Ashley will be at the Cardiff game and has said he's not heard from Kenyon so he's resigned himself to being the owner for the foreseeable future. Kenyon has been running around trying to find investment. Some of his 'investors' were also involved with Staveley who Ashley kicked into touch. The HMRC case isn't helping as it could be a slap on the wrist or serious consequences. This hasn't just been a game to 'play the Mags', he really wants out and the process has cost him considerable time, effort and money. He also knows that this is all damaging the teams performances so will draw a line under it. He'll inform the manager and players before he makes any statement to the media. He wants to avoid any further speculation from the supporters and media. He'll allow spending, in this window, and will discuss this with Benitez over the weekend. This is gossip from the chap who told me Ashley would kick Staveley into touch weeks before it happened.
Personally I wouldn't buy anything from Ashley, and that includes the stock from his Sport Direct Stores.
It may well all be correct Smug and I generally hope it is but it's just hard to not be sceptical as an NUFC fan. November time he announces a possible buyer for the second year running and then openly uses it as a reason to not invest any money in the transfer window before to no-ones real surprise it falls through. I hope he's trying to sell I really do. It just all feels like a very convenient smokescreen once more.
This is exactly how I see it. He gets the fans hopes up and avoids investing. Keeping his cash cow and never intending on selling. He doesn’t give a flying **** what the Newcastle public think as he gets advertising that would otherwise cost him millions completely free! I don’t think he’ll sell as long as it’s making him money
He won't have offered the asking price. There's no assets of worth. It's over priced for a yo yo club. Sent from my Moto G (5) using Tapatalk
The way he seems to be heading means that you may have a hard time keeping that approach up in the future. He may well own just about every shop that's left in 'The High Street',
That’s ok. We’re about to make a new signing. He’s called HMV. His star has faded a little bit but Rafa is the man to revive his career. I hear Rafa used his own money to buy him too.
Each to their own, but I have absolutely no qualms about purchasing stuff from any of Ashley's retail outlets. This is because NUFC don't see a penny of the profit he makes from my transaction, and his prices are always nice and low.
Whenever I buy anything from his stores (Which isn't often, admittedly) I always walk away enjoying the warm glow from knowing that I am helping to keep him in business so that he can carry on with his excellent running of Newcastle United.
I no longer have a problem shopping at Sports Direct since I realised what a great bloke Ashley actually is, but last time I went in there I only just escaped with my sanity intact.
Only a yo yo club since he bought it. In the 110 years prior to him taking over, we'd been relegated four times. We're heading for a third in his short reign.
But to be fair to him he did what our Chairman failed to do. He kept his Premier League Squads more or less together, thus making sure that his Team jumped back at the first try. This will have cost him dear. I seem to remember a loss of over £50mil for the season of his first relegation. And if you look at it objectively he's done more for NUFC than for example the Hall and Sheppard families who simply milked the club of cash taking (what to most of us would be), huge fees and dividends while the Club was making losses. Had Ashley not bought when he did NUFC might well have faced going into liquidation. On the bright side though I expect that was the last time he neglected to do a 'due diligence examination' on any business he wanted to buy.
All I can do is repeat the gossip I've heard but I'm told he'd leave tomorrow if he could. I understand the claims, about using these takeover speculation as a smokescreen but why would he bother. The supporters will twist whatever he does so it's not worth the effort. He can hardly say to Kenyon, "How Pete do us a favour and make yersel look like a daft potless chancer so the Mags whinge a bit less for a few weeks." These two bids have cost him getting on for quarter of a million and all he achieves are more supporter accusations that he's being greedy. Kenyon, as I was told, gauged the timing so he'd arrive just as the window was closing and be able to blame Ashley for him not being able to bring players in. Then he could get rid of a few, cop the TV money and claim there were 'hidden debts/problems/costs' just as Ashley did and carry on as normal. As I said earlier the club is too big to be bought cheap but a massive risk because of the need for new facilities, ground renovation, overloaded squad, etc. I really can't see how Ashley will ever find a way out.
Unfortunately a buyer won't be buying it based on your past. They'll be buying and valuing it based on it's current state and how much they're going to have to spend on your squad to stop it being a yo yo club in order to maintain a steady revenue. Unfortunately for you lot with a poor squad, average training facilities, dilapidated ground on land you don't own the club looks massively over valued and needs an absolute fortune pumping in once it's bought. It's no wonder he can't sell it. The man is deluded. Sent from my Moto G (5) using Tapatalk
Can't disagree with any of that. A buyer is either going to need to shell out one to two hundred million to improve every aspect of the club and hope to then recoup it over the next decade or they will asset strip what they can and accumulate to speculate in a slow manner. I wonder which is more likely...
