Sports Direct

[Foxholer]

Ashley has an interest free loan of 129 million outstanding at Newcastle. He 'loaned' the club the money when he bought it and even with all the profit being made and money that nobody knows where's it's going. The club still owes him!

Indeed, that's the current value of the loan.

It was originally £140M, of which £11M was paid back a few years ago (2012?). The initial requirement for the loan was some glitches left by the previous owners (like some sponsorship deals having paid for up-front), that might have been more apparent if Ashley had done a better Due Diligence exercise!

So he paid 134M for the club (rescuing it from financial ruin) and loaned it a further 140M (now reduced to 129M). Yet fans, who believe he is an astute businessman, are still peeved at him for not throwing more money at it!

Does that sum up the difference between a Football Club and a Business?

 

[JT77]

I may be wrong but I think Ashley knew what he was doing. U don't make 4 billion without being a little clever .....
I had a conversation with a work colleague about this, well football clubs etc, if you want to be a success in football u need an owner that treats the club like a hobby and has the clout to do that, like abramovich or the city owner etc. Ashley in my opinion is a business man, using the global TV coverage as a place to advertise. It's free world wide advertising and he is not spending a penny.
He will not leave whilst we are in the premier league. Free money and advertising, why would he. He just needs us to finish top 17, he is a spurs fan I believe so no affinity with the city or the club or fans, just a soul destroying business man.

On a diff note, he provides cheap trainers and clothes in a similar vain to the likes of primark, he runs a very profitable business, he might not be top of the best companies to work for, and I am sure he loses very little sleep over that, but he does employ a lot of people. I watched the program last night and some of the things they were complaining about telco were doing 15 years ago when I did a spot of work there. But it was three strikes or two weeks off and u got a disciplinary.
Lots of companies do the same things as sports direct. I think if he was more approachable people wouldn't want to put him down so much.
Have to say don't like how he runs Newcastle United but I wouldn't mind being a few quid behind him financially.

 

[richy]

I assume because he isnt throwing money after more money at it he doesnt know how to run it?

No, it's because we've already been relegated once under his ownership and it's possible it could happen again.

There's reports that Lee Charnley and John Carver's contracts could be terminated as they assured him we wouldn't go down when we sold Pardew to Palace.

 

[richy]

Indeed, that's the current value of the loan.

It was originally £140M, of which £11M was paid back a few years ago (2012?). The initial requirement for the loan was some glitches left by the previous owners (like some sponsorship deals having paid for up-front), that might have been more apparent if Ashley had done a better Due Diligence exercise!

So he paid 134M for the club (rescuing it from financial ruin) and loaned it a further 140M (now reduced to 129M). Yet fans, who believe he is an astute businessman, are still peeved at him for not throwing more money at it!

Does that sum up the difference between a Football Club and a Business?

No one expects him to do a Chelsea or Man City and buy success.

 

[Crazyface]

NUFC and everything football wise aside, SD aren't as cheap as they make out. Sure it looks great when you go in with all their 70% off signs, but if you hunt about for your sports gear you can get stuff better and cheaper elsewhere. As an example, the sports shoes are horrendously priced, like everywhere else. IMO. (apart from the really cheap crap stuff they dump every now and again)....I've got some

 

[Foxholer]

No one expects him to do a Chelsea or Man City and buy success.

That's almost certainly impossible to do these days - Premier League FFP restricts wage increase to 4M. So it still has to be a gradual build-up through astute buying/coaching/development!

Fans in every club are going to have to get used to that style! Unfortunately, that also means that opportunities to break into Champions League will be limited - so the big 5 or 6 (or 8) are likely to dominate for quite some time.

Newcastle does have the potential ability to crack that 'cartel', but it's only from this year that I'd even consider it likely to happen. The continuing, and increasing, profit is good to see, but it still doesn't really provide much scope for significant purchases - maybe 2-4 players - depending on who gets sold as well. It's quite possible that a new Head Coach could be given some such funds. I very much doubt that JC will continue as the results simply haven't been good enough. But Ashley could pay down some (pretty token) part of the 129M loan too!

I'd like to think that there will be a small amount of purchasing, but they'll still be second tier players and may not succeed!

Between NUFC, RIFC and normal channels, SD has some pretty good advertising though! I've always considered SD to be mix of the Ratners 'crap' and some 'failed name-brand bargains'! The Dunlop line is even that all on its own!

 

[Tashyboy]

Back to topic. Ashley's sports direct HQ at Shorebrook was built on the old Shirebrook pit site. Industrial units were put up and heavily subsidised so there was employment created for the LOCALS who had lost thousands of jobs within the Shirebrook, Langwith, bolsover communities etc, etc. and not just miners but other industries which supplied the mining industry.

in reality hardly any locals work there, Shirebrook is known as little Poland, Ashley has double decker buses ferrying in workers non of which are local, or British.

which then begs the question.

Why when the "Subsideised scheme" was set up to employ locals, is there hardly any locals working there apart from young kids ?

its not rocket science, Ashley and others throughout the country will only pay minimum wage. Most people that left the pits had families and without putting any political spin on it. You cannot live on it. zero hours on minimum wage to support a family. Not happening.

So why can migrants/immigrants do it. They don't live 2 or four to an house. There's 10 plus. Not rumour, fact. They. One shift walks in, one walks out.
Unility bills are shared between 10 plus folk. Wages are subsidised by US and sent back to wherever.

Of course they work long hours and work well but I know plenty of people that do, but not at the Expense of being abused. Anyone that believes immigration is the answer to this country's problems needs to spend a few hours in the Shirebrook warehouse depot which is excellent.

Its like going on a 5star dream holiday in a third world country. Nice for us but not for them.

 

[Foliage Finder]

Just watched it from Sky+, and agree with a few here. Morally, it's wrong and people (and football clubs) are being exploited to fill Ashley's pockets and policy surrounding zero hours contracts does need to be sharpened up. I got the sense watching that legally it's plain sailing. It's all well and good one consumer law expert outlining where a breach of the law MAY have occurred, but realistically, who has the resources and will to go up against the legal team of a giant company like that?

Before reading on, DISCLAIMER - I work for ALDI part time alongside my uni studies.

Just look at ALDI. A discount retailer on a massive scale where employees aren't used and abused. I can speak from first hand experience in store, you are worked hard but you are treated fairly and paid well. I can't speak for the warehouse side of things, but it does go to show that discount retail on a large scale can be done well. SD shows the flip side.

On a side note, my naivety with regards to brands became evident as I watched. I can now say I'm the owner of the equivalent of a supermarket "everyday essentials" driver and putter. Here's me thinking Dunlop actually existed, I blame Lee Westwood .

 

[Hacker Khan]

Back to topic. Ashley's sports direct HQ at Shorebrook was built on the old Shirebrook pit site. Industrial units were put up and heavily subsidised so there was employment created for the LOCALS who had lost thousands of jobs within the Shirebrook, Langwith, bolsover communities etc, etc. and not just miners but other industries which supplied the mining industry.

in reality hardly any locals work there, Shirebrook is known as little Poland, Ashley has double decker buses ferrying in workers non of which are local, or British.

which then begs the question.

Why when the "Subsideised scheme" was set up to employ locals, is there hardly any locals working there apart from young kids ?

its not rocket science, Ashley and others throughout the country will only pay minimum wage. Most people that left the pits had families and without putting any political spin on it. You cannot live on it. zero hours on minimum wage to support a family. Not happening.

So why can migrants/immigrants do it. They don't live 2 or four to an house. There's 10 plus. Not rumour, fact. They. One shift walks in, one walks out.
Unility bills are shared between 10 plus folk. Wages are subsidised by US and sent back to wherever.

Of course they work long hours and work well but I know plenty of people that do, but not at the Expense of being abused. Anyone that believes immigration is the answer to this country's problems needs to spend a few hours in the Shirebrook warehouse depot which is excellent.

Its like going on a 5star dream holiday in a third world country. Nice for us but not for them.

I went to Shirebrook last night, as I do most weeks. And I did actually see some Poles in the leisure centre, I think they were going to the gym.

I agree with a lot of what you said. But there has always been a strong Polish community in the Mansfield area (indeed as you will no doubt know a few used to work at the pits), and most supermarkets round there have special Polish items on sale and some even have dedicated aisles for Polish food.

So you could argue that places like Sports Direct do actually employ local people. It's just that they are not the 'British' locals or the people that lost their jobs when the pits and other manufacturing industries closed down. In fact it was a but naive of anyone (policy makers, planners, politicians) thinking that the jobs that have mostly been created in the retail and leisure industries would be anywhere near the wages, terms and conditions that miners had. I know a few that worked down the pit and lost their job and they are mostly doing jobs like driving to tide them over before their pension kicks in.

 

[Tashyboy]

I went to Shirebrook last night, as I do most weeks. And I did actually see some Poles in the leisure centre, I think they were going to the gym.

I agree with a lot of what you said. But there has always been a strong Polish community in the Mansfield area (indeed as you will no doubt know a few used to work at the pits), and most supermarkets round there have special Polish items on sale and some even have dedicated aisles for Polish food.

So you could argue that places like Sports Direct do actually employ local people. It's just that they are not the 'British' locals or the people that lost their jobs when the pits and other manufacturing industries closed down. In fact it was a but naive of anyone (policy makers, planners, politicians) thinking that the jobs that have mostly been created in the retail and leisure industries would be anywhere near the wages, terms and conditions that miners had. I know a few that worked down the pit and lost their job and they are mostly doing jobs like driving to tide them over before their pension kicks in.

Well your deffo right re the polish communities within the Mansfield area having worked with them since 1979 in the Pits. PS and I never met one with a bad working reputation. Having spoken to a lot of the older miners when I started work. A lot of Poles went into the pits coz that's what they did in Poland pre war and there were vacancies for them. Having said all that sports direct warehouse is not just a polish workforce but an Eastern European workforce with local young uns on the Tills.
will it ever change? I can't see it, no one local is gonna want to work there long term because of the wages they pay.
what part of the world are you from Hacker.

 

[Beezerk]

We have a few customers in the Mansfield area, the biggest two (Synseal and Future Products) have a lot of Eastern Europeans working there. Most are very hard workers and do all the overtime available which unfortunately is the total opposite of the English employees from my experience. They don't seem to be bothered about minimum wage, just happy to have a job and a roof over their head despite as already mentioned living cheek by jowl.

 

[Hacker Khan]

Well your deffo right re the polish communities within the Mansfield area having worked with them since 1979 in the Pits. PS and I never met one with a bad working reputation. Having spoken to a lot of the older miners when I started work. A lot of Poles went into the pits coz that's what they did in Poland pre war and there were vacancies for them. Having said all that sports direct warehouse is not just a polish workforce but an Eastern European workforce with local young uns on the Tills.
will it ever change? I can't see it, no one local is gonna want to work there long term because of the wages they pay.
what part of the world are you from Hacker.

I'm from a former mining village in North Notts, not far away at all from Shirebrook. In fact I'm willing to bet you know one or two of my mates as they worked down the pits and play golf, Thorseby pit mostly.

 

[Tashyboy]

I'm from a former mining village in North Notts, not far away at all from Shirebrook. In fact I'm willing to bet you know one or two of my mates as they worked down the pits and play golf, Thorseby pit mostly.

And that's were I will work my last shift in July or August. There is a lot of lads at Thoresby from the Shirebrook, Langwith and warsop area goin up towards cresswell and Worksop. In essence Thoresby is a pit full of travellers from all over the country.
theres a fair few golfers as well. At least 64 which is how many are in the two golf comps ave arranged for the closure of Thoresby.