Mike Ashley & Rangers Football Club

He's a slippery fish and will no doubt end up in charge up there.

Having set his mind to it, it's simply a question of time

 

It certainly looks like he is intent on acquiring Rangers, in its entirety, at some point. Weather this is ultimately good or bad news for us, we will have to wait and see. Good news if he finally ****s off.............. bad news if he sells to some Venkys 'esq outfit that takes us down the tubes. Because there is nowt so sure that, as long as he gets his cash, he will not give a **** who he sells us too. Could he not buy Rangers and effectively put it into somebody else's name?? I am not too sure that he is ready to get off the NUFC gravy train just yet, to be honest.

 

How about Derek L for Chairman?

 

This! 100%.

As much as I'd be happy to see Mike go, I genuinely fear for the future with not knowing who the next owner(s) will be. He could easily (and probably happily) f**k us over big time. I know there are 'fit an proper persons' checks, but blah blah, blah FFS. Look at how that has helped some other clubs. We could could end up truly shafted.

Mike frustrates me big time, but it is possible it could be worse under somebody else. Honest!

I just hope he isn't already shafting the club senseless behind the scenes. These 'loan arrangements' don't make sense and the lack of visibility of genuine club accounts seems very worrying. He could be creaming off £millions for all we know.

I really, really want a new owner - now! I just wish there were some way in which we could have a say in who that might be. Sadly, that's never gonna happen. Money talks! Either way we look f***ed.

 

I honestly think we'll get some rich owners with the way the game is going. That is unless Mike sells to someone he knows will be a ****ty owner.

 

I wish I had your confidence. I genuinely share a lot of Obi's concerns and worry that hindsight might show that Mike Ashley wasn't all that bad.

 

There are a lot of 'rich' owners that only see football club ownership as a way of becoming richer. We already have one remember. You have to realise that Ashley is something like one of the richest 250 people in the world. He has money, he just doesn't want to spend it. Abramovich's and Sheik Mansour's are few and far between and the chances of us getting somebody richer than we already have in MA is slim, certainly a lot slimmer than he is!!. Also look at the way he has the commercial rights tied up at Rangers. Lets face it, he isn't going to sell the NUFC and let that cash cow walk away easily. I suspect that he will sell, eventually, but I suspect that he will retain commercial rights and I suspect that the Sports Direct branding will be blighting the cathedral on the hill for a long time to come. I even suspect a stadium rename again as a last parting shot. Sells club but one of the conditions of sale is that the Sports Direct tat remains for a period of time and the stadium becomes the SD Arena again.

 

I think that's called 'Stockholm Syndrome'

 

My problem with Mike Ashley as an owner of NUFC has nothing to with his commercial management of the club. I think he is doing a great job in that respect. My problems with him are twofold:
1) he doesn't seem interested in progressing the club on the footballing side
2) until someone can show otherwise I suspect that NUFC is more of a vehicle to help his other business interest (Sports Direct)
The former should be the overriding concern for fans as we want to seem a team with both short term ambition (trying to win games playing attacking football) and long term ambition (trying to win something/get into Europe etc). It may not happen but it would be nice to at least look as though we are trying.
It also bugs me that Sports Direct doesn't seem to be paying for being effectively one of the clubs main sponsors. If the argument is that its a quid pro quo for providing an interest-free loan then at least recognise that and stop calling it an interest-free loan in the accounts. He shouldn't be able to have it both ways. And why if we are making a profit is the interest-free loan not being reduced? What is happening to the profit at the moment (is it being treated as retained earnings in the club accounts, and if we have the cash why isn't it being used to pay down the loan?).
I don't doubt that he would try to have SD retained as the NUFC brand but hopefully any new potential owner would recognise the commercial value of this to SD and reduce the price that they pay accordingly then have the money saved recognised as advertising income for the club. It wouldn't bother me either as long as it is income rather than a free ride. Its better than Wonga and a lot of the online gambling sites sponsoring many clubs.

 

Ashley being involved at Rangers is a difficult one for Rangers fans.

He's (allegedly) bought our club badge, retail operation and naming rights of the stadium for £1! So he really has us by the short and curlies.

Why Rangers? In England you get £60m for finishing bottom of the league, in Scotland, you get £2m for winning the top league, so he's certainly not in it to profit greatly from Rangers.

The only reason can be that he wants Sports Direct to infiltrate the European market and it is significantly cheaper to get a Scottish side into Europe than it would be in England.

What is the problem that NUFC fans have with Ashley? Is it just Pardew and the Kinnear appointments?

 

My problem is the lack of ambition. He's happy to make money but doesn't want to spend it to push on.

 

Exactly what he wants from Rangers. To be fair it will probably work out better for your lot. It is only a matter of time before you are back in the CL every year. This will suit Mike and he will provide enough finance to get you there.

Here he is unwilling to do any more than necessary because ambition in the PL costs a bomb and is high risk. So we just rumble along hoping for mid table. Bit boring for fans to be honest.

He has achieved what he wanted to with us, dominate the UK market with his tat. As you say, you are a vehicle for the next stage because we can't provide him with it, well not without him spending a shed load of his personal fortune. Then its still not guaranteed.

So we'll always think he's a ****. He might be alright for your lot. Maybe not a long term solution but it'll work in the short term.

 

At least you got a quid for yours! We are getting nothing but a supposed interest-free loan.

I think you are right - its to help promote Sports Direct.

My problem with Ashley is down to his apparent wish to just do the minimum to stay in the Premier League. Pardew is just a symptom of that - I suspect his not sacking him despite our awful run has less to do with stability and more with his thinking he couldn't get a better manager who would be willing to put up with a lack of investment in the playing staff. As long as we don't get relegated he is not particularly concerned. Nobody really understands the Kinnear appointment as he did nothing while he was here - maybe just employed as a professional scapegoat (to be blamed when we didn't get the transfers we needed).

 

Appointed today

 

Dennis Wise to be the new Director of Football and Joe Kinnear to clean the dug outs

 

That's all we need - Kinnear FFS!

After the past few years that we've been through, when it is still debatable whether the club can continue as a going concern, Ashley's deep pockets are a welcome addition.

The past 2 years has seen the club squander £70m getting out of the of the fourth and third tiers of Scottish football, against the likes of Queen's Park, who are amateur, and part time sides whose players need to work for a living as opposed to getting paid to play football!

The boardroom is paid more than our playing squad, getting a gig in the Rangers boardroom is akin to the Bankers getting bonuses for pushing the Western world to the brink of ruin.

I'm a bit pissed with Ashley coming in, partly because I know how unpopular he is with the NUFC fans but, he would be an amazing improvement to our current faceless owners (hedge funds).

 

I think you'll come to rue the day Mike A$hley takes control of the club. All he wants is a platform for Sports Direct tat which he is trying to expand all over the world. As Rangers have a great world wide fan base it allows him extra shirt sales, so , no doubt soon you'll have 3 or 4 different kits.
This will all end in tears eventually.

 

No doubt, Gordon, but after going through footballing hell these past few seasons, we are still very weak and Ashley can pick us up for a song.

 

Those pictures of the headless players. Are they our back four?

 

I honestly think he will do a good job for Rangers. It won't necessarily be pretty. Ibrox will be covered in SD advertising. But I should think he will get them back into Europe and they are desperate for someone to balance the books in the first instance. The Scottish league is very different he can probably get them back challenging without forking out a load of money.