Is Mike Ashley a "fit and proper person" to run a football club?
Hmmm - he admits he didn't do due diligence before buying the Barcodes, but hasn't confessed to whether his Newcastle shirts are a custommade XXXXXXXXXXXL.
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Ashley reveals Newcastle's financial black hole
Mike Ashley has revealed that Newcastle United still owe £27m in outstanding payments on transfer deals completed before the billionaire owner of Sports Direct bought the club last summer. In a rare interview — with a new, official club magazine — Ashley admits that he did not perform due diligence before buying Newcastle from the Hall family but suggests that, without his input, the club could now be in a serious financial plight.
"Financially, Newcastle United was in a difficult positon because I really do think that it had over-extended itself," he said. "We first heard about the potential sale on a Saturday and had the deal done by the Wednesday, so if you are asking if we did due diligence before buying, then the answer has to be no.
"One of the most unfortunate things about Newcastle United's finances at that time was the amount of money still owed on players signed in comparison to the amount of income that was due in off players who had gone.
"There is still £27m net to pay on transfers that were done before I came. So probably in the latter years before we came in you could argue that the club was beginning to lose its way. It had also already taken upfront payments from commerical deals and sponsorships which didn't help us at all. It seemed as though the club was in a very downward sprial, one it would have found very hard to come out of."
This perhaps explains Ashley's apparent reluctance to invest heavily in the transfer market this summer but he stressed that he has not been exactly slow to put his hand in his pocket.
"Apart from the purchase of the club and the associated costs that come with that, I've put in a further £100m to reduce debts, yet we still have the outstanding debt of the monies still owed on player transfers," he explained.
Even so when Ashley, who insists he is not looking to sell Newcastle, was asked if he regretted the purchase he replied: "Absolutely not" and described the clubs as "one of the jewels, one of the diamonds of the Premier League."
Insisting that his habit of wearing black and white replica shirts and sitting with fans at away games is "not a gimmick", Newcastle's owner said: "I wear my strip and go in with the fans because that's how I've always gone to football and I enjoy it. Nothing beats the atmosphere of being in with the fans....it's tremendous to be part of.
"I feel like they do. I'm in with the fans and if we are not playing well I'm thinking to myself: 'How can this be? We are Newcastle United and we should be doing better than this.'"
Having described his decision to make Kevin Keegan the team's manager in January as "a no brainer" Ashley then addressed the vexed issue of Keegan's often tense relationship with Dennis Wise, Newcastle's executive director (football).
"Kevin is a great manager and he is happiest working with the players," said Ashley. "But there's so much involved in running a club that you must make sure people aren't spread too thinly. How could Kevin devote all his time to the first team if he also had to look after the academy? That's where Dennis Wise comes in."
Keegan is more concerned about Wise's say in transfer dealings but will be hoping that the club finally manage to complete the protracted £10m transfer of Fabricio Coloccini, the Argentina defender, from Deportivo La Coruna today.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2008/aug/13/newcastleunited.premierleague
Hmmm - he admits he didn't do due diligence before buying the Barcodes, but hasn't confessed to whether his Newcastle shirts are a custommade XXXXXXXXXXXL.
---------------------------------
Ashley reveals Newcastle's financial black hole
Mike Ashley has revealed that Newcastle United still owe £27m in outstanding payments on transfer deals completed before the billionaire owner of Sports Direct bought the club last summer. In a rare interview — with a new, official club magazine — Ashley admits that he did not perform due diligence before buying Newcastle from the Hall family but suggests that, without his input, the club could now be in a serious financial plight.
"Financially, Newcastle United was in a difficult positon because I really do think that it had over-extended itself," he said. "We first heard about the potential sale on a Saturday and had the deal done by the Wednesday, so if you are asking if we did due diligence before buying, then the answer has to be no.
"One of the most unfortunate things about Newcastle United's finances at that time was the amount of money still owed on players signed in comparison to the amount of income that was due in off players who had gone.
"There is still £27m net to pay on transfers that were done before I came. So probably in the latter years before we came in you could argue that the club was beginning to lose its way. It had also already taken upfront payments from commerical deals and sponsorships which didn't help us at all. It seemed as though the club was in a very downward sprial, one it would have found very hard to come out of."
This perhaps explains Ashley's apparent reluctance to invest heavily in the transfer market this summer but he stressed that he has not been exactly slow to put his hand in his pocket.
"Apart from the purchase of the club and the associated costs that come with that, I've put in a further £100m to reduce debts, yet we still have the outstanding debt of the monies still owed on player transfers," he explained.
Even so when Ashley, who insists he is not looking to sell Newcastle, was asked if he regretted the purchase he replied: "Absolutely not" and described the clubs as "one of the jewels, one of the diamonds of the Premier League."
Insisting that his habit of wearing black and white replica shirts and sitting with fans at away games is "not a gimmick", Newcastle's owner said: "I wear my strip and go in with the fans because that's how I've always gone to football and I enjoy it. Nothing beats the atmosphere of being in with the fans....it's tremendous to be part of.
"I feel like they do. I'm in with the fans and if we are not playing well I'm thinking to myself: 'How can this be? We are Newcastle United and we should be doing better than this.'"
Having described his decision to make Kevin Keegan the team's manager in January as "a no brainer" Ashley then addressed the vexed issue of Keegan's often tense relationship with Dennis Wise, Newcastle's executive director (football).
"Kevin is a great manager and he is happiest working with the players," said Ashley. "But there's so much involved in running a club that you must make sure people aren't spread too thinly. How could Kevin devote all his time to the first team if he also had to look after the academy? That's where Dennis Wise comes in."
Keegan is more concerned about Wise's say in transfer dealings but will be hoping that the club finally manage to complete the protracted £10m transfer of Fabricio Coloccini, the Argentina defender, from Deportivo La Coruna today.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2008/aug/13/newcastleunited.premierleague
