Following the club’s (well, Mike Ashley’s) skin crawling response to criticism from Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn, The Magpie Group have released a fantastic short video in response to Ashley’s claims he’s a responsible owner who doesn’t take money out of the club.
See their simple but effective masterpiece below, which exposes Mike Ashley for the bad owner he really is:
- Ashley bought NUFC in 2007. By 2018, NUFC’s commercial revenue only increased by £1m. In the same period, West Ham’s had almost doubled to £31m.
- Sports Direct advertising all over the stadium, gaining global exposure as a result, despite only paying a total of £2m in 12 years. Who benefits most from that cut-price advertising on a global scale?
- Two relegations since 2007 due to the chronic underinvestment in the playing squad.
- Numerous dubious transfers emanating from the same agents.
- Sub-standard and inadequate training facilities.
- HMRC investigation.
- Alienating the fanbase and local community.
- Increasing ticket prices by 25% in two years.
- Lying to fans again and again and again..
- Asset stripping
- Selling land outside the ground to his son-in-law. That money still hasn’t appeared in the club’s accounts..
- Ashley denies taking money from the club, despite last year receiving £33m according to club accounts.
As they say, they really could go on. The list is endless when it comes to Mike Ashley’s bad ownership of NUFC.
The commercial revenue only increasing by £1m in 11 years tells it’s own story. The likes of West Ham are streets ahead of us now. There is simply no reason why we shouldn’t be competing with them (other than of course Mike Ashley).
We also had roughly the same commercial revenue as Spurs when he bought us – and look at the difference between our two clubs over a decade later. One was fighting for the Champions League just a few months ago..all while we were fighting to survive.
What’s so galling, is the simple fact that Ashley believes, or thinks that we should believe what is in his statement. Does he genuinely think he’s a good owner? I honestly think he does. The man is a sociopath.
I particularly like how he invites Corbyn to a foundation event. Corbyn should take him up on his offer, and bring some auditors..
Just smash the fat ****
Ashley Isawanker(Quote)
An you’ll still get people protecting his name an saying he doesn’t take anything from the club ?♂️
Jaffa(Quote)
What absolute garbage.
In your rush to jump on the “lets slag off Ashley” bandwagon you have just regurgitated information from the internet – without even checking to see if its true.
To try to add emphasis you repeat things – Assett Stripping, then Selling off land.
You make the ludicrous suggestion that commercial revenue has only gone up one million, which is a blatant lie. You say he claims he never took anything out of the club then call him a liar because the club paid him back a short term bridging loan.
You spend years moaning about free advertising, and now he’s paying for it, it’s not enough – even though the advertising space Sports Direct is using is not detracting from other advertising revenue.|
Alienating the fanbase and local community. No – alienationg a very small fraction of the fanbase and local community. Lets not forget it was a full house against Man U on Sunday.
And many of the things you complain about are just vague statements. It’s very difficult to measure “again and again and again”
It really is like trying to have an intellectual discussion with a 4 year old.
I despise Ashley’s business manner just as much as the next lifelong fan but these complaints against Ashley are like having a go at Hitler because he didn’t leave a tip at the local diner.
We are again in the Deloitte Football Money top twenty and unlike some teams recently – we are not up for sale for a pound. Quite the opposite – we appear to have been overvalued.
I suppose when Ashley finally gets round to selling and walks away with his 350 million asking price, in your little universe you’ll be claiming you did it, you drove him away, while he’ll just be sitting there thinking “I just made a 200 million pound profit”
Oh and of course you’ll be heading to the polling booths to vote for Che Onwura and Jeremy Corbyn, because they “understand!”
Absolute 8oIIox!
Brrrian(Quote)
What a crock of opinionated ****………
If you really want Ashley out, and are really a serious fans group stop this conjecture, and get on yer bike and find a real investor who can take the club forward.
All this ***** does is devide people.
BillyTheFish(Quote)