Mike Ashley -- Irrelevant Cunt

[ewerk 30217]

Well he appointed a bald man with glasses. Failed to check whether he was circumcised though.

[trooper 940]

http://www.theguardian.com/business/2016/mar/01/sport-direct-falls-out-of-ftse-100-guardian-investigation-share-price-working-conditions

Sports Direct relegated from the FTSE 100 £1.6 billion wiped off its value could be a double relegation on the cards for Ashley.

[Alex 34766]

Nelson Muntz tbh

[The Fish 10681]

Could this encourage the portly prick to sell up?

[ewerk 30217]

It could do if he fancies backing himself and buying up shares when their price is low.

[Dr Gloom 21792]

I said this in another thread already but this is the worst season ever to be relegated because of missing out on the TV money bonanza. Entirely what the fat cunt deserves

Edited March 3, 2016 by Dr Gloom

[scoobos 297]

It was in the news here a few days ago that the Sports Direct board had basically told him to fuck off on financing - due to dirty money (whatever that means).

 

He gave loans to the company at a great rate, that netted him 300,000 a year in interest - they've gone to the offshore banks and paying them 650,000 a year in interest instead.

 

Of so I've heard.

[Gemmill 44242]

http://www.theguardian.com/business/2016/mar/09/sports-direct-mps-mike-ashley

 

The Sports Direct founder, Mike Ashley, is being threatened with being found in contempt of parliament after failing to appear in front of MPs to give evidence about the retailers treatment of workers.

 

The move follows a Guardian investigation in December that revealed thousands of temporary workers at Sports Direct warehouses were receiving hourly rates effectively below the minimum wage.

 

In a strongly worded letter to the billionaire, Iain Wright, the chairman of the business, innovation and skills (BIS) committee, said: A number of alternative dates have been offered to you by the committee clerk, but as yet you have not accepted any of them, nor agreed in principle to attend. As you will be aware, select committees do not normally need to have recourse to our formal powers to summon witnesses in order to secure attendance; refusal to attend without good reason may be considered a contempt of the house.

 

Should you fail in your reply to agree to attend on one of the dates offered to you, or a mutually convenient alternative before 1 June, the committee reserves the right to take the matter further, including seeking the support of the House of Commons in respect of any complaint of contempt.

 

The standoff represents the second time that Ashley has resisted attempts to make him face MPs, having declined an invitation to appear in front of the Scottish affairs select committee last year. Instead, the company sent its chairman, Keith Hellawell.

 

Ashley also offered to meet the BIS committee privately at Sports Directs headquarters in Shirebrook, Derbyshire, but Wright has declined in line with select committees commitment to transparency.

 

Last year, undercover reporters employed inside the retailers warehouse found that thousands of workers were subjected to an extraordinary regime of searches and surveillance, while local primary schoolteachers also told the Guardian that pupils could remain in school while ill and return home to empty houses as parents working at the depot were too frightened to take time off work.

 

The reports added to the pressure on the firm, which had already been accused of operating Dickensian practices by the union Unite.

 

Sports Direct had not responded to an email seeking comment at the time of publication.

[Howay 12496]

Taking a leaf out of Lee's tactic book, if you just ignore the problem it's definitely just going to all go away.

[ewerk 30217]

Committees' power to compel witnesses to appear isn't set in concrete. Ashley will take it to court before appearing.

[Howmanheyman 32706]

Personally think Ashley is getting a fairly easy ride out of this. If I left my kids to look after the house, bills, running etc and they made an arse of it I'd be more to blame than the kids. Ashley is deliberately keeping out of the way and letting the skeleton organisation he's made NUFC become, get all the flak. Charnley shouldn't be anywhere near his job, nor should the other over promoted goons. All of this situation has been ultimately created by Ashley. If he went tomorrow, the rest would be peddled in quick time by a properly invested owner.

[Tooj 17]

http://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2016/mar/11/mike-ashley-newcastle-steve-mcclaren

 

Steve McClaren’s sacking is the latest symbol of the deep troubles at Newcastle, who are stumbling incoherently into another relegation battle with the fans feeling sour, angry, baffled and betrayed.

 

When Newcastle United slump into another of their serial crises during what passes for stewardship under Mike Ashley, the grand old club look wrong in every respect – from “top to bottom”, as their hero of yore, Alan Shearer, recently lamented. Yet another manager, Steve McClaren, has been dispatched from the ejector seat months after he replaced Newcastle’s discount experiment with John Carver’s career and wellbeing. Substantial money has actually been spent on signing players – £80m in the summer and January – but this has prompted only bewildered questions about the quality of recruitment by the chief scout, Graham Carr, who in effect selects the players in the decision‑making structure insisted on by Ashley.

 

With all of it leading the club stumbling incoherently into another relegation battle at a stadium built for cavalier adventure, the whole modern incarnation of St James’ Park looks dire. Ashley’s tainted retail empire, Sports Direct, has its logo on every wall and in everybody’s face around the ground, while the players Carr has signed according to the Ashley value policy of being under 25, pull on the noble black and white shirt with Wonga emblazoned on their chests.

The mood among an army of supporters who actively want to embrace the club as an engine of pride and regional identity is sour, angry, baffled and betrayed. Newcastle are facing the drop for the season when the financial divide between Premier League and Championship will gape wider than ever, alongside Aston Villa, another big club of great tradition failing under a billionaire owner.

Yet while Randy Lerner has almost said his farewells at Villa Park, announced he will not be over from America much any more, Ashley is involved with the hierarchy – threadbare as it is – at Newcastle, and sanctioned all that spending. Somehow, nothing they do is working.

The club reversed the clinical, misery-inducing strategy set out by the managing director, Lee Charnley, last season, 60 years after Newcastle last won a domestic trophy, the FA Cup, of in effect surrendering ambition in the cups in favour of aiming for a financially comfortable position in the upper half of the league table.

Then, out McClaren’s team limped from the Capital One Cup in September to a 1-0 home defeat by Sheffield Wednesday, after which Charnley – to his credit – sent an email to supporters apologising for “a very disappointing start to our Premier League campaign, and a painful early exit from a cup competition that we were determined to give everything in this year”.

Fourteen league matches after that, of which only four were won, a run punctuated by the 5-1 thrashing administered by their former manager Alan Pardew at Crystal Palace, Newcastle trudged out of the FA Cup in the third round, losing 1-0 at Watford.

That has left top-flight survival as the only aim and, with the Premier League finalising its unbelievable £8bn for the total 2016-19 TV rights, Ashley cannot contemplate missing out on so much money. Charnley’s apology in September talked about being in it all together and not apportioning blame (“We have sat down as a collective – myself with Steve and his coaching team, and Steve with his players …”) but the ringing of the relegation alarm drowns out such emollience.

It is natural at times such as this to see Ashley’s ownership as a permanent dead hand, which has brought his cheapskate, bottom line-obsessed practices of Sports Direct to a football club which has always relished stars with a touch of extravagance. It is easy to forget that after his first hideous period of ownership, when he seemed to buy the club for a good time then saw them relegated in 2009 and promised to sell up, the Ashley tenure briefly came together. In 2011-12, after Carr’s scouting had delivered talent including Yohan Cabaye, Papiss Cissé and Hatem Ben Arfa, Pardew took the team to fifth in the Premier League, and the then managing director Derek Llambias pulled the finances back to sanity.

Then Ashley appointed Joe Kinnear as director of football, Llambias left the next day, other clubs including Leicester City overhauled their recruitment, including from France, and Newcastle, with their talk of the top 10 and lack of interest in the cups, came across as too financially matter-of-fact for their own good. As they scramble to stay up now, Charnley must know, even if Ashley still gives an air of being detached, that there is only so much spirit you can squeeze from a football club.

 

 

[scoobos 297]

Cheers for posting that. good article.

[TheGingerQuiff 2412]

Was the Spurs boycott last season the turning point for him? Spent a bit last 2 windows, made 2 managerial appointments that were seemingly more ambitious than any before that. Does anyone think that by associating Sports Direct with NUFC, that shareholders of the former might have put pressure on him and his running of NUFC as a result of the negative press he was attracting? The Benitez appointment comes at a time they're in the press because of their treatment of employees. Has he really had a sudden change of heart, or does he just not want to the two-pronged grief?

[Kitman 2204]

Or is he desperate not to miss out on more PL riches?

[OTF 7243]

Or is he desperate not to miss out on more PL riches?

Without question this. It's the only reason we've got Benitez. Optimisically looking at it, if we survive, McClaren's failing as coach will have been a good thing for our long term prospects. The realist in me says even with survival Rafa won't get the backing from Ashley to transform the side and that will ultimately lead to discontent and his departure.

[scoobos 297]

Yeah, the pessimist in me wouldn't be surprised if Rafa does keep us up , then Mike Ashley tells him to sling his fuckin hook at those wages and control and appoints John Craven.

 

Hopefully Rafa's signed a 3 year with only the relegation break in HIS favour and no clauses for Mike to fuck him about should he stay up.

Edited March 14, 2016 by scoobos

[Gemmill 44242]

Ashley is to be formally summoned to appear in front of the business select committee on the 7th of June to explain his company's treatment of its workers. Stick it in your calendars cos after the letter he sent them at the weekend accusing them of being "deliberately antagonistic", I don't see the fat knacker getting an easy ride.

[ewerk 30217]

He responded to their last request by saying, 'you come to me'.

[The Fish 10681]

Ashley is to be formally summoned to appear in front of the business select committee on the 7th of June to explain his company's treatment of its workers. Stick it in your calendars cos after the letter he sent them at the weekend accusing them of being "deliberately antagonistic", I don't see the fat knacker getting an easy ride.

He'll just straight bat everything won't he?

 

With Keith Bishop whispering suggestions in his ear, all they'll get from him is some dry line about 'working hard with his staff to provide customers the best possible deals and his employees a fair deal'.

[Gemmill 44242]

I don't think it'll be quite as easy as that. At the very least, he'll be asked some very awkward questions and be made to squirm, and if he attempts to brush them aside like that it isn't like he won't be asked follow ups.

[Dr Gloom 21792]

He responded to their last request by saying, 'you come to me'.

 

 

sounds like he's taking the larry david approach to having a meeting

 

[TobamorisRevenge 0]

locked up in the tower of time?

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-derbyshire-35783408

 

attemping to flex their muscles!

[Monkeys Fist 42000]

locked up in the tower of time?

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-derbyshire-35783408

 

attemping to flex their muscles!

Unlikely- Considering Big Ben is slowly tipping over, they don't want to be putting any excessive weight up there.

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-16677456

[trooper 940]

Mike Ashley has said that "he will be staying at Newcastle United whether the club end up in the Premier League or the Championship next season.

The club’s owner told Sky News that he is hopeful that Rafa Benitez can keep the team up – but that whatever happens he and the Newcastle supporters ‘Are stuck with each other’ regardless"

“It’s disappointing (not beating Sunderland) because I want to see Newcastle win every game.

“I think that we have the right man (Rafa Benitez) in the job. If there is any chance of us staying up, let’s hope Rafa can do the business.”