Mike Ashley

[millomowl]

It's 10.16pm here in Canberra and I'm off to bed soon. Hopefully this doesnt give me nightmares.

Please not him of all people....

[hasthagotanycheese]

Would need in excess of 100 million to buy us given the cash that DC has sponked in the last 3 years.

[stocksyuto]

45 minutes ago, Chris Apolon said:

I might not appreciate his opportunistic nature, at all, however he runs (ran) Newcastle like a business, within its means and generates profit from sales by buying in young relative unknowns from other leagues. 

 

Isn't this what a lot of fans want? 

 

Newcastle fans are deluded, think they should be fighting for titles, Ashley whatever peoples thoughts is a good businessman and runs newcastle how clubs should be run 

 

Excluding the sponsorship of stadiums! And another note, he owns sports direct...from kit manufacture to exposure in his shops that would be an added benefit

This is what we needed from the start but bad advice given to DC has put us in the shîte , Ashley knows what hes doing even if the fans dont like it. 

[Guest Grandad]

This is the usual Owlstalk reaction

 

I remember it as far back as Kenwyne Jones "Ohhh we don't want him, it was a ll a massive fluke when we had him on loan"

 

Had it soooooooo many times with players - had it with Mandaric.

 

Still waiting for a single poster to outline a rational reason as to why this is worse than our current position.

[Harrysgame]

TBH we have no say in this. I guess a high proportion of fans are never happy with the chairman etc. Not a great fan but has backed the team and have been far more successful than us over 20 years. Knows his way around football.

[steelcityowlsfan]

I wondered how long it would take before somehow he was linked with us. It’s questionable whether he’s an upgrade on Chansiri and he’d have the same problems with FFP.

 

Let’s not forget the two times they were relegated to the championship while he was chairman they had a luxury we have never had. Parachute payments. 
 

Can’t see this happening. 

[Harrysgame]

1 minute ago, Grandad said:

This is the usual Owlstalk reaction

 

I remember it as far back as Kenwyne Jones "Ohhh we don't want him, it was a ll a massive fluke when we had him on loan"

 

Had it soooooooo many times with players - had it with Mandaric.

 

Still waiting for a single poster to outline a rational reason as to why this is worse than our current position.

No one can because it isn't. Might not be everyone's cup of tea but not keen Branson myself but still went on his planes.

[Paul..]

I think the guy is an absolute bell end but anyone who says no clearly doesn't have the best interests of the club at heart. How many seasons have Newcastle had in the top flight under his tenure?

 

[WalthamOwl]

15 minutes ago, Jaybeeowl said:

So you think they'd happily swap him with Chansiri?

there are a hell of a lot of chairman I would swap DC for. Ashley is not one of them. 

[Carbone]

2 minutes ago, steelcityowlsfan said:

I wondered how long it would take before somehow he was linked with us. It’s questionable whether he’s an upgrade on Chansiri and he’d have the same problems with FFP.

 

Let’s not forget the two times they were relegated to the championship while he was chairman they had a luxury we have never had. Parachute payments. 
 

Can’t see this happening. 

I really don’t see how it’s questionable at all, Chansiri has done an awful job here, but at least Mike Ashley actually sells players and doesn’t ask for stupid money that nobody will pay 

[S36 OWL]

1 hour ago, whatdial said:

He’ll be keeping his cash for now given his shops won’t be making him any money for a while 

 

He will be making a fortune online. 

[Herb]

I honestly can’t see how he could be any worse than DC. 
 

Currently we’re a mess with a chairman in denial. Ashley may be too stingy for the Premier League where there’s an expectation that you’ll spend spend spend to keep up. 
 

With the EFL rules his hands are tied anyway. Its not a name that fills people with excitement because he’s unpopular but he seems far more in tune with what’s needed than DC.  

[soldierboyblue]

6 minutes ago, Grandad said:

This is the usual Owlstalk reaction

 

I remember it as far back as Kenwyne Jones "Ohhh we don't want him, it was a ll a massive fluke when we had him on loan"

 

Had it soooooooo many times with players - had it with Mandaric.

 

Still waiting for a single poster to outline a rational reason as to why this is worse than our current position.

As with any new/prospective owner I would only judge them on what they have done at our club now what has gone on in previous roles. The old CEO was pilloried by thousands after what had gone on at Charlton but did no wrong to our club and actually added value. I will keep my powder dry until we have a new owner otherwise it's all just conjecture

[WalthamOwl]

6 minutes ago, Carbone said:

I really don’t see how it’s questionable at all, Chansiri has done an awful job here, but at least Mike Ashley actually sells players and doesn’t ask for stupid money that nobody will pay 

doesn’t really spend that much though does he even after they have sold players for decent money. There average annual net spend per year in his time was 2.6 million. 

Edited April 29, 2020 by WalthamOwl

[matt68owls]

does Ashley have a son who can make all of the decisions for him?

[pazowl55]

Here's a dilemma for you. 

 

What if Ashley did take over. But in doing so guaranteed that Benitez would be our new manager. 

 

Would we all feel differently then?

[NorthernOwl]

26 minutes ago, cross owl said:

Was he chairman both times they went down and both recent times went back up as champions and spent the rest of the time in the Prem . Yeah we demand better as no one under thirty five remembers us as anything but a second and third division yo yo club . We would swap places with the Geordies no question but they are moaning that they deserve to be champions league and we moan that we aren't in our rightful place which to about a third of the country is exactly where we are . He knows football and no matter how much the Geordies moan they are no where near as much of a basket case as us . Do I like him , who cares as long as whoever comes in , if anyone , doesn't turn us into more of laughing stock . 

 

Newcastle are a much bigger club than us. Comparing the positions of the 2 clubs is ridiculous. 

[Tracksuit]

I would not like him to be the owner of our club.

 

He happily had his staff on zero hour contracts resulting in them being paid below the minimum wage.

 

He tried to pitch Sports Direct as an ‘essential service’ during the Covid19 restrictions & then upped his prices while a large amount of people were either furloughed or panicking about the stability of their jobs.

 

He had ‘Wonga’ plastered all over the Newcastle shirts during the hey day of the pay day loans companies. Advertising a company that makes it easier for people to get further in debt.

 

He’s got no issues in selling Newcastle to a regime with one of the worst human rights records in the world.

 

No doubt plenty of people will tell me I’m naive & that if we want to compete we’d be better off with Ashley.

 

If the price of being good at football is lining the pockets of that guy or being complicit in the way he treats people then I’d rather not bother.

 

[WalthamOwl]

5 minutes ago, pazowl55 said:

Here's a dilemma for you. 

 

What if Ashley did take over. But in doing so guaranteed that Benitez would be our new manager. 

 

Would we all feel differently then?

bit early to be drinking mate. 

[TrickyTrev]

Just out of interest, from a footballing perspective what did Mike Ashley do at Newcastle that would put so many fans off wanting him here?

 

Yes none of us like the guy and when you look at how he runs Sports Direct it’s easy to see why but purely from a footballing perspective why would fans not want him here?

 

I know the Newcastle fans don’t like him but I’d suggest their expectations are to be challenging at the top end of the Premier League year in year out. I think that’s a tad unrealistic and I also think after 2 decades of rubbish our fans are more realistic.