Mike Ashley determined to have his day in court with the Newcastle United owners | OneFootball

It is now over two and a half years since Mike Ashley finally left Newcastle United.

Bought out by the Amanda Staveley fronted, Saudi Arabia PIF and Reuben family consortium, back in October 2021.

It was exciting that we had owners with access to such wealth that a bright future surely beckoned, but people were equally as delirious to see the back of Mike Ashley and his self-serving management, that had held the club back.

No more falling behind due to Mike’s behaviour. Or so we thought…

Just over a week ago on The Mag, there was a report about Ashley’s latest attempt to stifle NUFC in court, which thankfully ended in failure. Basically, Sports Direct were seeking an injunction to halt United’s pending arrangement which would see the new kits available from next month exclusively sold by JD Sports and Adidas themselves (as well as Newcastle United club stores).

Apart from a small percentage of collectors, the buyers of these shirts will be Newcastle fans who want that shirt and no alternative is viable. They will find the most convenient route to get it and if it isn’t immediately available, keep going until they’ve bought one.

Newcastle United have set up these arrangements to increase the income via exclusivity. I would assume JD Sports will either pay an initial sum up front for their rights, or give up a greater percentage of the shirts sale price to NUFC, as their portion of the sale is going to be validated by the fact that buyers can’t go elsewhere, plus the knocking bet that many who enter the store for the shirt will pick up a few additional items. I have no idea what extra sums / percentages JD and Adidas would offer, but I’d assume it would run into millions, which is a useful and valid sum in the ongoing PSR saga that has blighted our lives in recent times.

Of course, Mike Ashley doesn’t like this, an enormous irony given that a previous arrangement was in place with Sports Direct, when Ashley owned both entities. This information was never made public BUT safe to say, no NUFC fans not believing that this arrangement saw Newcastle United come out of it as the main beneficiary. Now that there is freedom to change this, Mike Ashley has deemed the move uncompetitive, which has led to the court action.

However, despite the initial victory, the litigation does not end there.

Mike Ashley is still pushing ahead with a court case to try and stop the exclusivity at some point in the future if things go his way, with the possibility of damages paid to him / them (Sports Direct) of Newcastle United lost.

As part of that injunction case, Sports Direct lawyer Tony Singla claimed Newcastle fans “alleged dislike” of Mike Ashley was “massively overstated.”

You get the odd person that falls in with the party line that Ashley did a good job of keeping Newcastle solvent and stable in the Premier League. This is a serious minority among Newcastle fans and more commonly parroted as a lazy line from fans of other clubs, particularly Sunderland, who either have no understanding of the situation or were just looking to wind up our supporters.

I am ‘fairly’ confident that many Newcastle supporters dislike Mike Ashley, and I would broadly bracket the reasons for this into three main points:

1) Poor appointments of personnel

In footballing terms, this was epitomised by the recruitment of Tony Jimenez and Dennis Wise, whose questionable transfer dealings led Kevin Keegan to walk away and leave the club in chaos. Similar shabby treatment was later doled out to Alan Shearer, Chris Hughton and Rafa Benitez, who all tried to run the place like a football club. As a result, a skeleton board kept the club ticking along but any frugality practiced was overwhelmed by the cost brought on by two avoidable relegations.

2) Commercial Inertia

The example often given is Tottenham, with whom Newcastle were competitive when Ashley bought NUFC in 2007. Between that period and the Newcastle takeover, Tottenham grew their commercial revenue by 300%, which kept them in touch with other big clubs growing at a similar rate and as a result saw them stay competitive. Newcastle’s deals were stifled, as advertisers were either ignored in favour of a ludicrous degree of Sports Direct advertising, or put off by it. The shoestring board made no attempt to maximise commercial space within the ground or through merchandise, as deals such as the one under discussion were done with Sports Direct or companies that most probably complimented Ashley’s own business dealings. As a result, commercial revenue grew only by £7m in 14 years, helping to leave the PSR black hole that the current owners are now trying to close and that is the single biggest obstacle to success for the club in the short term.

3) Plain Old Disdain

Mike Ashley made a habit throughout his time at NUFC of making moves that caused uproar with the fanbase. Changing the name of St James’ Park (again, to Sports Direct, for free), shabby treatment of club legends like Shearer, Keegan and the appallingly treated Jonas Gutierrez (the latter of whom both won tribunal cases), disrespect of the cups and therefore any chance of moderate success and the persistent employment of under qualified individuals that further dragged the club into the mire. As time wore on, it felt like some of these decisions were being made out of spite, with the owner never missing a chance to put two fingers up at fans (on one occasion, allegedly literally).

The impact of the above wore down the Newcastle fanbase to the extent of some obvious pushback against the owner. Protests in the shape of walk outs and marches to the ground, orchestrated demonstrations at various Sports Direct stores, the Mike Ashley Out Campaign and ultimately a lot of fans seeing the only way to get rid of the owner being to stay away from the games. The boycott led to the distribution of 10,000+ free season tickets to prevent the Sports Direct signage being surrounded by empty seats.

Yes, I would say there’s a catalogue of evidence that the Newcastle United fans outright dislike of Mike Ashley cannot be understated.

Some day, we will be completely rid of Mike Ashley related carry on. Until that point, constant vigilance eh? Please feel free to add your opinion below.