Relegation could mean sale

http://m.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-tyne-32772119

Newcastle United owner Mike Ashley is likely to sell the club if the team is relegated, former club chairman Freddy Shepherd has said.

Newcastle must beat West Ham next Sunday to ensure they avoid relegation.

They were beaten 2-1 by Queen's Park Rangers on Saturday and have lost nine of their last 10 matches.

Mr Ashley has not commented, but in September last year he made it clear he hadno intention of selling the club until at least the end of next season.

"[But] if they do get relegated then I think there could be a change of ownership, I'm sure," Mr Shepherd explained.

"You can't get relegated twice in seven years without something at the top being sorted out."

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Mike Ashley said last year he had no plans to sell the club until at least the end of next season
Mr Ashley "may have had enough at Newcastle" and would try to sell the club, he said.

But it was "down to the players at the end of the day", Mr Shepherd added.

 

Yeah, I'm sure Freddy has a right to talk on the matter, what with him and Ashley being such close confidantes and all.

His opinion's as valid as anyone else's, but I don't see why it's news.

 

What a load of guff from Fat Freddy. No genuine reasoning, just his gut feeling.

And how is it ultimately down to the players? Since when did they start deciding whether an owner should sell or stay? And if he means it's up to them whether we stay up or not, then again he just looks a fool. Too late to say it's up to the players. Damange has already been down from top to bottom. Ashley need just look in the mirror to see where the problems started.

Thanks for your thoughts Freddy, but just shut the fcuk up.

 

Freddy smelling a chance to **** it all up again...

He hasn't got a ****ing clue what he is talking about.

Ashley will not be worried. 1. He will think the odds are stacked in his favour next week. As a gambler he'll like the odds of us either getting 3, Sunderland getting nowt from the next 2 or Hull failing to beat Man U. I think he is mistaken but in betting terms he will fancy his chances. 2. If we do go down, he'll just sell some players and invest enough to get us back up.

I have said on other threads, I don't think relegation affects a sale one way or the other. Just forget all notion of a sale. No one has wanted to buy us, he has no desire to sell, the club is performing a valuable function for SD, and he won't suffer that much pain with relegation.

 

He will never sell until we stop going to the ground. People have to realise this. An empty ground ****s up his advertising strategy. That is our only weapon, and it is a huge weapon. we just have to have the bollocks to use. It is OUR WMD, and it will work. Everyone just needs to man up and effing use it. Do not go to the games. FFS. Its so effing obvious. He is calling our bluff!! Well lets show him we dont care anymore. Its like a scorched earth policy. Hurts in the short term, but succeeds in the long term. It worked in WW2 for Russia against Hitler, and lets face it, this guy is our HITLER!! Just do it. If we do, in 10 years time we will be ok.. Toon fans, grow some bollocks!!!

 

Is it though? We don't go and the cameras then can't wait to show the ground and the ill feeling his created. However eyes will be subliminally drawn to the masses of SD advertising. Its a win win for Mike. Again.

 

Shiite. He cannot be second guessed.

Genuinely, I think you're underestimating how petty and vindictive Ashley can be. And he can afford it too.

You're assuming that your average Sports Direct customer is remotely interested in the plight of Newcastle United. I'd be willing to bet that at least 50% of the 50,000 regularly in SJP have been to Sports Direct within the last year, no problem. The "masses" don't have a lot of money, but do need some cheap tat to wear. It's simple, it's brilliantly simple and it works.

If the ground was empty, it would attract such attention that even more eyes would set upon the SD logo; Ashley has been subjected to complaints of child labour for some of his lesser brands, bullying by Lilywhites and Firetrap, he bullies his own shareholders. Do people care? Do humanitarians stop going to SD? Maybe, but it's not the target market. Did anything happen from Lilywhites, Firetrap, Debenhams? Did his shareholders burn those shares?

The club provides him a mass advertising platform. He has absolutely no other interest, every year is filled with the same bafflingly low-rent decisions. The only thing I cannot fathom is why he makes decisions that jeopardise the clubs PL status, that makes no sense whatsoever.

 

Shepherd can go and **** himself. He knows **** all and is simply guessing.

 

No way he'll sell if you go down, he won't take a loss, he wouldn't even accept breaking even. 160+ million for a Championship club? Don't think so. I thought Freddy Shepherd was a business man

 

There is no such thing as a loss. NUFC will never ever represent a loss. It has played a significant role in the growth of SD. His personal fortune has trebled. It is not solely down to the association with NUFC, no where near in fact. However it has played a part.

He won't sell no matter what the division. He has no need to.

 

I lost my keys last week

 

As long as you didn't misplace Simon fella

 

Fat Freddy hoping to instigate a drop in price so he can buy us back below the odds and jump on the gravy train again?

I'd take Ashley over Freddy. At least Ashley is an outsider using us. Freddy was supposedly one of us and took great delight in lining his pockets at our expense.

 

Sadly I agree. There are worse than Ashley and FF is one of them. Unless there is genuine love, there is no happy medium i.e. an owner who is not looking to make money, but isn't willing to slosh cash about putting everything at risk, just steady progress. It is surprising the mackems haven't looked at Ellis a bit closer and his motives. He seems to have lost the love and has made zero progress against a background of tightness.

 

He's well misplaced. He's in the loft with the Christmas decorations. There's dozens of boxes up there which I never see fit to label. I'll see him at Christmas

 

Think the consequences of relegation could be catastrophic for us this time. There will be no sale, as the clubs cost will go down and the guy has the club by the short and curlies, same way has he has done with other failing businesses like Slazenger's. Players will leave, sadly we are powerless to Ashley and the best way forward is to not support the regime.

 

The only way I can see MA selling us if we went down ..would be him enlarging his mysteriously never reducing loan to get us back up ..then flogging us. ie getting fed up and taking a small loss on his investment. Not that I can see MA ever taking that route as its not the nature of the beast, he wants his cut and he will get it come hell or high water.

I truly think we will be stuck with him ..hovering around 12-15th place for years to come. Keeping NUFC is an easy choice for him, He has no personal involvement or even respect for the club, free advertising for his tat, gobs of cash rolling in every year, In the PL only to make up numbers and keep the cash flowing and camera's on his adverts ..its win win win win all the way down the line for him

 

I think there is a happy medium; where the interests of the owner, which would almost inevitably be bigger than the club, require an association to success.

Dubai & Man City is an advertisement, Etihad has to be associated to money, power and success. Abramovic wanted to flounce his personal status quo. Liverpool's "Warrior" brand wants to be associated to winners.

I mean, does Liebherr require Southampton to be successful? Maybe, maybe not, it's just a well run business. Swansea is about the love, as is Everton. Villa's a good one to shove in front of that fat fcker we're lumbered with - owner wants to sell, team in trouble, guess what? New manager, protected investment. We're just unfathomable, Mike Ashley is unfathomable. I will never get my head around three things - why people don't want to aspire to anything, how having children is a default human right and how Mike Ashley is managing NUFC.