pub in Totteridge to be told about Kinnear’s appointment over a pint.

 

This is no way to run a used car lot, never mind a cherished football club that has the emotional and financial investment of thousands in the North East.

 

Where was the due diligence of employing someone with the skills for the job? Where was the studious and careful sifting through the candidates who would no doubt have jumped at the chance to take on such a prestigious role? Drowned at the bottom of a pint pot, it seems. To do all of this hundreds of miles from the city that has St James’ Park deep in its bosom was contemptuous. What happened next was utterly embarrassing.

 

Every businessman in England would grasp that the way Kinnear was approached and then appointed was a recipe for calamity. There are plenty of gifted candidates who would have done the job. Yet Ashley proceeded and didn’t even blink when Kinnear took to the airwaves – ahead of an official club announcement, of course – and proceeded to billow nonsense for 48 hours. At one point he even seemed to suggest he had “more intelligence” than Newcastle’s fans. It was outrageous.

 

The club’s reputation – which had been repaired by the thought that was put into their strategy for the 2011/12 season – felt tarnished by what transpired.

 

For Kinnear it was “water off a duck’s a***”, to use the mangled idiom he uttered in this infamous Talksport interview.

 

Not so for Derek Llambias who, having felt his position was rendered untenable by Kinnear’s appointment, resigned on a point of principle. Carr was talked out of doing the same.

 

Ashley, presumably, felt this was yet another storm of controversy to be weathered. He will be bolstered by the dispatch that despite all of the criticism, the cursing and the cussing the launch of the new strip – adorned with the name of pay-day lending firm Wonga – has been the most successful for three years.

 

What he might not understand is that discontent and disgust has begun to seep into the bone marrow of this city. The people are still proud of Newcastle United – of course they are, hence the shirt sales – but to a man they are not proud of Mike Ashley’s Newcastle United.

 

They cringe when Kinnear misleads. Some local businesses wonder whether they really want to invite clients to watch a team that is owned by a man who plays fast and loose with the devotion of his public. Ashley will be prepared for the criticism on Monday night. If Cabaye goes and there is no replacement, the fury will build. The questions surrounding Kinnear will rise to a crescendo.

 

What will he do? Very little, apart from tell Alan Pardew to get on with it until January when alternatives will be sourced. In the meantime, loan signings are back on the agenda in a move that feels very much like the kind of short-termism the club had talked of burying very recently.

 

They asked for Darren Bent on loan and Demba Ba too, both the footballing equivalent of applying a plaster to a flesh wound. Make do and mend: hardly a strategy to reclaim that lost momentum.

 

It is understood that Kinnear is bemused by the vitriol coming his way. He doesn’t see Newcastle’s current problems as his fault.

 

Fair point, Joe. You haven’t signed any players yet either, though. We were not fooled by the pictures of you smiling next to Loic Remy after a deal that was nearly done in January was finally brokered. So far Newcastle have collected broken promises at the rate of knots, while not even coming close to adding new signings.

 

A judgement is coming his way on Tuesday. Even if Ashley doesn’t hold him to account, the rest of us will.

 

Perhaps the verdict is already in. A couple of weeks ago, a Newcastle supporter called Adam Clery wrote a piece on supporting the club in the Mike Ashley era for the Sabotage Times which must have been difficult to piece together.

 

“This is Newcastle United as it exists under Mike Ashley,” it read. “You either accept things won’t be run they way you want them to be and consign yourself to going along with the sell-to-buy, just-do-enough mantra, or you spend your entire time wasting your energy being angry.”

[Fenham Mag]

About time the press speak up.

[AlanSkÃrare]

Well in Douglas. Now for Pardew as well.

[Dave]

About time the press speak up.

 

It's an excellent piece. Funny how nobody was willing to put their name to it though.

[Fenham Mag]

http://filipspagnoli.files.wordpress.com/2008/10/reporters-sans-frontic3a8res-reporters-without-borders-press-freedom-map.jpg

 

Can someone edit this to highlight Newcastle in red.

[Wullie]

The new strip launch is the most successful in three years?

 

We've got some of the thickest fans in football.

[Fenham Mag]

The new strip launch is the most successful in three years?

 

We've got some of the thickest fans in football.

 

Absolute morons.

[EthiGeordie]

Ashley admire Wneger and publicly stated he wants to copy what he does. No surprise Arsenal and Newcastle are spend 0 this summer.

[Guest bimpy474]

The new strip launch is the most successful in three years?

 

We've got some of the thickest fans in football.

 

They bought them with Wonga loans.

[Wallace]

It concerns me when the press are starting to be as outspoken as this because it makes me think that things are even worse than we are aware of because they will undoubtedly know more of what is going on behind the scenes than we do.

 

 

[merlin]

Its a great article, but nothing we don't already know.

 

Unfortunately, the only thing which will bother Ashley is a major and sustained boycott of the club and its merchandise. As many fans have nothing else in their lives, this is sadly not going to happen, but there is NO way I would support this regime.

 

As Wullie says, we must have some of the thickest fans in the game to keep buying shirts after the treatment they receive from the owner and his acolytes - you can almost hear Ashley sniggering all the way down the M1.

 

I bet the Journal will get a testy phone call from Sports Direct, asking who wrote it - it was right on the mark and we can only hope that a buyer for the club arrives sooner rather than later because more windows like this will happen if not.

[AyeDubbleYoo]

Got to say its a bit harsh to hammer fans for buying kits and going to the game.

 

We might get all superior on here about how the club is being run and all that, but I find it hard to criticise people who want to show their support and wear their colours. At the end of the day, we're all fans and that's what fans do.

[Dokko]

Was hoping to pick up the virgin top for a tenner, seems £25 is the price, obviously still popular due to wonga, however I'm surprised at this being the Bassett selling in x amount of years.

[Guest Phil K]

The new strip launch is the most successful in three years?

 

We've got some of the thickest fans in football.

They bought them with Wonga loans.

At least you never see full kit Newcastle fans.

As for most successful ? Ive seen very few. Normally see loads

 

[Guest bimpy474]

Was hoping to pick up the virgin top for a tenner, seems £25 is the price, obviously still popular due to wonga, however I'm surprised at this being the Bassett selling in x amount of years.

 

Long sleeve virgin top (home) £14.99 if you want to know the info.

[Guest bimpy474]

The new strip launch is the most successful in three years?

 

We've got some of the thickest fans in football.

They bought them with Wonga loans.

At least you never see full kit Newcastle fans.

As for most successful ? Ive seen very few. Normally see loads

 

 

Not seen many full kit wankers tbf.

[Guest bimpy474]

And the greeny/yellowish from last season £11.99.

[maze]

Got to say its a bit harsh to hammer fans for buying kits and going to the game.

 

We might get all superior on here about how the club is being run and all that, but I find it hard to criticise people who want to show their support and wear their colours. At the end of the day, we're all fans and that's what fans do.

 

I hear you. On the other hand, as mentioned in a few threads, the most important thing for Mike Ashley is Sports Direct and seiling kits. Local fans, and 'stereotypical' Toon fans, are actually important and free advertising 'vehicles' for marketing SD. If most people stopped buying the kits, stopped wearing the kits, that might have an indirect negative effect on Ashley's goals. I don't buy into the 'show support and love for the club' because the club is more like an ill-runned investment, and Ashley is showing you all that he does not care the slightest about anything else than money.

[maze]

 

Got to say its a bit harsh to hammer fans for buying kits and going to the game.

 

We might get all superior on here about how the club is being run and all that, but I find it hard to criticise people who want to show their support and wear their colours. At the end of the day, we're all fans and that's what fans do.

 

I hear you. On the other hand, as mentioned in a few threads, the most important thing for Mike Ashley is Sports Direct and seiling kits. Local fans, and 'stereotypical' Toon fans, are actually important and free advertising 'vehicles' for marketing SD. If most people stopped buying the kits, stopped wearing the kits, that might have an indirect negative effect on Ashley's goals. I don't buy into the 'show support and love for the club' because the club is more like an ill-runned investment, and Ashley is showing you all that he does not care the slightest about anything else than money.

 

Agree to an extent, but it's symptomatic of the problem I suppose, FWIW I'm not hammering people for going to the game. But I feel like buying that abomination of a shirt is not conducive to showing Ashley anything in regards to the negative feeling towards him. Each to their own of course

 

Yeah. I guess what I'm trying to say is: the fans need to find an effective way to riot in order to force him out.If that includes boycotting and not buying/wearing kits - I don't know.

[Rosenrot]

We should lobby parliament for a 51% law like Germany. It isn't fair to expect people to boycott the matches. Football clubs are cultural institutions rather than a traditional business and therefore should not be treated like one in my opinion.

[wyn davies]

got some sort of deal with Rangers shirts as well  I believe

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

i

[alexthegreat]

I remember being told that the reason he bought the club was because on the face of it, it looked good value, so he was going to hang on to it for literally no more than a year or two then flog it on at a profit.

 

There were rumours of him looking to sell almost as soon as he took over, which most fans, me included, dismissed as bollocks. Louise Talyor reported this in the Guardian in Feb 2008 (6 months before the wheels came off):

 

The sky above a frosty Tyneside was brilliant blue yesterday but the air felt thick with déjà vu. Sources had confirmed that Mike Ashley, Newcastle United's owner, recently made an indirect approach to Dubai Investment Capital, inquiring if it might be interested in buying the club for £300m and renewed turmoil at St James' Park seemed right back on the agenda.

 

That offer was swiftly declined by DIC, whose sole footballing interest centres on attempts to buy Liverpool, but there have been repeated rumours that Ashley, a sports-retail billionaire, was poised to offload Newcastle almost from the day, early last summer, when he bought out the Hall family.

 

Even if previous talk about assorted purchasers from Iceland, China and Singapore proved ill founded, the proposal to DIC was concrete.

 

As parallel rumours about an unnamed consortium of north-east businessmen with Alan Shearer as its figurehead apparently being keen on taking over at St James' also gathered momentum - "a load of old cobblers planted to try to make DIC interested," said another source - Chris Mort, Newcastle's chairman, remained silent.

 

I was later told that the unnamed consortium was Barry Moat, and although he only got mentioned in the papers in July - August 2009. Ashley all but confirmed this with one of his rare quotes at the time:

"Barry Moat has been driving me mad for two years," Ashley said. "If he wants to buy the club, he's got a one-off opportunity to come up with the cash - £80m upfront."

 

2 years ago in summer 2009 takes us back to summer 2007 - which is practically the day he bought us.

 

I'm pretty certain he was looking for a quick profit but grossly miscalculated. As a consequence he has been stuck with us for 6 years. I suppose we could make up for his disappointment a bit with some quality football, but that was in short supply last season.

 

I saw 2 seperate people at the match yesterday who said they had heard that he had lost interest, was looking to sell, and we weren't signing anyone. I've no idea if that's true or not but he wasnt at either of the first 2 home matches. Basically he must be absolutely sick of NUFC.

 

 

 

 

[Vinny Green Balls]

Poor Ashley.  I weep for him.  If it's a toy that he got sick of, well it happens to be a toy that thousands of people have invested time in.  The fucker is the worst type of rich cunt: a pleb who desperately wants to be an aristocrat.