Should Ashley sack Hughton if he gets Newcastle promoted?I feel somewhat strange writing about this as promotion is by far from a certainty yet, although even the most downbeat fan has to be looking up at the Premier League and thinking a swift return looks more and more likely as the weeks and games pass by.
However, inspired by Simon Bird, let’s discuss what could possibly be one of owner Mike Ashley’s biggest problem should we go up. Do we stick with Hughton or do we change manager again?
Not many Toon fans wouldn’t pat current boss Chris Hughton on the back for the amazing job he has done in taking Newcastle United 5 points clear at the top of The Championship. We can’t deny it, it’s there in print, and despite a certain number of fans fearing the worst before the season kicked off, Hughton has slowly turned it around. We can look at individual games where perhaps things could have been done better tactically, Leicester away is a prime example, but what we do have to admit is that the majority of the time Hughton has hit the nail on the head and got the tactics right and earned the results we needed. (more…)
SIPP Broker Ltd's Lynn Steele (right).The acronym “SIPP” (Self Invested Personal Pension) has recently become a familiar one to all those who have supported the NUST in their bid to drive owner, Mike Ashley, from St James’s Park. It is one of the primary financial vehicles used to persuade people to invest savings and pensions in the NUST’s Barack Obama inspired “Yes We Can” campaign.
In this story I will be looking at the financial brain behind the NUST, Lynn Steele, and her company, “The SIPP Broker Ltd”, in Halifax. Formed less than two years ago, the SIPP Broker Ltd’s rise has been not far short of meteoric, and it’s business development team includes figures such as ex Chelsea player, David Speedie, and ex ‘Spurs player, Graham Roberts, who were brought in to exploit oppotunities from the highly lucrative world of football.
It was Speedie who caused a huge furore in 2004 after referring to black people as “blackies” and “ni**ers” at a charity function, after agreeing with Ron Atkinson’s comments about black player, Marcel Desailly, who was described as a “lazy thick ni**er” by the veteran manager and pundit. It was Roberts who, in his capacity as a business development advisor for the pension selling firm, also fronted the “Fans 401” bid for Newcastle United some time ago.
On that bid, Lynn Steele said in an interview with the Halifax Courier:
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…)
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…)
