Mike Ashley’s Sky Sports interview: Bang on or Bogus?

Half a season on from Mike Ashley’s interview on Sky Sports, the question of whether the billionaire owner of Newcastle United is a man of his word is up for debate as rumoured claims of bids, wrangling, refunds and haggling persist.

It was August 13, 2017. Mike Ashley – the reclusive owner of Newcastle United – was doing something that he rarely does – he was giving an in-depth interview.

Although, being Ashley, it was not a frank exchange between himself and a local North East journalist who, by representing the fans, could ask the pressing questions that needed to be asked. Of course not. It was a carefully stage-managed performance with his friend and stable-mate David Craig on Sky Sports.

His much-hyped 30-minute segment on Sky Sports smacked of prearranged questions, and meticulously scripted answers.

But cast your minds back. There was one particularly revealing moment, about halfway through.

When asked about his wealth and net-worth, Ashley dropped in a tantalising line when announcing that he was not able to compete with the likes of Manchester City.

“It's basically a wealthy individual taking on the equivalent of a country. I cannot, and will not,” he said.

“That's why, if someone would like to come along, take this seat and fund Newcastle with a nought on the end with more wealth than me, I will not stand in Newcastle's way.”

And there it is. It is recorded for all eternity. There for everyone to see, read, hear.

An admission that if someone with more money, who could fund the club with an extra “nought on the end” he would “not stand in Newcastle’s way”.

Enter Amanda Staveley and PCP Capital Partners.

With the backing that she has, she certainly meets all of the criteria that Ashley himself laid out.

They have more wealth than he does and they can almost certainly run the club with the allegedly necessary “nought on the end”.

So, what about the final piece of his statement: “I will not stand in Newcastle’s way.”

Well, it certainly doesn’t seem to be the case from the outside looking in.

Granted, only those within the higher echelons of the club or PCP are privy to knowing exactly what is going on, but all the signs are that he is not exactly dusting off his seat in the Director’s Box in anticipation of a new occupant of the hot-seat.

Naturally, as a businessman – and whether you like him or loathe him, he is certainly very good and successful at it – he would naturally want to make a profit.

If the amounts are to be believed – and a lot of this is speculation – and you take into account the approximate £135million he paid for the club in 2007, and even the estimated £91m of interest-free loans he made to the club from his own pocket (lest we mention the amount he has recouped in free advertising and branding around the stadium), any offer over £240m from Staveley and Co. would represent a profit for Ashley.

Given that the amounts of the offers made for the club are said to range anywhere from £250m to £300m, then even the lowest amount would give the shrewd businessman at least a £10m profit.

Again, no one knows what the true amounts offered are, but it is probably fair to say that it is likely to be somewhere around those amounts.

Let’s assume for a minute that the minimum amount speculated is correct.

A £10m profit would make for good business. Any company or individual would probably agree. So, to be free of the apparent millstone around his neck, he could actually walk away with an extra amount in his back pocket that most of us could only dream about.

But no. Still he haggles. Still he clings on. Still he wants more.

Is this the sign of a man that is true to his word of “I will not stand in Newcastle’s way”?

Now, the other thing that has been mentioned is the possibility of a relegation clause in the deal.

By all accounts – and again this is obviously a bit of speculation – a higher offer may have been offered, but with a stipulation of a partial refund should the unthinkable happen, and the Magpies are relegated.

Surely, as long as the amount after any refund remains around the aforementioned £240-250m it would still represent a profit. In actual fact, it would be a price that, in reality, would be a higher price than the actual worth of a then Championship club.

The reality being, if the club goes down, then any asking price for the club – should this offer not be accepted – would have to be much, much less.

So, the question should be asked again: Does his apparent refusal to entertain any offers for less than the ludicrously high amounts he has in mind sound like someone who “will not stand in Newcastle’s way”?

Obviously, anyone worth their salt would want to make as much money as they possibly can – it’s human nature.

But at some point, even Ashley – the astute businessman that he claims to be – must realise that he can only make so much on any potential deal.

Therefore, he either does not have an intention to sell, which would depict him as someone who openly lied to anyone and everyone who listened to his interview, or he has to accept that he is unlikely to get the enormous profit he hoped for.

The danger, of course, is that he labours on and stretches any potential deal out for so long that neither a new owner if they come in, nor he, as the current owner, can do anything to prevent a possible relegation in the January window.

And so we come to another interesting point from his interview.

Having lamented that he does not foresee an Amanda Staveley appearing (little did he know), he went on to add: “So I think myself and the Newcastle fans are going to be together for a good while longer!

“We've got the man himself at the moment in Rafa, and let's hope we can generate some funds, and give Rafa some chance to get some chance to get some building blocks going over the coming years.”

There you have it, from the horse’s mouth, so to speak.

If he is still in charge – and he is – “let’s hope we can generate some funds, and give Rafa some chance…”.

Well, the only person who can realistically actuate some funds for “the man himself” is Mike Ashley.

Again, was this fact or fiction?

Certainly, with the January transfer window well and truly open, and Ashley still in control, it certainly appears to be more in line with the latter category.

Make no mistake about it, if Ashley is not going to offer funds now, while the club is still in the Premier League, then it is highly unlikely that he will dip into his pocket to guarantee another immediate return, should they get relegated.

Without funds to strengthen this side, then any profit – no matter how large or small – could very well evaporate, and Ashley will be left with a product that he allegedly no longer wants, operating at a level that will only see its value continue to decrease.

And that is not good business – it is just gross stupidity.

The simple answer is: Give money to Rafa now, let him have more than a fighting chance to stave off the threat of relegation, thus removing any semblance of refunds, clauses or lack of profit.

It is surely a win-win situation for everyone.