Mike Ashley (former owner)

[Bishops Finger]

By this reckoning proof of funds must have been shown early on

 

 

The small positive part of me believes it’s with the PL. very small part tho

So your knob then 

[gdm]

By this reckoning proof of funds must have been shown early on

 

 

The small positive part of me believes it’s with the PL. very small part tho

So your knob then 

 

strange, but aye ok if you like

[Guest godzilla]

(we will know next accounts exactly how much as according to the forum minutes he is now paying).

 

Will be interesting when that number eventually emerges and whether they really are paying or if that was just another lie to placate the fans' forum.

 

Very true mind I have no doubt the full amount won't be shown. Don't think it's anywhere near the amount our support think it is either, if it was on the shirts also then I would say yes but for stadium advertisement, then I don't think it's anywhere near the 100 million (overall) plus some think it is.

[Chris_R]

Why would he sell a profit-making part of his empire to prop up the loss-making ones? Surely you do the opposite?

 

OK, unless you're sure you're onto a long-term winner with the loss-making parts, but I don't think anyone (even Ashley) thinks that. He might hope it, but he can't believe it's a certainty. Profit from NUFC is much more likely. To sell that would be crazy, IMO.

 

You've got that the wrong way round. SD is bigger and more profitable than NUFC and SD doesn't have anything akin to relegation threatening to slash its revenues in the space of a couple of months.

 

To put the supposed asking price of £350m into context, that's roughly the operating cashflow of SD over the last 12 months.

 

SD has had £100m worth of free advertising from us, that's got to have affected where the value of the company is at and shows the value of NUFC to SD. Also, I was talking more about all his other businesses than SD, the ones which are loss-making. SD is his baby, I know he sold shares in it years back to raise money, but that's the heart and soul of his empire. It'll be the last thing he permanently gets rid of.

 

The advertising isn't having an impact on SD though if you have a look at the share price over the last few years (and this when the Premier League stock has increased ten-fold), yes he wasn't paying but I put money on it's nowhere near the cost of £100 million mind (we will know next accounts exactly how much as according to the forum minutes he is now paying). By the accounts he has only made £27 million before tax during his tenure of the club also. He has also had to put money into the club on two occasions due to relegation also for the daily operations.

 

Regarding the bold bit, how do you know what the SD share price would be without the free advertising? Maybe it would be the same, maybe higher, maybe lower. Maybe the business would have collapsed and folded. Without a time machine and access to an alternative reality timeline, we simply can't know. However it's inconceivable that the decade plus of free worldwide exposure has been of no value to them as a company.

 

As for whatever NUFC do or do not make, that's irrelevant as he strips all our asset streams out and diverts them elsewhere. The advertising as mentioned. The club shop is just a SD shop with a different badge on now, etc. He loses NUFC, he will doubtless have to surrender all that too. NUFC has enormous value to him for that reason.

[Facundo Ferreyra]

By this reckoning proof of funds must have been shown early on

 

 

The small positive part of me believes it’s with the PL. very small part tho

 

There's also a screenshot further back in that thread of notes from a fans forum where the club basically say "ignore any reports in the media about a sale, all updates around it will come via the club". So basically, ignore whatever bollocks the Chronicle and Sky are spouting 

 

[Chris_R]

(we will know next accounts exactly how much as according to the forum minutes he is now paying).

 

Will be interesting when that number eventually emerges and whether they really are paying or if that was just another lie to placate the fans' forum.

 

Very true mind I have no doubt the full amount won't be shown. Don't think it's anywhere near the amount our support think it is either, if it was on the shirts also then I would say yes but for stadium advertisement, then I don't think it's anywhere near the 100 million (overall) plus some think it is.

 

12 years at 8m a year in lost revenue. It's hardly inconceivable that the total is around £100m. It'll certainly be close.

[TooonDoom]

It’s got to be time for a curry soon.

[Mikky]

Loved this

 

[ToonArmy1892]

Not only can't we have nice things, we now can't even have a club to support.

 

Fans of other clubs looking forward to the season, then there's us

[Guest godzilla]

Why would he sell a profit-making part of his empire to prop up the loss-making ones? Surely you do the opposite?

 

OK, unless you're sure you're onto a long-term winner with the loss-making parts, but I don't think anyone (even Ashley) thinks that. He might hope it, but he can't believe it's a certainty. Profit from NUFC is much more likely. To sell that would be crazy, IMO.

 

You've got that the wrong way round. SD is bigger and more profitable than NUFC and SD doesn't have anything akin to relegation threatening to slash its revenues in the space of a couple of months.

 

To put the supposed asking price of £350m into context, that's roughly the operating cashflow of SD over the last 12 months.

 

SD has had £100m worth of free advertising from us, that's got to have affected where the value of the company is at and shows the value of NUFC to SD. Also, I was talking more about all his other businesses than SD, the ones which are loss-making. SD is his baby, I know he sold shares in it years back to raise money, but that's the heart and soul of his empire. It'll be the last thing he permanently gets rid of.

 

The advertising isn't having an impact on SD though if you have a look at the share price over the last few years (and this when the Premier League stock has increased ten-fold), yes he wasn't paying but I put money on it's nowhere near the cost of £100 million mind (we will know next accounts exactly how much as according to the forum minutes he is now paying). By the accounts he has only made £27 million before tax during his tenure of the club also. He has also had to put money into the club on two occasions due to relegation also for the daily operations.

 

Regarding the bold bit, how do you know what the SD share price would be without the free advertising? Maybe it would be the same, maybe higher, maybe lower. Maybe the business would have collapsed and folded. Without a time machine and access to an alternative reality timeline, we simply can't know. However it's inconceivable that the decade plus of free worldwide exposure has been of no value to them as a company.

 

As for whatever NUFC do or do not make, that's irrelevant as he strips all our asset streams out and diverts them elsewhere. The advertising as mentioned. The club shop is just a SD shop with a different badge on now, etc. He loses NUFC, he will doubtless have to surrender all that too. NUFC has enormous value to him for that reason.

 

Advertising has an impact on sales and therefore an impact on the shares price, if you look at the share price it's continued to decline over the last few years (though I acknowledge other factors come into play also). I just don't think the amount of money he makes is anywhere near what you're trying to make out. Happy to be proven wrong if you can show me evidence of this though.

[Guest godzilla]

(we will know next accounts exactly how much as according to the forum minutes he is now paying).

 

Will be interesting when that number eventually emerges and whether they really are paying or if that was just another lie to placate the fans' forum.

 

Very true mind I have no doubt the full amount won't be shown. Don't think it's anywhere near the amount our support think it is either, if it was on the shirts also then I would say yes but for stadium advertisement, then I don't think it's anywhere near the 100 million (overall) plus some think it is.

 

12 years at 8m a year in lost revenue. It's hardly inconceivable that the total is around £100m. It'll certainly be close.

 

Show me where it is 8m then? Advertisement of shirt sales will be a lot more than stadium advertisement.

[deejeck]

As Sunday is the start of their week. Do we think a statement will be forthcoming tomorrow?

 

No.

 

If there is a takeover and Ashley has his say on the announcement, it'll be 9am on a Monday morning so we can't go out a celebrate.

[Pixelphish]

As Sunday is the start of their week. Do we think a statement will be forthcoming tomorrow?

 

No.

 

If there is a takeover and Ashley has his say on the announcement, it'll be 9am on a Monday morning so we can't go out a celebrate.

 

Close but more likely to be this;

 

[ToonArmy1892]

[Yorkie]

Can anything be read into the fact that the Premier League haven't said anything?

[junkhead]

Sorry like but share price and advertising gains have no direct correlation whatsoever. Also comparing a shirt sponsorship with the stadium that has around 500 SD logos plastered all over it is not right.

If Sports Direct decide to do the same advertising at say.. Crystal Palace's ground it'll cost them at least 30-40 mil a year.

 

It's clear that Sports Direct is benefitting so much from Newcastle, that the club has become unsellable.

[Stifler]

Can anything be read into the fact that the Premier League haven't said anything?

No, they will let clubs and prospective owners release statements. They could also put themselves into a position where they know nothing, release a statement saying so, then a few minutes later get notification of an impending takeover and not being in a position to take back their previous statement.

[tmonkey]

I still think there's a chance he wants to sell primarily because of the losses on Debenhams, HoF, the issues with SD shares dropping and key staff leaving, etc. The risk of NUFC getting relegated and staying in the Championship is a risk of losing at least £200m on his current valuation. Maybe in prior years he wouldn't be bothered, but if something is going to cause him to sell these high street failures of his will be it.

 

This makes no sense.

 

Why would he sell a profit-making part of his empire to prop up the loss-making ones? Surely you do the opposite?

 

OK, unless you're sure you're onto a long-term winner with the loss-making parts, but I don't think anyone (even Ashley) thinks that. He might hope it, but he can't believe it's a certainty. Profit from NUFC is much more likely. To sell that would be crazy, IMO.

 

Never said he'd be selling NUFC to prop up the other businesses - the point was only that he's undoubtedly taken big hits to his personal wealth/net worth due to SD shares tanking over the past 5 years, the Debenhams administration where SD lost all its shareholding, and there's risks of further hits in the future (HoF landlords kicking up, SD executives leaving, maybe even Brexit, iirc SD reported that European sales were a big factor in their revenue growth). If NUFC gets relegated the value of the club, i.e. what someone is willing to pay for it, plummets from £350m to maybe £150m, which means Ashley loses out on a potential £200m if he had sold the club now. Ergo he might not fancy taking another gamble on NUFC remaining in the PL. I mean he might, if the takeover doesn't happen it'll be because he fancied the gamble, but it makes sense for him to be more open to selling than in prior years because of the hits he's taken elsewhere.

[Guest Gonzo]

Can anything be read into the fact that the Premier League haven't said anything?

 

Who knows. That there’s nothing to read into?

 

I don’t think this will happen. The moves by the club suggest its business as usual.

[Chris_R]

(we will know next accounts exactly how much as according to the forum minutes he is now paying).

 

Will be interesting when that number eventually emerges and whether they really are paying or if that was just another lie to placate the fans' forum.

 

Very true mind I have no doubt the full amount won't be shown. Don't think it's anywhere near the amount our support think it is either, if it was on the shirts also then I would say yes but for stadium advertisement, then I don't think it's anywhere near the 100 million (overall) plus some think it is.

 

12 years at 8m a year in lost revenue. It's hardly inconceivable that the total is around £100m. It'll certainly be close.

 

Show me where it is 8m then? Advertisement of shirt sales will be a lot more than stadium advertisement.

 

Someone else came up with that number after looking into how much this is likely to cost. I can't remember where I saw it, but I remember the number and that they'd backed it up with what looked like reasonable enough calculations. If you have different numbers though, let's see them.

[Chris_R]

 

Advertising has an impact on sales and therefore an impact on the shares price, if you look at the share price it's continued to decline over the last few years

 

Advertising generally has a positive impact on share prices. It's very likely (though utterly impossible to prove without my aforementioned time machine and access to a parallel universe where different events played out) that the share price would have dropped by more than it has if he hadn't had all the free advertising round the ground / world.

[ToonArmy1892]

When i talk to fans of other clubs, most of them agree that Ashley isn't a good owner but they don't seem to grasp how bad the situation actually is, like deliberately not competing in cups, i get the feeling that they think he just doesn't have that much money and isn't deliberately using the club as a vehicle for SD.

 

Not their problem of course, if he was in charge of another club i probably wouldn't be arsed either.

[Yorkie]

Can anything be read into the fact that the Premier League haven't said anything?

No, they will let clubs and prospective owners release statements. They could also put themselves into a position where they know nothing, release a statement saying so, then a few minutes later get notification of an impending takeover and not being in a position to take back their previous statement.

 

Feels like a bit of a dick move on their part keeping schtum, given BZG referenced them directly. I realise they couldn't possibly comment on any old rumour but this isn't like 95% of Twitter bollocks. It could end up being a load of crap, obviously, but as far as rumours go it's pretty well developed at this point. They're in a unique position to basically say whether or not there's truth to any of it.

[Wolfcastle]

Can anything be read into the fact that the Premier League haven't said anything?

 

Who knows. That there’s nothing to read into?

 

I don’t think this will happen. The moves by the club suggest its business as usual.

 

I'm with you on that.

Also for future reference I think the FA should not allow themselves to be used in a charade that amongst other things exists to literally con fans. Without mentioning any club they could have blown the smokescreen to smithereens weeks/months ago by denying that they had recieved any such application. They kinda feel complicit to me otherwise.

[Ankles Bennett]

Why would he sell a profit-making part of his empire to prop up the loss-making ones? Surely you do the opposite?

 

OK, unless you're sure you're onto a long-term winner with the loss-making parts, but I don't think anyone (even Ashley) thinks that. He might hope it, but he can't believe it's a certainty. Profit from NUFC is much more likely. To sell that would be crazy, IMO.

 

You've got that the wrong way round. SD is bigger and more profitable than NUFC and SD doesn't have anything akin to relegation threatening to slash its revenues in the space of a couple of months.

 

To put the supposed asking price of £350m into context, that's roughly the operating cashflow of SD over the last 12 months.

 

SD has had £100m worth of free advertising from us, that's got to have affected where the value of the company is at and shows the value of NUFC to SD. Also, I was talking more about all his other businesses than SD, the ones which are loss-making. SD is his baby, I know he sold shares in it years back to raise money, but that's the heart and soul of his empire. It'll be the last thing he permanently gets rid of.

We have to remember that when he floated ST on the stock exchange he made about £2b and then the shares nosedive and it was thought that he caused the crash and the city vilified him.  Two years later he bought the shares back at rock bottom price and returned SD to private ownership.  Another example of how manipulative he is.