Ashley's Newcastle future not black and white.
By Matt Scott , Guardian Unlimited, 31st July 2007
Mike Ashley's investment at Newcastle United may be a short-lived affair, if rumours in the City are to be believed.
The billionaire businessman declared in a rare interview published on Sunday that his involvement at Sports Direct, the company he founded and in February floated for £2.2bn, remained a "long-term" business interest but he is not believed to have the same intentions for Newcastle.
There is a suggestion that, having snapped up the club so quickly that even the former chairman Freddy Shepherd - then a major shareholder - was taken by surprise, he is encountering more problems than he expected.
One interested party reports that it did not like what it saw when it conducted due diligence over the club's books before a potential takeover.
There was particular concern about the debt inside the company and it is felt that Ashley will be uncovering an unhealthier business than he anticipated.
The manager, Sam Allardyce, has begun to grumble about the amount of money available for signings and Shepherd was shown the door last week.
Analysts who have followed Ashley's career suggest his hands-on style means he is not one to have his investments run by proxies. But the chairman he appointed at Newcastle, Chris Mort, does not intend to relocate to the north-east, fuelling the rumours that Ashley may be persuaded to bail out if a suitable buyer emerges.
Nufcmismanagement view:
Freddy Shepherd reported that nobody had carried out due diligence when he presented the clubs accounts earlier in the year so who is this article referring to?
We know that Ashley did not carry out due diligence before buying the club but he only had to visit the clubs website to see a broad picture of the state of the club, it's hard to believe that this was not done before any cash changed hands.
This is yet more mischief that is being spawned in the media.
It would appear that the media are inventing stories because Mike Ashley and his Chairman are not feeding them, they'll soon have to stop this as readers of these papers get sick of reading utter rubbish.