Mike Ashley doesn’t play by the rules of the city
Rumours were floating around the papers yesterday that mysterious Newcastle owner Mike Ashley had tried to sell the club to Dubai Investment Capital, the financiers who are looking to purchase Liverpool. Ashley is said to have put a price of £300m on the club, which he fully acquired less than seven months ago for around £134m. That’s a 124 per cent increase in value for a club that could face a relegation battle based on current form (incidentally, only Reading have performed worse in recent games).
This isn’t the first time that one of Ashley’s investments has enjoyed significant appreciation. According to this morning’s Guardian, the shy billionaire made £930m for an afternoon’s work when he floated his company Sports Direct (which includes brands such as Dunlop and Lonsdale, and the god-awful stores where the kids at your local bus stop kit themselves out). Within weeks, however, three profit warnings were issued and up to half of the value was wiped from the company - the major bank who helped float the company said: “We see little merit in holding the shares.”
There’s nothing illegal about this scenario, but the allegations that Ashley has started buying back the cut-price shares at a discount price makes it all a little sinister.
Is Mr Ashley about to upset a few more city boys and make a fast buck from the Toon?
12 responses so far
1 Chris F // Feb 19, 2008 at 11:56 am
when you take into consideration the amount he has spent SICE acquiring the club, paying off outstanding debts, etc, £300m would probably only be a small profit.
but of course, don’t let facts gets in the way of sensationalising your stories. after all, who wants credibility, eh?
2 Chris F // Feb 19, 2008 at 12:02 pm
since, even, not sice.
3 paul smith // Feb 19, 2008 at 12:32 pm
you beat me to it, that is pointing out the obvious in the fact of how much he has spent since buying Newcastle.
who actually wrote this c***
4 tony // Feb 19, 2008 at 12:33 pm
You state —-”his company Sports Direct (which includes brands such as Dunlop and Lonsdale, and the god-awful stores where the kids at your local bus stop kit themselves out)”
So all the kids that hang out at bus stops buy their clothes at Mike Ashleys shops do they?? Where do you get your information from?? is it the same “Source” that the NOTW and The Sun use??? maybe you’ve just made it up eh? go on admit it–you’re talking garbage, been reading the scumbag tabloids to often that you’re starting to believe whatever is written!
Try to understand that the Journo’s on these tabloids know about as much as you do-ZILCH.
Go back to reading your comics little boy!!!
5 Blue G // Feb 19, 2008 at 12:40 pm
Oh come on, this is clearly not intended to be real, hard-hitting facts. Yeah, maybe it was sensationalised, so what? read the Times or the BBC if you want to really see some facts.
This is juts a funny, irreverent take on the BS media circus football has become, and I can’t believe there aren’t more sites like it. With men the country over lapping up the WAG culture (fair play) thanks to the money being splashed around, it’s nice to have a bit of fun.
Just let it lie, this is a good site and should be seen for what it is, poking fun without necessarily looking at the the ‘ultra-mega-undercover-true facts.’
PS the kids around my area don’t hand around bus stops, they hang around the river. Fact.
6 tony // Feb 19, 2008 at 12:53 pm
Try picking up a newspaper, browsing the internet footy sites, switching on your tv and all you see/read/hear is some idiot slagging off your team or your club, not just occasionally, but day after day, week after week, month after month—and what for?? you say it’s all just a laugh?? who for?? certainly not the Toon fans who have to put up with this garbage!!
Imagine that they stopped slagging the Toon off and chose your Team to be the next target, can you honestly say you would laugh it off and still be laughing about it in a few years time when it still hasn’t stopped?? Newcastle fans are no different to all the other fans around the country, all they want is a successful team-who doesn’t??
We don’t change our allegiance when things go wrong and support Man U or Chelsea, we stick with the club through thick and thin-only it’s these Journo numpties who think they can change that—————think again!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
7 DaveyVonB // Feb 19, 2008 at 1:16 pm
Hey Newcastle fans, you sensitive much?
8 tony // Feb 19, 2008 at 1:47 pm
No Davey, only me, I love my club like it’s part of my family, you wouldn’t want your kids slagged off would you?
Assuming that you have the necessary equipment to have kids? on your head doesn’t count.
9 Whumpie // Feb 19, 2008 at 2:51 pm
Even Allowing for this being a bit of a laugh (not very well written if that’s what it’s after, but I think that’s what it was) I have a very different take on Ashley’s tactics.
There’s nothing sinister here - the man’s just a no-nonsense non-ponce who stuffed the city boys good and proper without breaking any rules, and called them all ‘cry-babies’ as he walked out with his £900-mil. You have to love this guy.
This is a bloke I’d like to have a pint with. How many billionaires can you say that about?
Howay wor Mikey.
10 worried scouser // Feb 19, 2008 at 3:03 pm
Whumpie’s right… he’s the Angel of the North. Leave him alone
11 Blue G // Feb 19, 2008 at 5:31 pm
Fair play, but as Tony said there are around 40 billion news sites slagging off all and sundry. I just think you take a comedy football site with a pinch of salt.
I support Pompey, we dealt with the accusations at Redknapp time and again. It hurts when there are genuine news services slagging you off, but when they’re just a comedy site having a laugh at your expense, then you take it as part of being a fan, no different than a bit of banter from rival fans.
Mike Ashley may be good, may be bad, who cares? If people think opinion can be influenced by this type of site then they are clearly too cynical.
Plus, although I take Tony’s point about fans wanting success, I do think the Toon fans have had slightly inflated beliefs since they nearly won the title. I agree you are a possible big club, but ambition is one thing, violent expectation (booing Big Sam only three months in? That’s not support) is quite another.
But I still say Howay the Toon, because the club is a character in the Prem and I respect it for that.
12 tony // Feb 19, 2008 at 7:48 pm
All this big club/small club thing is getting ridiculous (are we only allowed 4 big clubs in this country?) there’s so many different ways of judging whether a club is big—usually it’s only judged on the amount of trophy’s a club has won in recent years, that’s what most people judge it on, yes Man Utd are a big club, a massive club in fact but does that mean if they don’t win another trophy in the next 20 years but keep their fan base and fill their stadium every game that they are only temporarily a big club now? that they are a small club in the making? they hadn’t won the league title for 26 years from 1967, were they a small/medium club then? in my opinion they were still a big club because i don’t judge on success alone.
Blue G, what makes you think the Toon can’t break the big four up? it’s not that long ago we were regularly in the top 4, playing in the champions league, beating the current top 4 regularly, yes it’s changed since Chelsea got rich, but that doesn’t mean it’s going to stay that way forever, Liverpool are struggling to stay in the top 4 at the minute, Chelsea aren’t the team they used to be, there are a few clubs who could get in the elite group and stay there for some time and Newcastle are one of them, no not this season obviously, but if we can get our act together and stay in the Premiership then next season onwards is a different matter.
Big Sam????? don’t ask lol. we want entertaining football not a big boot up the field thank you very much, we didn’t want to be the next Bolton and not many fans wanted him here to start with.
Wrong man, wrong place, wrong time.