Mike Ashley: Stick or twist? (pic by Paul Hutchinson)Now the transfer window is firmly shut and we know what sort of players we have to work with until the end of season, owner Mike Ashley’s plans have become much clearer… or have they? I’d like to focus on the Newcastle United part of Mike Ashley’s business empire, rather than his other companies, some of which have recently featured in a BBC documentary.
Mike Ashley’s tenure on Tyneside has been a troubled one to say the least. Seemingly riding into The Toon like a knight in shining armour, the billionaire investor the club needed to get us challenging towards the top of the Premier League. Unfortunately this didn’t happen, reports came out that Ashley never bothered to even glance at the clubs finances before signing up to buy the club. A look at the books would have revealed just exactly where the clubs finances were, and if it was feasable for him to conclude the purchase.
Not a great start then, and something that is arguably still having a knock on effect even now as the Sports Direct owner still wrestles to balance the books. Some will say fair play to him, he put his own money in to make the club more sustainable, and to correct his mistake. Others will say that it’s his mistake for not looking through the books first, a schoolboy error on his part and he, rightly, should cover the cost of his own mistake. (more…)
Warnock: Drumming up one last bid for Moses?Crystal Palace manager, Neil Warnock, has been giving his opinions on the hunt for Palace’s 19 year old winger / striker, Victor Moses, who has of course been the subject of an alleged £2 million pound bid from Newcastle United.
However, he was speaking of a further development, where Dave Whelan’s Wigan Athletic have apparently trumped the Toon with a £2.5 million bid. Meanwhile, Sky Sports News are reporting that that Moses is “in talks” with the North West club.
Warnock said on the player, and the move by Wigan Athletic:
“I think it’s done. Victor is going to the Premier League and I think £2.5million is a snip for one of the best young players we’ve got at 19 years of age
“Manchester City should have bought him ages ago instead of messing about, but another Premier League club have made an offer.(more…)
Will Hughton land James Perch in his net?A little bit of a transfer news coming out of St James’s Park suggests we could be on the verge of making our first signing of the January transfer window. Nottingham Forest’s James Perch worked under Colin Calderwood during his spell as Forest manager, so no doubt there would have been some recommendation coming from our Scottish assistant manager.
Predominantly a right back, the 24 year old can also play in the center of defence and has covered various positions across the midfield at points in his career. So, a utility player then, although one who is apparently held in high regard by manager Billy Davies, who quickly signed Nick Shorey as temporary cover whilst Perch recovers from a long standing shin problem.
You’ll forgive me for not getting over excited over us being linked with a player who has played the majority of his games in League 1, and perhaps this shows the level of ambition being shown by our current owner!
If it’s a right back we are after so desperately then why don’t we pull out all the stops to secure Danny Simpson? Fair enough, he didn’t have the best of games last night, but every player has a below-par game once in a while and Simpson has been largely excellent during his time with The Toon. Manager Chris Hughton is still confident of landing the Salford lad in a £500,000 deal, with fresh talks scheduled today. Hughton said: (more…)
NUST Spokesman, Mark Jensen.The Newcastle United Supporter’s Trust have today named the financial advisors who will guide them in their battle to oust current owner, Mike Ashley from the club.
First cab off the rank is the Delphi Partnership. They are a corporate finance business based in London, but they have strong North East connections through partner, John Sands, a former North East “Executive of the Year”, and neighbour of former Toon owner, Sir John Hall.
The second company to be unveiled is Whickham firm, the HRC Group, a financial management company. They will work with the NUST on compliance issues, which have been a major stumbling block for the NUST so far.
It was also announced that Leeds accountants, Hentons, have been working with the trust in an advisory role. NUST also announced that the Trust have also been working with a “leading Newcastle legal firm”, however their idendity is been kept a closely guarded secret at this stage.
On the grand unveiling, NUST spokesman, Mark Jensen said:
“Our partners have a proven track record in providing the very best advice and we will be announcing further partners in the next weeks.
“We’re entering an exciting phase and since the current owners have set out their exit strategy we are keen to speed up our campaign and ensure the legal position is portrayed correctly. (more…)
Mike Ashley: £7 million pounds per month claim NUST.On the NUST’s website today, Tony Stephenson claimed a source had told the NUST that Ashley has performed the financial miracle of turning a company which lost over £20 million last year, into a company which was now making as much as £7 million per month. This would be the equivalent of approximately £84 million per annum, with a turnover that is almost half as much as it was in the preceding year.
Mr Richardson was writing about this seemingly remarkable feat in a preamble encouraging members to fill out the Trust’s latest survey, which, say the Trust:
“will be used to show interested potential partners the strength of feeling in the city and beyond about the current regime – the answers you give will form the basis of potential negotiations but are not binding on you. Its a massive marketing exercise to see if the fans are up for it.”
Later on in the piece, Mr Richardson goes on to stress: (more…)
