Mike Ashley - Stand By Your Man

Stand by Ashley?
You cant be serious.

You mean stand by the man that has been instrumental in making the club the laughing stock of English football?
The man that is quite happy to take as much money out of the club that he can get away with.
The man that has gambled and will continue to gamble on NUFC being one of the Premier Leagues 'Also Ran' clubs', there to make money for himself and make up the numbers for the richer clubs to have a league to play in.
The man with no ambition, unless its Sports Direct.

I'm bored and p***** off thinking of the c***.

Somehow I don't think so!!!!!

 

Is that a 'no' from you then heed?

 

.

 

I think it might be.

 

That would be a NO from me

 

Okey doke. Whilst your opinions are your own, I disagree.

But either way - let's not get in an e-scuffle - what would you suggest is an alternative to getting behind the owner, bearing in mind he's worth FIVE AND A HALF BILLION DOLLARS? He's approaching a level of wealth that means he could reverse the SD trend; it's not beyond the realms of feasibility that he could use SD as a vehicle for Newcastle in a similar way as Etihad is used by Man City. Not at the same scale, but spending £20m to turn Benton into the Football Direct Training Centre of Awesomeness isn't impossible.

 

That actually made me laugh out loud

 

I wouldn't dream of getting into an e-scuffle with anyone on the subject of Mike Ashley.

Besides that is so mackemesque, and before anyone knew what was happening it could turn into a fully fledged e-punch up, like you see on their board every other day. We are so much better than them and don't have to resort to irrational squabbling like a pair of mackem tarts on heat.

Getting back to Mike Ashley.

As distasteful as the thought is, you could tickle his tummy and massage him to death and it wouldn't make the slightest bit difference to him, as I don't believe he actually cares. He's stuck with us, just as much as we are with him, a divorce waiting to happen.

Unless he gets a Scrooge like visit in the middle of the night, the chances of him changing his ways and investing heavily enough in NUFC enabling us to compete at the top table appear to be negligible to say the least. Of course I could be wrong and Past Toon Legends may yet descend on him in the hours of darkness and make him see the light. I wont hold my breath waiting.

 

Is escuffle the new beel?

 

Yes, that's it - think of yourself as the very embodiment of the ghost of NUFC future. "oooooweeeoooooh, Miiiiike Ashleeeeeeeeeeey, now is your reckoniiiiiing.....buy some playerrrrrrrrs......"

I'm not saying the track record's in his favour, of course, but I'm just offering perspective. And although there are 233 people richer than him in the World, thus arguably 233 better owners, there's near enough 7 billion people with less money. Either way, with no buyer present, and the last attempt sitting at the door of one Barry Moat, it can easily be argued that we're either lucky to have him, or simply stuck with a much better alternative than many.

Look, I admit - it's whoring. But it's a worthy cause. Stop the vitriol, put morals and opinions to one side and just get behind the guy. Crikey, he could write a cheque for £20m on Tuesday and forget he'd done it by Friday. As I say, what's the alternatives? Who's richer? Better the devil you know and all that, and most of his lunacy can actually be explained....more or less.

Football sold it's soul to Rupert Murdoch and Roman Abramovic some time ago - we ain't gonna change that fact, buddy. So if you can't beat 'em......

 

For all Ashleys faults I think Tan at Cardiff and the Fulham how many managers can cock up a season experiment are ahead of him so far this season, I actually think the club and Ashley have acted with some common sense in the Pardew Loving Nuzzle Incident, particularly in the face of the media **** storm, pundits hysteria and ex cloggers hypocrisy, it actually benefits Ashley that he doesn't talk to the media and that the club have kept their PR to a minimum on this saga.

 

good post

 

On the communication front Im not sure what people expect from Ashley. Owners very rarely speak to the media (apart from the bad ones) Glaziers, Abromovich, etc never talk to the press.

We are 8th top, got a good team, financially ok.

Yes things can always be better (**** off mackems) Man city not top of the league, Liverpool not sure of top four, Arsenal look like repeating previous seasons, spurs dropped off from top 4.

Everyone has complaints no matte how much money spent.

 

r I missed this off

 

Can't remember whether it was the Northern Echo or the Journal that reported it last week, but it was suggested that Newcastle city council could invest and instigate a buyout, and indeed the idea is due to be seriously considered. It would involve investment from the fans as well, which, as we know, is possible, but has not been properly organised thus far. Under the council, that would be so much easier. It's an official organisation, not one self-interested twitterer trying to be famous.

Having one rich owner means nothing to the fans, whatever story you're trying to plug here to twist the argument, if that one rich owner is purely interested in making money from the club. That would go for any club, any set of fans. There has to be some commitment or long-term plan for greater endeavour, success even, which simply isn't evident from the business strategy of Mike Ashley in the last few years.

 

Seriously you would want the council involved in the running of the club, I can't fathom why you would think this would be in the best interests of the club, any council involvement with a fans buy out would be incapable of dealing with the financial reality of life in the premiership let alone a multitude of other issues, Liverpool have just posted a loss of £50 million on their last accounts, who do you think would pay for that in your scenario. As for an owner making money from a club why in the hell should they not, I am sure as **** that Shephard, Hall and Co didn't do it for the warm glow that you get from throwing a fortune down a deep black hole, Abramovic and the Sheikh of Man City are quite happy to throw money down a hole but then they are not business men just exceedingly rich men playing with their toys.

As for strategy I was under the impression that this years target is to be in the top ten, long term plan is for financial stability, if you went to most clubs below us I think you would find that the primary strategy and long term plan is to stay in the Premier League as actually winning the PL is beyond the reach of at least half the clubs in the League as it currently stands.

 

Seriously, just no. The council couldn't run a bath let alone a football club. I don't want the fans either. Give me the arab with the bottomless pit anyday. And before anyone says it, I don't care how they got their money or which other countries they are holding to ransom The worlds ****ed and football world is ****ed, we might as well get in on it. The devil can have my soul in return for Newcastle winning stuff and returning to the top table

 

It is a viable model actually. The "Barcelona model" tends to be scoffed at as unfeasible in the premier league, but that's the "unfeasible because it's not been done before and we're all stuck in the past and the way we've always done it" type of unfeasible. It would be a similar venture to control of the airport etc which the council have run pretty successfully. As the report indicated, the council is for the city, the city is unquestionably tied to the football club, and the commercial benefits from the investment would potentially be tremendous.

Also, can you please be quiet on the "why the hell can he not make money blah blah blah" crap you're spouting. I never said he couldn't make money. I simply said that having that as the sole aim in conjunction with a sports franchise is at odds with the consumer base and unlikely to lead to harmonious co-operation or some form of symbiotic relationship.

 

Wow, before I get the chance to write "council?! are you serious?!", two posts do it for me. The very fact that the council themselves can't see the bigger picture yet a few of us mere corporate types can should be concern enough.

The pipe dream, that we cannot influence or affect, is someone with serious wealth. Not laundered money. Not a few bob. But serious wealth, who doesn't mind throwing it away and has enough Swiss bank accounts to not even miss the odd £200m disappearing into NUFC. The very next best thing is Mike Ashley. Steady ship, certain Premiership status, significantly higher profits than anyone else, interest free loan, decent playing squad. And, as I say, as he reaches new heights of wealth (believe me, once he breaks America and/or the Far East, Mike Ashley is going to break the top 100 rich list - the guy will be worth $10bn within 10 years) so he might decide to stick the odd bob or two back into the club, but not if we continue to act so petulantly, so pathetically.

If nothing else, please can everyone give the guy til Sept 1st.

 

So far he's made -£129m (that's MINUS). Best investment ever.