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Mike Ashley


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So this is good news for us? Isnt the rule he cant own more than 10% of another club? They will probably change the rules again for the fat c***

 

I've heard so many different variations of the rule, I've got no clue what it actually is.

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Nothing will beat the exposure that SD gets through EPL abroad, every single home match televised. There's no way he'd swap us for Rangers in a million years, CL money for Rangers would be worth 1% of what NUFC brings to SD on a fortnightly basis.

 

This Rangers stuff is all in-addition.

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Guest antz1uk

the only thing that i can think may be good for us is he feels he can make more money from rangers than us, however if it's just merchandising he already has that sewn up, can't see a need for him to own more of rangers than he already does, unless he is thinking of exposure when they eventually get towards the champs league, he likes to play a long game so this could just be the start of a slow process of him eventually moving north of the border. I just fail to see how he would get more exposure up there than down here

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Can't see the SPL being a more attractive advertising vehicle than the PL either. He won't make more money out of their league either. The only question is since he already has the merchandising and the stadium naming rights sorted, why would he see the need to increase his stake and get rid of the CEO? God knows what his plans for Rangers are and how much he would bring them to their knees in order to achieve them.

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I'm sure he is just after the merchandising of Rangers, he'll not want to run the football side of it.

 

Its proven to be a nightmare with NUFC...If he thinks NUFC fans are militant wait until the Rangers fans cotton on to his "ideas".

 

Awful man, destroyer of football clubs.

 

 

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JUst reading a bit more about Ashley wanting Rangers's image rights.  This is what he does, he has bought Lonsdale, Everlast, Firetrap, Dunlop, Sondico and many more.  Then cracks out any amount of cheap tat with a well known brand name on it. 

 

Unlucky Rangers.

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http://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/sport/football/just-mike-ashley-putting-much-7905034

 

Mike Ashley’s latest Rangers power play is a clear and present attempt to further his influence at Ibrox.

 

Through his MASH holdings company, Ashley has called for an emergency general meeting and the removal of chief executive Graham Wallace and director Phillip Nash – something that the current board says it will recommend that shareholders reject.

 

But Ashley is now the second biggest shareholder at Rangers, and it seems that he is testing the water around the embattled Ibrox club.

 

United fans fed up of Ashley’s approach to Newcastle have long hoped that his interest north of the border will be the thing that takes him away from the North East.

 

For their part, Newcastle United continue to stand by the furious statement they made last month in which Ashley re-asserted his control over the Magpies. He said he would not sell until 2016.

 

Why has Mike Ashley done this?

 

BBC Scotland correspondent Roddy Forsyth called it a “tactical strike” on Rangers from Ashley and it does look like another power play by Ashley, who has been very busy recently.

 

He bought shares in Tesco and Debenhams and upped his stake in the Ibrox club to 9% recently, making him the second biggest shareholder in the club.

 

Although Ashley is by no means guaranteed to get his way – the Rangers board say that they will recommend that shareholders reject the call from MASH – he is flexing his muscles again. If he can push this through, Ashley would presumably then look to get someone more sympathetic to his own aims on the day-to-day board.

 

As for a timescale on when Ashley will make a final push for Rangers, it seems to be coming sooner rather than later.

 

Why is he doing this? Can he do this? What does it all mean?

 

Some estimate his personal fortune to be close to £4billion, so to be perfectly honest he can do what he wants.

 

But why is the Magpies’ owner becoming more involved with the Glasgow club? Here we look at the reasons for the Newcastle United owner getting so involved with a club fallen on hard times that plays in country whose football wealth is a faction of that in the Premier League.

 

What has Mike Ashley actually done at Rangers?

 

A text came through from a pal in Glasgow that simply read: “Ashley’s tanks are on the Ibrox lawns.”

 

That’s a good summary of the situation.

 

Ashley owns 4% of the shares in Rangers personally and recently bought another 5% through MASH holdings - so he is now the second largest shareholder in the club. An Isle of Man hedge fund Laxey Partners owns 16.3% of the shares but there is a lot of jostling between interested parties.

 

Ashley is a major player, though. He has also taken full control of the club’s retail stores. That’s a lot of store room for Sports Direct. He got all of this for a song.

 

It has also transpired that he bought the naming rights to Ibrox for, wait for it, £1. Yes, Rangers who not so long ago were paying more money on wages and transfers than just about every club in Britain are that desperate.

 

He doesn’t own Rangers. Not yet. But he is by far now the most important man at the club. Ashley was also asked to underwrite a £4m share issue, but for the moment that has not happened, as far as we know.

 

So why is he interested at all in a Scottish club that are still not in a top flight?

 

Rangers are in massive trouble. There is no money and a club that size cannot afford to even limp along with all their staff and a massive stadium to look after with the revenue that is coming in.

 

But don’t think for a moment that Rangers are a bad deal. If someone had the money, they could go in there a buy a football institution for a bargain.

 

Then they could pump a bit of cash in to get them to the SPL with the aim of heading to the Champions League in the not-too-distant future . . .

 

And then sell the club for a massive profit some time down the road.

 

Don’t be fooled by the fact Scottish football is struggling a bit at the moment. Rangers are a club with millions of supporters all around the world. That’s a lot of people walking around with tops with the Sports Direct logo on them.

 

Long-term plan?

 

Your guess is as good as mine. Ashley can still own Newcastle and have an interest in Rangers, something we will look at in a moment.

 

If I had to take a punt, I would say he isn’t going anywhere, not in the near future, and yet has worked out a way to increase his company’s profile in Scotland. The Albion Car Park, situated beside Ibrox itself, is a Steven Taylor clearance away from the M8 and owned by the club.

 

It would make a cracking spot for a massive sports equipment store of some description. Just a thought.

 

Do the Rangers fans want him?

 

Not particularly. They certainly don’t want Ibrox being renamed as the Sports Direct Arena.

 

The fact is that the club wouldn’t actually earn any money from such a change. Sound familiar?

 

But they are struggling to pay the bills. A second administration (the club was also liquidated in 2012) is far from an impossibility, so they need someone to help out.

 

And Ashley has the money.

 

A South African-based businessman called Dave King has talked a lot about investing. He’s not done it yet.

 

Rangers are running out of cash and options. He might be their best choice.

 

Can he own two clubs?

 

Ashley can’t own two clubs in the Premier League. But theoretically he could own one in Scotland and also Newcastle.

 

The clubs play in different competitions, but could meet in Europe and this is a problem because clubs owned by the same man cannot play each other in the Champions League or Europa League.

 

But here’s the thing.

 

Uefa’s rules say he could own less than 50.1% of a club and not be considered an owner. They see an owner as being the man who has the majority of voting rights and the power to remove directors.

 

Or to put it another way, the big boss.

 

So Ashley could own a lot of Rangers if he was seen not to be pulling the strings.

 

This means he could rename the stadium, run all the outlets, own a load of shares, as long as he doesn’t have any say in club matters.

 

And does this mean he is positioning himself to sell Newcastle United?

 

Ah, this is the big question.

 

Personally, I can’t see it. First of all, who is going to pay the several hundred million that Ashley would want?

 

The guy is brilliant at making money. According to Forbes he is the 252nd richest person on the planet.

 

And if Sports Direct can benefit from his owning Newcastle, having a stake in Rangers and also Oldham, then that’s what he will do.

 

There may be some obstacles in his way.

 

However, mega-rich, powerful, business men tend to get what they want.

 

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Is there any way he could syphon profits from NUFC into Rangers-  assuming he gains control or full influence via a patsy on the board?

 

As a majority shareholder and director in NUFC I'm sure he could pay out dividends if he wanted to, and spend that cash any way he likes, so yes.

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Is there any way he could syphon profits from NUFC into Rangers-  assuming he gains control or full influence via a patsy on the board?

 

 

I would assume he would continue to take what he does (Legally)from nufc. and then loan money to rangers.

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Guest zicomartin

Nothing to stop him loaning out 5 players that Pardew has ruined, to get them into the group stages of the CL. AFAIK.

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Nothing to stop him loaning out 5 players that Pardew has ruined, to get them into the group stages of the CL. AFAIK.

 

And that is the big issue, football authorities should be looking at on rulings whether or not he can own (or effectively) 2 football clubs, because in a world of financial fair play, this could become a huge loophole. Irrespective of which country those 2 clubs are in. FFS there is less distance between us and Glasgow than there is between us and the bulk of the PL.

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Imagine being in a position where there are only 251 people in the whole world with more money than you.

 

Fucking hell. That's insane.

 

Rangers is a much more realistic punt than us imho. They can walk it back into the CL.

 

He'll recoup his money and, if he wants, flog it.

 

We are just not that. Not by a long stretch.

 

Still scratching my head as to what the future for us looks like and can't see how the Ashley regime depart at this stage.

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Imagine being in a position where there are only 251 people in the whole world with more money than you.

 

Fucking hell. That's insane.

 

Rangers is a much more realistic punt than us imho. They can walk it back into the CL.

 

He'll recoup his money and, if he wants, flog it.

 

We are just not that. Not by a long stretch.

 

Still scratching my head as to what the future for us looks like and can't see how the Ashley regime depart at this stage.

 

This is still fairly unlikely and still nowhere near as profitable as the Premier League anyway. I don't know what his aim is but I feel the Champions League is an irrelevance.

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Hasn't he got a history of buying up struggling brands, such as Dunlop Slazenger and Lonsdale, when they are at a low value. Not sure what his track record is at turning those brands around or not, but if I were a Rangers fan I would be looking into that. I think his intentions with Rangers may be completely different to that when he bought us. I still believe he bought us primarily as an advertising vehicle with added benefit of giving himself a plaything and the chance to prove the experts who said you could never make money out of owning a football club wrong. With Rangers, I think it's pure business, how much can he make out of them.

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