Mike Ashley (former owner)

[morla84]

No one has even mentioned an embargo

It was reported briefly after the second statement from BZG came out that once papers have been submitted to the PL under takeover rules neither party can release statements to the press for 20 days while they are reviewed.

 

There wasn't more made of it because the press would be making it obvious that anything they publish for the next few weeks would be made up clickbait. Also explains why Midhat keeps sending people ? emojis and not much text and sent a message with the monochrome acquisitions company name - to make it obvious that they haven't pulled out and still mean business.

[jonny1403]

Does anyone know what happens with all of Ashley's personal "loans" he provided to the club (i.e. things that would typically be paid for with club profits but were instead funded by him loaning us back the money we'd made him)??

I wouldn't be surprised if the c*nt tried to add full repayment of those on top of the 350M 'club price'.

 

That's not how any of that worked/works.

 

It kind of is though in effect. He's cut off the clubs income streams and diverted them for Sports Direct's and/or his own personal benefit. Hence the club wouldn't have needed these 'loans' if Sports Direct had been paying for advertising (plus other things) rather than depriving the club of millions every year.

 

Nah none of that is true - the loans were made to keep the club's cash flow afloat after the massive income drop caused by relegation. It was the sensible thing to do as it meant we were loaning money on an interest-free basis and not from a costly third party bank like Sunderland did. There are plenty of things to criticise MA for, but that isn't one of them.

 

If you incapable of understanding that he has reduced the clubs income for his own/another company's benefit then I'm lost for words tbh 

 

I understand that perfectly well, but a lack of advertising income from Sports Direct is not linked in any way to the reasons why Mike Ashley has loaned money to the club. Read up on our finances 

 

 

A considered and well thought out response 

 

You don't seem able to understand that the club is more than £100 million poorer than it should be as Ashley has diverted that money to himself basically, then loans the club money back that it wouldn't need. So it's really pointless discussing anything with you.

 

You don't seem to understand that this sentence :

 

Hence the club wouldn't have needed these 'loans' if Sports Direct had been paying for advertising (plus other things) rather than depriving the club of millions every year.

 

is completely wrong. The club lost approx 70% of its immediate income on relegation for the first time under Ashley. Loans were made immediately post-relegation to cover that funding gap, and were made by MA so that the club wouldn't pay third party interest. Those loans would have been needed whether or not we were receiving advertising income from Sports Direct - no advertising deal would have been sufficient to cover the immediate, massive loss of income following relegation. So to suggest that the club would not have needed to be loaned money had sports direct paid for its sponsorship (over a period of ten years) is just complete bollocks and massively misunderstands the impact (or lack of) advertising income has on a club when compared to the cost of relegation.

 

And just to reiterate - I 100% agree that MA should be paying for any sports direct advertising around the stadium. I also agree that relegation the first time round was MA's fault in the first place, and if it wasn't for him we wouldn't have needed those loans in the first place.

[jdckelly]

IIRC, he had to put 135M into the club as an interest free loan when he first acquired the club.  That was to cover all the liabilities he missed when he supposedly did his due diligence.  That money he is getting back as part of the sell price.

 

He floated the club an additional 30M which was taken out of the club more recently.

iirc it wasn't so much missed in due diligence but never did it in the first place, anyone who did do due diligence before MA ran for the hills once they saw the books

[STM]

aye what the fuck is going on? the £350m quite clearly includes all of his debt, absolutely nobody would be talking to the cunt if the real price was nearer £500m man

 

Honestly, some right dafties in here at the moment. The conspiracy theorists out in force.

 

If they want to educate themselves on the club's finances, they should read Chris Holts stuff on Twitter.

[STM]

IIRC, he had to put 135M into the club as an interest free loan when he first acquired the club.  That was to cover all the liabilities he missed when he supposedly did his due diligence.  That money he is getting back as part of the sell price.

 

He floated the club an additional 30M which was taken out of the club more recently.

iirc it wasn't so much missed in due diligence but never did it in the first place, anyone who did do due diligence before MA ran for the hills once they saw the books

 

Why, because we were run like a normal club with ambition, who offset what they spent on what they saw as probable income?

 

I can see why a sportswear tycoon might see us as ran badly but ultimately, we were run like a football club should be, where profit wasnt the be all and end all.

 

The whole "doing a leeds", thing was a scaremongering tactic from Ashley at the time to stop spending. To stop ambition.

[Johneddy]

I love that word "ambition" 

[Darth Crooks]

Do a Leeds. Not Man City. He’s king of the straw man

[Super Duper Branko Strupar]

He's not a sportswear tycoon. He's a glorified Market trader.

[ToonArmy1892]

He's a cunt.

[Odear]

I agree, we were never in danger of becoming a Leeds. If that was the case, Ashley wound have snapped us up for a £1 and taken on the debt like he does with all his other vulturesque manoeuvres.

 

Even that whole bullshit about not realising how much was owed is nonsense. It was plain as day and info easily accessible as we were a plc at that time.

 

Everything since then has been a PR war game to deflect the real reason he bought the club. Well, since it turned on him.

 

Think at the start he was genuinely loving the attention. Only so long a cunt can keep a facade going for though until everyone sees the reality.

[marki]

Is it next Thursday or Friday when the 21 day media embargo is over following ZBG last official statement that documents had been submitted to the Prem?

That’s why he said Thursday just a guess.

media embargo,that interesting

[Guest covmag]

I agree, we were never in danger of becoming a Leeds. If that was the case, Ashley wound have snapped us up for a £1 and taken on the debt like he does with all his other vulturesque manoeuvres.

 

Even that whole bullshit about not realising how much was owed is nonsense. It was plain as day and info easily accessible as we were a plc at that time.

 

Everything since then has been a PR war game to deflect the real reason he bought the club. Well, since it turned on him.

 

Think at the start he was genuinely loving the attention. Only so long a cunt can keep a facade going for though until everyone sees the reality.

 

Have a like

[Ghandis Flip-Flop]

IIRC, he had to put 135M into the club as an interest free loan when he first acquired the club.  That was to cover all the liabilities he missed when he supposedly did his due diligence.  That money he is getting back as part of the sell price.

 

He floated the club an additional 30M which was taken out of the club more recently.

iirc it wasn't so much missed in due diligence but never did it in the first place, anyone who did do due diligence before MA ran for the hills once they saw the books

 

I think people need to remember that the club was a PLC before Ashley bought us and as a consequence had to publish far more detailed accounts. The only debt Ashley had to settle immediately was the remainder of the Mortgage for the expansion, which I believe was around £60M and had 5 or 6 years left to run.

 

He started with the media crap, complaining about the fact we still owed cash on the Owen transfer etc, but as others who’d examined the accounts at the time pointed out we were owed more in outstanding transfer deals, than we owed to other clubs. Complaints by Ashley and his cronies to 5e contrary was the start of trying to lower our expectations IMHO.

[Ghandis Flip-Flop]

Damn you Odin, just saw your post after I’d posted mine. Glad to see I’m not the only one fighting against this myth that we were about to go to the wall before Ashley bought us.

[Guest]

Maybe not going to the wall, but look at the previous 12 months transfer activity to see where we were.

[morla84]

Is it next Thursday or Friday when the 21 day media embargo is over following ZBG last official statement that documents had been submitted to the Prem?

That’s why he said Thursday just a guess.

media embargo,that interesting

Is that meant to be a sentence?

[Guest]

Duff (£5m)

Martins (£10m)

Sibierski (Free)

Rossi (Loan)

Srnicek (Free)

Bernard (Free)

Onyewu (Loan)

 

Duff was pretty much only bought because Shepherd couldn’t help himself (remember him bragging for ages how he got him for ‘only’ £5m), and it’s doubtful whether we’d have bought Martins had Owen not fucked himself at the World Cup. Would have been more of a Shearer replacement (think we tried signing Viduka that summer too).

[Gallowgate End]

IIRC, he had to put 135M into the club as an interest free loan when he first acquired the club.  That was to cover all the liabilities he missed when he supposedly did his due diligence.  That money he is getting back as part of the sell price.

 

He floated the club an additional 30M which was taken out of the club more recently.

iirc it wasn't so much missed in due diligence but never did it in the first place, anyone who did do due diligence before MA ran for the hills once they saw the books

 

I think people need to remember that the club was a PLC before Ashley bought us and as a consequence had to publish far more detailed accounts. The only debt Ashley had to settle immediately was the remainder of the Mortgage for the expansion, which I believe was around £60M and had 5 or 6 years left to run.

 

He started with the media crap, complaining about the fact we still owed cash on the Owen transfer etc, but as others who’d examined the accounts at the time pointed out we were owed more in outstanding transfer deals, than we owed to other clubs. Complaints by Ashley and his cronies to 5e contrary was the start of trying to lower our expectations IMHO.

 

Interesting take.

[Johneddy]

What is not in question is that everything has been carefully orchestrated for 12 years.

 

He lost his credibility for me when Keegan was proven right in court and Ashley and the cronies were exposed as liars.

 

Having said all of that we will never forget Mike Ashley Chris Mort Derek Llambias Dennis Wise Joe Kinnear Alan Pardew Steve McLaren Lee Charnley for as long as we each shall live and that will make us appreciate all the more that which is yet to come from this takeover.

 

It's truly like waiting for Christmas as a bairn 

[Ghandis Flip-Flop]

IIRC, he had to put 135M into the club as an interest free loan when he first acquired the club.  That was to cover all the liabilities he missed when he supposedly did his due diligence.  That money he is getting back as part of the sell price.

 

He floated the club an additional 30M which was taken out of the club more recently.

iirc it wasn't so much missed in due diligence but never did it in the first place, anyone who did do due diligence before MA ran for the hills once they saw the books

 

I think people need to remember that the club was a PLC before Ashley bought us and as a consequence had to publish far more detailed accounts. The only debt Ashley had to settle immediately was the remainder of the Mortgage for the expansion, which I believe was around £60M and had 5 or 6 years left to run.

 

He started with the media crap, complaining about the fact we still owed cash on the Owen transfer etc, but as others who’d examined the accounts at the time pointed out we were owed more in outstanding transfer deals, than we owed to other clubs. Complaints by Ashley and his cronies to 5e contrary was the start of trying to lower our expectations IMHO.

 

Interesting take.

 

Not really, I thought it was well understood that the clubs debt has risen as a consequence of the relegations. The mortgage with Barclays was well known at the time, I don’t understand how the narrative has become so twisted after 12 years. I guess the adage of repeat a lie often enough and people will believe it, is true.

[Johneddy]

IIRC, he had to put 135M into the club as an interest free loan when he first acquired the club.  That was to cover all the liabilities he missed when he supposedly did his due diligence.  That money he is getting back as part of the sell price.

 

He floated the club an additional 30M which was taken out of the club more recently.

iirc it wasn't so much missed in due diligence but never did it in the first place, anyone who did do due diligence before MA ran for the hills once they saw the books

 

I think people need to remember that the club was a PLC before Ashley bought us and as a consequence had to publish far more detailed accounts. The only debt Ashley had to settle immediately was the remainder of the Mortgage for the expansion, which I believe was around £60M and had 5 or 6 years left to run.

 

He started with the media crap, complaining about the fact we still owed cash on the Owen transfer etc, but as others who’d examined the accounts at the time pointed out we were owed more in outstanding transfer deals, than we owed to other clubs. Complaints by Ashley and his cronies to 5e contrary was the start of trying to lower our expectations IMHO.

 

Interesting take.

 

Not really, I thought it was well understood that the clubs debt has risen as a consequence of the relegations. The mortgage with Barclays was well known at the time, I don’t understand how the narrative has become so twisted after 12 years. I guess the adage of repeat a lie often enough and people will believe it, is true.

 

And that final quote describes Ashley to a T

[jack j]

What is not in question is that everything has been carefully orchestrated for 12 years.

 

He lost his credibility for me when Keegan was proven right in court and Ashley and the cronies were exposed as liars.

 

Having said all of that we will never forget Mike Ashley Chris Mort Derek Llambias Dennis Wise Joe Kinnear Alan Pardew Steve McLaren Lee Charnley for as long as we each shall live and that will make us appreciate all the more that which is yet to come from this takeover.

 

It's truly like waiting for Christmas as a bairn 

 

Chris Mort?  Dont think he deserves to be lumped in with the rest of them cunts

[AyeDubbleYoo]

Not sure McClaren does either TBH, he’s just an average manager.

 

As a reminder of bad times though, sure.

[Shays Given Tim Flowers]

Everyone under Ashley’s stewardship has been complicit in making up the numbers and denigrating the sporting endeavours of the football club. They are all tarred with that brush to varying degree.

[Guest]

https://twitter.com/bigchrisholt/status/1139922742122307589?s=21