Mike Ashley: Laughing all the way to the bank again.With the news that Mike Ashley’s downmarket sports chain, Sports Direct, is about to be included in the reshuffled FTSE 100 Index of the top 100 UK companies, I took a peek at their latest figures, as I do from time to time.
As has been the norm with Sports Direct for quite some time now, the figures were obscene, with profits rising a whopping 23.2% to £260.1 million.
What caught my eye however was the current Sports Direct share price standing at well over £7 and rising three or four times just as I was reading it over the share ticker. This means that Ashley’s current 64% holding in Sports Direct International is now worth over £2.75 billion, and this is after Ashley cashed in some 4% of his shares for over £100 million back in February.
To put this in perspective in terms of Newcastle United and it’s importance in the scheme of things to Ashley, that is well over 10 times the value of what Ashley has invested in the club, around £262 million. This includes a debt of around £129 million to Ashley, most of which is repayable on demand with the rest secured on future broadcasting revenue. (more…)
The fans are revolting, but Will they be effective this time?Newcastle United fans are revolting!
However, writing as someone who used to be an protester and fundraiser myself in the past, not over Newcastle United but over causes such as civil liberties, racism and the like, from what I have read and seen of Newcastle United fans’ planned protests so far, the chances of success don’t seem to be that great at all. This isn’t because the protestors don’t have a case, more that the protagonists don’t seem to be protesters, quite simply, they don’t know how to do it properly. They’re more like brickies and plumbers who are blundering around in a field they don’t understand, a bit like Mike Ashley trying to run a large Premier League football club really!
Please don’t misunderstand, this is not to be unecessarily disparaging at all, it’s just an appeal to realism, a plea for the protestors to consult with people who know what they are doing this time before they go blundering in once again with their size 10s and misspelled bedsheets. In a David and Goliath struggle, you don’t just need all the help you can get, you need the right help to avoid falling at the first few hurdles. (more…)
Joe Kinnear welcoming new signing Loic Remy to the club.Speaking in another ‘exclusive’ interview with Mike Ashley’s Sports Direct News, Alan Pardew was repeating his protestations that Joe Kinnear was only brought into the club to work on the financial side of transfers like Derek Llambias before him.
Anxious to reassure worried fans that he is still in charge of all football matters (please kill us), and that Kinnear was only brought in to make life easier for himself and Mike, Pardew explained:
“It’s quite simple really, it’s not too different to what we had before with Derek Llambias. Mike and Joe work the finances of the football club. Therefore I have to make sure, with Joe, that we’re approaching players in the right financial bracket for us and that we’re doing the right amount of scouting.
“Joe’s job is to co-ordinate that and put it all together. So he has my input, he has Graham Carr’s views and also Mike’s opinion as well in terms of the finance.
“Basically, he gives me a ballpark figure of the sort of player we can perhaps afford and me and Graham give him the targets we think it works for. Joe then works towards finding a solution and it’s as simple as that.(more…)
Pardew – Fist pumping his way back to the top ten?Speaking exclusively to Sports Direct News, Alan Pardew saluted Mike Ashley’s “bravery” in saving Newcastle United from the Championship, but also suggested that he may not be able to do it a second time should the club be relegated again.
He also revealed that without the handicap of European football in the coming season, though his first aim will be to avoid relegation, he will be ambitious and go for a top ten finish or possibly even higher. Though how he could aim higher than the top ten, he didn’t explain.
“I think realistically we should look to finish in the top ten and hopefully get ourselves in a position where we can attack higher than that” said the Silver Supremo, adding:
“When it gets to February we’ll have a clearer indication of where we’re going to be.”
Pardew then spoke of how it is relief from the pressures of European football, along with good players which has enabled him to aim so high after last season’s disappointing 16th: (more…)
.“It’s a big statement by Wonga to say: ‘We want the naming rights and we’re going to give it back to the fans and the community’.”gushed Derek Llambias.
“Getting the St James’ name back is fantastic. It is a clever move in terms of getting fans in a good place.”
“For so long, Llambias and owner Mike Ashley were associated with taking unpopular decisions (“We started off poorly,” he admits) but the announcement of a controversial deal with Wonga yesterday was significantly sweetened by news about the stadium name.” purred the Journal’s Mark Douglas.
Yet the sums just do not seem to add up. It was trumpted by Llambias that the new sponsorship deal with Wonga would be the club’s “biggest-ever commercial deal.” and when asked if the total deal amounted to £8 million per season, he acknowledged that sum was “not far off.” £6 million of this is going into the main shirt sponsorship side of the deal. As I pointed out in this earlier piece, this is actually slightly below the mean figure of £7.36 million for Premier League shirt sponsorship. However both Wonga and Llambias have made much of the fact that a further £1.5 million will go into the club’s Benton Academy and the Newcastle United Foundation, where Wonga will be getting involved with future customers local youngsters from underprivileged families. (more…)
