Mike Ashley (former owner)

[Happinesstan]

45 minutes ago, Wolfcastle said:

He's such a litigious c*nt. Honestly think he'd rather go to court than have something just go smooth.

I don't think lawyers do zero hour contracts.

[Skeletor]

Since you can't make money owning a club and his public ownership of us did massive self-inflicted damage to both his brand and himself personally, I don't know why he wants to buy another club.

 

 

Edited June 16, 2022 by Skeletor

[et tu brute]

30 minutes ago, Skeletor said:

Since you can't make money owning a club and his public ownership of us did massive self-inflicted damage to both his brand and himself personally, I don't know why he wants to buy another club.

 

 

 

Don't agree with that mind. He made a decent profit from the club sale. He also got years of virtually free sponsorship during his ownership. Don't think his brand has been too damaged either and any downturn was certainly not due to his connection with the club. As for damage to himself personally, then he simply couldn't give two fucks about that.

[prefabtoon]

 

Mike Ashley uses Sports Direct to undermine Newcastle United new shirt launch

Is Mike Ashley and Castore in partnership ???.

http://bit.ly/3mYrE1o

 

 

Edited June 20, 2022 by prefabtoon

[Dancing Brave]

7 minutes ago, prefabtoon said:

 

Mike Ashley uses Sports Direct to undermine Newcastle United new shirt launch

Is Mike Ashley and Castore in partnership ???.

http://bit.ly/3mYrE1o

 

 

 

 

 

You need to put a warning on that post telling people it contains a picture of the FCB. 

[JumpersForGoalposts]

On 16/06/2022 at 23:07, Skeletor said:

Since you can't make money owning a club and his public ownership of us did massive self-inflicted damage to both his brand and himself personally, I don't know why he wants to buy another club.

 

 

 

He made collosal amounts of money from us. He trousered the TV money, got free advertising and sold the club for far more than he paid.

 

His merge of club finances into MA Holdings was to obfuscate the fact that the income wasn't being reinvested into wages, transfer fees or infrastructure. In fact, he was saying that the money that did go to the club to run it was coming from his own pocket, which is true as long as you understand that all income was going direct into his pocket too.

 

One of life's parasites. He's made a fortune out of buying cheap, bleeding dry and selling on, all without caring about the impact of what he does on anyone else.

 

I hope he buys the m*ckems.

[Chris_R]

30 minutes ago, JumpersForGoalposts said:

He made collosal amounts of money from us. He trousered the TV money, got free advertising and sold the club for far more than he paid.

 

His merge of club finances into MA Holdings was to obfuscate the fact that the income wasn't being reinvested into wages, transfer fees or infrastructure. In fact, he was saying that the money that did go to the club to run it was coming from his own pocket, which is true as long as you understand that all income was going direct into his pocket too.

 

One of life's parasites. He's made a fortune out of buying cheap, bleeding dry and selling on, all without caring about the impact of what he does on anyone else.

 

I hope he buys the m*ckems.

 

Agree with everything apart from the last 6 words.

 

He has the finances and will to turn any club into a bottom-half PL club. For the mackems, that's parardise. For us, it was awful.

 

I'd love him to buy Spurs or someone currently above his glass ceiling and drag them down, but he cannot afford that kind of team anymore. There's a very real chance though that if he bought a lower-league club he could throw enough at them to get them to the PL and keep them bobbing about like he did for us.

 

Aiming for 17th in the PL isn't terrible for every club.

[nbthree3]

https://theathletic.com/news/mike-ashley-newcastle-owners/pLzB3OIjSnqj/

 

Newcastle United’s owners held discussions with Mike Ashley about the businessman retaining a small stake in the club following a takeover, the retailer claims.

In an amended claim filed to the High Court, as part of his litigation against Amanda Staveley and Mehrdad Ghodoussi, Newcastle’s co-owners, Ashley, via his company, St James Holdings Limited, also admits to receiving a £17.5 million loan repayment from the club in advance of the £305 million sale, which was concluded on October 7, 2021.

 

The 57-year-old is suing Staveley and Ghodoussi for immediate repayment of a £10 million loan made during the takeover to cover legal and other costs, plus interest accrued, claiming terms were breached when Staveley said she was “looking forward” to removing Sports Direct signage at St James’.

One of the terms said the parties agreed not to “make any statement or comment which is derogatory or otherwise in bad faith in relation to the other party or otherwise bring the other party into disrepute”.

 

Within the latest filing, it is claimed that “there had been discussions in or around July 2021 about Mr Ashley retaining a small stake” in Newcastle following the proposed sale to the consortium, which included the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund (PIF), as majority 80 per cent shareholders, and the Reuben Brothers and Staveley’s PCP Capital Partners, who were each to hold 10 per cent stakes. Ashley claims that, while “PIF had been open” to him continuing as a minority shareholder, Staveley “was opposed to Mr Ashley’s continued involvement”.

Newcastle’s most recent accounts, which covered the final full season of Ashley’s ownership, showed that the retailer was owed £106.9 million as of June 30, 2021, having provided a long-term loan facility to the club. The accounts state that the loan was “interest-free and repayable on demand”.

While it had been widely assumed that those loans were included in the £305 million purchase price for the club, Ashley’s amended court documents state that “shortly before closure of the 7 October transaction… a loan repayment of GBP 17,500,000 (was made) to Mr Ashley as per an agreement with the acquiring consortium”.

 

In his amended claim, Ashley says that his company, Sportsdirect.com Retail Limited (SRL), was “due” to pay £2 million per season for “particular signage” at St James’ Park and the club’s Benton training ground from the 2019-20 Premier League campaign.

“However, while the sale was being negotiated during the 2019-20 Premier League season,” the document reads, “SRL did not pay the sponsorship fees so as not to increase the cash position balance sheet outside of the pending sale agreement.” Ashley insists that SRL did pay a £1 million “annual fee” in each of the 2017-18 and 2018-19 seasons for these “sponsorship rights”.

[Wolfcastle]

3 hours ago, Chris_R said:

 

Agree with everything apart from the last 6 words.

 

He has the finances and will to turn any club into a bottom-half PL club. For the mackems, that's parardise. For us, it was awful.

 

I'd love him to buy Spurs or someone currently above his glass ceiling and drag them down, but he cannot afford that kind of team anymore. There's a very real chance though that if he bought a lower-league club he could throw enough at them to get them to the PL and keep them bobbing about like he did for us.

 

Aiming for 17th in the PL isn't terrible for every club.

Not for me. He turned us into a bottom 6 Premier League team.

With our resources and standing position of never having been a bottom 6 Premier League team. Not Derby's or the mackems far lower resources and standing.

He'd make less, maybe no money, to get them where we were. Certainly the mackems were subsidised when they've been there before. Ashley won't do that lord knows.

 

 

Edited June 20, 2022 by Wolfcastle

[Guest HTT II]

Worrying if PIF were not opposed to the cunt having a share in the club still…

[et tu brute]

9 minutes ago, HTT II said:

Worrying if PIF were not opposed to the cunt having a share in the club still…

 

That's what the fat cunt is saying, let's see if there is any documented evidence of that.

 

Edit: looks like his legal team said there were discussions (nothing suggesting it was in writing). The Keegan case proved what a lying bastard he is.

 

 

Edited June 20, 2022 by et tu brute

[Guest HTT II]

6 minutes ago, et tu brute said:

 

That's what the fat cunt is saying, let's see if there is any documented evidence of that.

True!

[JonBez comesock]

Newcastle United’s owners held discussions with Mike Ashley about the businessman retaining a small stake in the club following a takeover, the retailer claims.

In an amended claim filed to the High Court, as part of his litigation against Amanda Staveley and Mehrdad Ghodoussi, Newcastle’s co-owners, Ashley, via his company, St James Holdings Limited, also admits to receiving a £17.5 million loan repayment from the club in advance of the £305 million sale, which was concluded on October 7, 2021.

The 57-year-old is suing Staveley and Ghodoussi for immediate repayment of a £10 million loan made during the takeover to cover legal and other costs, plus interest accrued, claiming terms were breached when Staveley said she was “looking forward” to removing Sports Direct signage at St James’.

One of the terms said the parties agreed not to “make any statement or comment which is derogatory or otherwise in bad faith in relation to the other party or otherwise bring the other party into disrepute”.

Staveley insists she intended to convey that she was looking forward to breaking the association between Ashley and Newcastle.

However, having initially outlined his case to London’s High Court of Justice on December 29 — to which Staveley and Ghodoussi filed a defence on February 12 — he issued an amended claim last Wednesday.

In a court order, issued by the Hon Mrs Justice Moulder, Ashley has been informed that he must pay Staveley and Ghodoussi’s costs in relation to “considering” the amendments. The Newcastle co-owners have until 4pm on Friday to submit their amended defence.

Within the latest filing, it is claimed that “there had been discussions in or around July 2021 about Mr Ashley retaining a small stake” in Newcastle following the proposed sale to the consortium, which included the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund (PIF), as majority 80 per cent shareholders, and the Reuben Brothers and Staveley’s PCP Capital Partners, who were each to hold 10 per cent stakes. Ashley claims that, while “PIF had been open” to him continuing as a minority shareholder, Staveley “was opposed to Mr Ashley’s continued involvement”.

Newcastle’s most recent accounts, which covered the final full season of Ashley’s ownership, showed that the retailer was owed £106.9 million as of June 30, 2021, having provided a long-term loan facility to the club. The accounts state that the loan was “interest-free and repayable on demand”.

While it had been widely assumed that those loans were included in the £305 million purchase price for the club, Ashley’s amended court documents state that “shortly before closure of the 7 October transaction… a loan repayment of GBP 17,500,000 (was made) to Mr Ashley as per an agreement with the acquiring consortium”.

Staveley and PCP declined to comment when approached by The Athletic.

In November, The Athletic reported that Newcastle’s ownership were required to invest another £38.5 million into the club to cover daily costs. “There was an immediate requirement for cash, day one, for working capital and then for the transfer window,” Staveley later said.

Meanwhile, in their written defence, Staveley’s lawyers claimed that Sports Direct and Flannels, another of Ashley’s companies, paid no sponsorship fees to Newcastle for signage in 2019-20, 2020-21 and 2021-22.

In his amended claim, Ashley says that his company, Sportsdirect.com Retail Limited (SRL), was “due” to pay £2 million per season for “particular signage” at St James’ Park and the club’s Benton training ground from the 2019-20 Premier League campaign.

“However, while the sale was being negotiated during the 2019-20 Premier League season,” the document reads, “SRL did not pay the sponsorship fees so as not to increase the cash position balance sheet outside of the pending sale agreement.” Ashley insists that SRL did pay a £1 million “annual fee” in each of the 2017-18 and 2018-19 seasons for these “sponsorship rights”.

In their interview with The Athletic in February, Ghodoussi and Staveley were asked about Ashley’s initial claim. “We’re genuinely disappointed and we will contest it vigorously,” Ghodoussi said. “We thought we had a good relationship with Mike. To his credit, he pushed very hard to get this deal done. We couldn’t have done it without him. He always said he wanted to sell the club to the right people and he has sold the club to the right people. We’ve never said anything negative about him.”

“I’m saddened,” Staveley said. “This is a real shame because I like him a lot. And I’m proud of what we did.”

On the £10 million loan, Ashley’s initial case claimed that, “PCP and the First Defendant (Staveley) were also unable to meet the advisory, legal, and other costs and commissions associated with PCP’s participation in the SPA (sales and purchase agreement). Therefore, and in order for the whole transaction to be able to proceed, the Claimant agreed to lend the First Defendant the funds required to pay PCP’s bill.”

“As the defence says, we incurred costs that were for the benefit of the whole consortium,” Staveley said four months ago. “Mike wanted very much a deal done very quickly and that meant we made a decision which meant he could close quickly. We took that burden on.”

(Photo: Owen Humphreys/PA Images via Getty Images)

[Yorkie]

27 minutes ago, HTT II said:

Worrying if PIF were not opposed to the cunt having a share in the club still…

 

File it alongside all the other stuff we're turning a blind eye to so we can enjoy supporting Newcastle again. All that matters from that point of view is that he's gone. 

[Big Geordie]

Ashley showing the world what a cunt he can be - again. I wouldn't be in the least bit surprised if he still has some of his fingers in the NUFC pie, so to speak. God knows what he's gotten up to during his 14 years of owning us.

[Guest HTT II]

Showing what a big man child bairn he is more like, such a spoiled little cunt. His mother should have aborted the bastard!

[et tu brute]

28 minutes ago, Big Geordie said:

Ashley showing the world what a cunt he can be - again. I wouldn't be in the least bit surprised if he still has some of his fingers in the NUFC pie, so to speak. God knows what he's gotten up to during his 14 years of owning us.

Pretty sure he hasn't, however thinking on this, is this his attempt to try and get back 10% ownership, by trying to force the issue with winning the case. What I mean by that, is, if he did win the case and PCP couldn't give the immediate repayment, will he then try to force the issue by saying the agreement with PCP is 'null and void' and their 10% goes back to him.
 

For one, what was stated today seemed to be all verbal with no documentation to support what he's claiming. I don't think he will win (unless he has this documentation) and the bloke is a liar (and recorded within the judgement) as was shown in the case with Keegan.

[Geordie Ahmed]

So he admits to not paying any money for the SD tat but blames the takeover for it

[TheBrownBottle]

I still find all of this odd.   10m+ of legal costs in the takeover, for which only Staveley (a minority shareholder) is responsible?  Why wouldn’t PIF be the primary debtor for legal costs?  And why wouldn’t they just pay them in any case?

 

More concerning - if it isn’t true, then surely there wouldn’t even be a case to answer?  What exactly was the nature of a financial agreement with Ashley?  And if he is owed money (and the argument appears to be when he’s owed it not if) why not just clear it?

 

There’s a rabbit off somewhere - the ‘no comment’ to their pal Caulkin is unusual too (albeit this is an ongoing legal case).  Some clarity on this would be good - it does look to me like Ashley wants a slice of the club back. 

[LiquidAK]

3 hours ago, JonBez comesock said:

Ashley claims that, while “PIF had been open” to him continuing as a minority shareholder, Staveley “was opposed to Mr Ashley’s continued involvement”.

 

Love it.

[et tu brute]

53 minutes ago, TheBrownBottle said:

I still find all of this odd.   10m+ of legal costs in the takeover, for which only Staveley (a minority shareholder) is responsible?  Why wouldn’t PIF be the primary debtor for legal costs?  And why wouldn’t they just pay them in any case?

 

More concerning - if it isn’t true, then surely there wouldn’t even be a case to answer?  What exactly was the nature of a financial agreement with Ashley?  And if he is owed money (and the argument appears to be when he’s owed it not if) why not just clear it?

 

There’s a rabbit off somewhere - the ‘no comment’ to their pal Caulkin is unusual too (albeit this is an ongoing legal case).  Some clarity on this would be good - it does look to me like Ashley wants a slice of the club back. 

There is an agreement in place for the payment phase. He's trying to use Staveley coming out saying she was looking forward to his shit signs coming down, as a reason to request immediate payment. I do agree it maybe an attempt (he won't win) to try and get back onto the bandwagon. As for the no comment, that is 100% correct action to take. Let Ashley continue to open his mouth as usual. I thought it was funny that he had to pay money to PCP for them to consider further information. 

 

 

Edited June 20, 2022 by et tu brute

[TheBrownBottle]

21 minutes ago, et tu brute said:

There is an agreement in place for the payment phase. He's trying to use Staveley coming out saying she was looking forward to his shit signs coming down, as a reason to request immediate payment. I do agree it maybe an attempt (he won't win) to try and get back onto the bandwagon. As for the no comment, that is 100% correct action to take. Let Ashley continue to open his mouth as usual. I thought it was funny that he had to pay money to PCP for them to consider further information. 

 

 

 

Yep.  Just the words ‘Ashley’ too close to ‘Newcastle United’ makes me jumpy.  Wish the fat cunt would just disappear. 

[Groundhog63]

5 hours ago, TheBrownBottle said:

Yep.  Just the words ‘Ashley’ too close to ‘Newcastle United’ makes me jumpy.  Wish the fat cunt would just disappear. 

Agree

[Dr Jinx]

1 million quid a season to have all that crap littered around SJP and the training ground ? the absolute cheek of the cunt.

[Ben]

Looks like fatty is going after Derby today, he's putting his money where his mouth is.