EPL side Newcastle United Owner Mike Ashley "regrets" buying the club and has admitted that his contentious ownership of it has had "virtually nil effect," according to Caulkin & Hipwell of the LONDON TIMES. However, the billionaire businessman has confirmed that he "will not sell in the event of their relegation this season." Ashley: "We're stuck with each other." In a "rare interview," the sportswear retailer acknowledged that his nine-year spell at St. James' Park "has been a failure, with personal antipathy towards him from supporters" forcing him to delegate day-to-day decision-making to Managing Dir Lee Charnley. While Ashley described Rafael Benítez, who was recently appointed as Newcastle’s manager, as the "right man" to lead the club "away from bottom three" -- it is 19th in the table, three points shy of safety -- "he is yet to meet the Spaniard and claimed to have no involvement in the hiring of Steve McClaren’s successor." Under Ashley, Newcastle has become "financially self-sufficient," but its £80M ($113.6M) spend on new players since the end of last season, when the club ensured its survival on the final day, "has achieved little." Ashley: "I have had tons of fun, but do I regret getting involved in football? The answer is yes because I haven’t been able to make the difference that I wanted to make in football. I wanted to help Newcastle, I wanted to make it better, that’s what I wanted to do. Whenever you buy a company you want to make that company better, perform better and fight above its weight. I haven’t seemed to have been able to have that effect in football. I have had that at Sports Direct but not in football" (LONDON TIMES, 3/22). In Glasgow, Gary Ralston reported Ashley "could be forced to sell" his shares in Scottish Championship side Rangers if Newcastle plunges out of the EPL. Ashley said that he is "wedded" to Newcastle while Rangers fans "are calling for a quickie divorce if he falls foul of dual interest rules which are stricter in the English Football League than the Premier League." The Football League allows ownership of up to 10% of other clubs, including those in Scotland, provided they are "held purely for investment purposes only." A spokesperson for the Rangers Supporters Trust said, "Ashley says he is wedded to Newcastle. That’s great news -- hopefully he will run off to a foreign location on a second honeymoon and keep away from us" (Scotland DAILY RECORD, 3/22).
SPORTS DIRECT SHARES DOWN 9%: In London, Mark Vandevelde reported Sports Direct's share price fell 9% on Tuesday after Ashley admitted the company was "in trouble." He said, "We are supposed to be taking the profits up, they are not supposed to be coming down." The U.K.’s leading sportswear retailer "warned investors in January" that earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization would be lower than its previous forecast of £420M ($597M), and "may not exceed" the previous year’s result of about £380M. But Ashley’s comments suggest trading has "deteriorated further." He said, "We can’t make the same profit we made last year" (FINANCIAL TIMES, 3/22).
RISKY MOVE: In London, Andrew Hill reported if Ashley has achieved anything by opening up to "selected media" this week, he may have "diluted the extreme view" that he is a "monster of a man," as Labour MP Dennis Skinner called him recently. In interviews with The Times and Sky News, he comes across as "unassuming -- yes, aggrieved, definitely but not monstrous." The "well-aimed interview is a tactic plucked straight from the modern crisis management manual" -- indeed, it is a sign of the sportswear retailer’s "multiple image problems that it has had to offer access" to Ashley in person. If Ashley really wants to "get the truth out," as he suggests, "he cannot do so merely on his own terms." All companies, public or private, have an unofficial license to operate "that is always up for review by public, politicians and regulators." Sports Direct’s is "under threat." The company’s mastermind "may be more comfortable holed up in his Shirebrook fastness, holding court to selected guests," but failure to make the trip down to Westminster "will only do him and his creation more harm" (FT, 3/22).
