Amiable, not lovable!
I think it's a mistake to confuse business with personal, and folly to work out what he's doing other than the utterly obvious, which is NUFC are a very convenient vehicle for advertising his brand. Just look at New Zealand - we fly all that way, play some crap matches, then about 3 hours later Sports Direct open 10 stores. The bottom line is that there are NO footballing reasons for his involvement with either NUFC or Glasgow Rangers, so it follows that the interests he has and the interest a fan has are polar opposites. It's straightforward and he's just not a deep enough individual for it to be anything other than what it is.
As I said, he's here for the long term, or at least until he feels football is on the wane, or can't support his branding any more. In other words, I just can't see him ever leaving. He's our very own Doug Ellis.
I think what should have happened is more attempts to laud him, ingratiate him and be wildly supportive of him. He's a billionaire - you try and fight these guys, they can simply wipe their ar$e with more money than you or I will ever see. We accepted Capitalism as our modus operandi some time ago, and nothing - not even Russell Brand - is going to change that for many, many years. I mean, what's the alternative?! He may well have taken vindictive actions - Kinnear, for example - but before and after that he was trying to be a fan, or onside with us at least, a la Keegan, Shearer. It's all too late for that, now, of course, "we" hate him, he sees us as a necessary evil and just stays completely away. The cold pragmatism will be the standard of NUFC for years and years. All a bit grim, of course, but all I can do is encourage the only action appropriate - stop paying any money and, if you can't walk away completely, just go for Radio 5, online streams, the pub or - at most - SkySports/BT.
