‘Mike Ashley will sell Newcastle United’ – Here’s why..

By Chris Ozdronez 

I’ve always been the “glass half full” type, so I try to look for positives where ever possible.
 
It may all appear doom and gloom at the moment for Newcastle fans but if our long-term plan is to get rid of Ashley, it may not be all bad news.
 
Yes, we’re in the bottom 3, but this is just the start of another long season, with lots of matches to go – not forgetting the majority of our games have been we’ve played against the top teams (and we’ve not disgraced ourselves by any means only losing matches by the odd goal). Once again this season, that could be useful in May when goal differences are calculated.
 
So what is the good news?
 
It’s this – If Ashley likes anything it’s money. I think we can all agree on that and fundamentally most people are motivated to act by 2 primary drives:
 
  1. The “desire for gain”
  2. The “fear of loss”
For the last decade, number one has been foremost in his mind. He’s been seeing the money rolling in, and as far as we can see, minimal amounts going out. However, with all of the recent negative publicity on many fronts (politics, AGM’s, protests and bad publicity for Sports Direct), things are slowly changing – and we’ve all seen the amateur attempts of damage limitation by the usual suspects in the media which look to have backfired.
 
More and more displays of anger outside his outlets with what looks like many more to come. Not a good image of protestors at every home game. To top that off, his “Cash Cow” is floundering and that would have to be causing him more concern.
 
I think the scales of judgement, in Ashley’s eyes, could be starting to tip.
 
This is where Rafa is playing the game brilliantly, publicly being calm and positive, saying the right things about the team and various players. Behind the scenes, who knows, is this the ultimate “brinkmanship”?
 
It could be that having 3 or 4 of the top teams early on is the best thing that could’ve happened. Nobody’s really expecting much considering the transfer window we’ve just had, so no huge surprise to see where we are currently.
 
The whole picture could be playing right into Rafa’s hand, ”You gave us no money, I told you we needed reinforcements, and look what’s happened” etc.
 
Surely that 2nd primary drive should be kicking in any time soon – FEAR OF LOSS.
 
Another drop into the Championship could be disastrous for Ashley and he knows it. He can no longer get away with what he has done for years and that’s why I believe Mike Ashley will sell Newcastle United.
 
Time to get out now..
(Fancy writing for us? Send any articles/ideas over to us at [email protected] & we’ll get back to you!)

About Olly Hawkins

As a Junior Magpie since birth and season ticket holder, I eat, sleep and breathe all things NUFC! Here at the blog, I aim to bring you news, views, match reports and transfer exclusives as and when I get them.

4 thoughts on “‘Mike Ashley will sell Newcastle United’ – Here’s why..

  1. I agree with some of your sentiments, Olly, but while we have Rafa, I hope we have a good season. One last good season. Then, when its over, Rafa’s reputation is enhanced, we had a bit of joy, Rafa goes, we go, Ashley can spend a bucket load on some tripe manager in a vain attempt to show that Rafa wasn’t so great, only to have that fail and NUFC get relegated, proving just how great Rafa truly was, then NUFC can bomb out badly in the Championship league and then, long before the end of that season, when there is no hope of getting promoted back to the Premier (“Ka-ching”) league, Ashley will bleat for a sale, but this time, he probably will sell – strip NUFC of any assets and try to retain advertising rights and a share of future earnings, and probably want to stick in a buy-back clause – best thing for NUFC is to do a Sunderland, a double relegation – Ashley may just cut and run then, but it will take at least that, and probably 4-5 years of no television money or cheap publicity, he won’t go quietly – and that’s where I slightly disagree with you, Olly, this isn’t just about the money (it is a big part of it to be sure) but it is also, at least equally, about his ego as well.

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  2. Peter:
    I agree with some of your sentiments, Olly, but while we have Rafa, I hope we have a good season. One last good season. Then, when its over, Rafa’s reputation is enhanced, we had a bit of joy, Rafa goes, we go, Ashley can spend a bucket load on some tripe manager in a vain attempt to show that Rafa wasn’t so great, only to have that fail and NUFC get relegated, proving just how great Rafa truly was, then NUFC can bomb out badly in the Championship league and then, long before the end of that season, when there is no hope of getting promoted back to the Premier (“Ka-ching”) league, Ashley will bleat for a sale, but this time, he probably will sell – strip NUFC of any assets and try to retain advertising rights and a share of future earnings, and probably want to stick in a buy-back clause – best thing for NUFC is to do a Sunderland, a double relegation – Ashley may just cut and run then, but it will take at least that, and probably 4-5 years of no television money or cheap publicity, he won’t go quietly – and that’s where I slightly disagree with you, Olly, this isn’t just about the money (it is a big part of it to be sure) but it is also, at least equally, about his ego as well.

    Just to let you know mate, this was written by guest writer Chris Ozdronez (see beginning of article), but I do agree with what you’ve said here.

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  3. Some interesting points raised here let’s see if they become fruitful, the constant heartache for NUFC fans needs to end soon and Mike Ashley selling the club will feel like a premiere league title to the majority

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  4. Chris – I can only assume that you are part of the latest anti Ashley group and you are trying to drum up some kind of hysteria.

    Some of your points are spot on but you are giving way too much credit to the effect minimal protests at Sports Direct shops might have. Unless they are happening 24/7 they will be having virtually no effect on business.

    As for money – do you really think that Ashley will look at the start and panic? Do you not think that a man who has built up a multi Billion pound empire can’t take a look at the fixture list and figure out “OK – the league starts next weekend at Palace!”

    Nothing has changed at all, if anything circumstances have played into Ashley’s hands. The only way from here is up. He’ll do the same as last season and wait until January to decide if he’ll let Rafa deal.

    He’s not losing money and he’s not the least bit bothered about what the protest groups so laughingly refer to as “negative publicity.”

    It’s a joke mate.

    Ashley will not sell until he gets his money back. As I’ve said before, ironically people not buying season tickets is just extending his stay..

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