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Plenty of empty seats at SJP today as well.

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Ashley's minions (as predicted) confiscating any anti Ashley banners and flyers.
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For anyone based/living in the UK, not sure if they saw this?

Apparently a documentary called 'The Secrets of Sports Direct' aired last night on Channel 4 which was an undercover investigation into how the company is able to make huge profits, mislead customers and how it treats it staff.

Apparently Ashley's legal team had been fighting the airing of it for the past 2 months or so but it ultimately went to air.

I haven't seen it (might try and find a recording of it) myself but some of the revelations (whilst known to a few) were quite shocking. You can see some grim similarities in how he runs his business and how he runs the club.

Worst of all I think is the 'zero hour' contracts most of the employees are signed on. I think some British MPs are on record as having labelled them 'reprehensible' in the past.

http://www.heraldscotland.com/arts-...rets-of-sports-direct-are-horrible.1430166429


Not sure if his ownership of the club was discussed but the club were quick to respond with a further statement yet to come. Had to have a laugh - there is next to no transparency with the fans or communications commenting on things like the next manager, the direction of the team, the growing concerns of relegation etc...but as soon as Sports Direct is painted in a negative light, the club get right on the front foot.

http://www.nufc.co.uk/articles/20150427/newcastle-united-club-statement_2281670_4674095
 

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SM said:
There's a family of billionaires living in Hull (the Healy family) who have no interest in football. :(
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Do they have any sporting interest/involvement (rugby perhaps)?

Maybe if they are good folks and they see the community suffering, they'll step in and help out their neighbours?

Tinkler essentially did that with the Knights and Jets in the Hunter...that didn't end so well though. :$
 
Nah don't think they have any sporting interests from the sounds of things. Still, you never know if the next owner will be better or worse than the one you have now. I would hope if we did get a new owner the first thing they'd do is sweep away all the Hull Tigers nonsense to get onside with the fans.
 
CountryRace said:
I hope some person with lots of money buy the toon
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Haha well just about anyone would be an improvement.

Doesn't even have to be stacked with piles of cash, just someone who has more interest in the club than just the balance sheet would be a breath of fresh air. :D

Seems to be a bit of a split on whether fans want us to go down or not. Some say its necessary to hurt Ashley and improve the chances of him selling; and that simply staying up would only encourage more mediocrity under him whilst others argue if we go down, we won't come back up straight away - could easily do a Leeds given the current team is devoid of a strong core of leaders.
 
Unless they're going to play a very long game and spend their money on infrastructure (with no real prospect of a return for years) billionaire owners are pretty much pointless in Platinis football world.
 
SM said:
What's unreasonable about me wanting them to throw money away increasing my personal enjoyment?
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Believe me when I say it's amazing when the club you own wins the league :)
 

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Dirty Bird said:
Believe me when I say it's amazing when the club you own wins the league :)
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Thought you were too busy sipping champagne at a plastic club to notice.
 
Redalert said:
Fat Sam was doing alright, everything went downhill when Venky's sacked him and put in Steve Kean instead.
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Where is Steve Kean these days Redalert? I think I remember him being appointed as the national team manager for some minnow country not that long ago?
 
Redalert said:
Brunei. By all accounts he's doing pretty well over there as well.

He's worse. Watson never got St Kilda relegated.
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Got curious and checked up on Brunei. They were defeated in the first round of qualifiers for the World Cup in the AFC (losing to Chinese Taipei)

Poor Kean. Would appear that he doesn't fare much better with international football. :(
 
Newcastle need to stay up if there is any chance of Cashley selling the club because he would want to get the full amount of his investment back!

If we were to get relegated I don't think we would bounce straight up again as the playing group have no resolve and would abandon ship at the first opportunity.
 
Geez that article made for sad reading, so many laughable things about the club. Says a lot when even Wonga don't want to be associated with you...

I wonder if the fans could try and raise a trust or something to buy the club back from the Oystons? With the relegation to league 1, the derelict facilities, the widespread boycotting by fans and most likely diminishing commercial revenue, any potential money the Oystons might expect to make from the club would surely be drying up too?

...Unless they allow everything to fall into the gutter and keep pilfering from the club's coffers (which seems more than likely).
 
For anyone interested, here's the follow up statement the club released regarding the TV documentary that went to air earlier in the week.


Inaccurate media reporting by Channel 4 'Dispatches' - the media mislead again.

In reference to our statement last night (Monday, 27th April) regarding the Channel 4 'Dispatches' programme, The Secrets of Sports Direct, Newcastle United would like to clarify the facts for the benefit of supporters.

Last night's programme made a wholly inaccurate claim regarding the retail relationship between the Club and Sports Direct.

In the Club's view, the broadcaster deliberately misled Newcastle United supporters and provided yet another example of erroneous media reporting which only serves to further antagonise fans.

In January 2014, in the minutes of its Fans Forum which are published online, the Club confirmed how the retail relationship with Sports Direct works.

For the purpose of clarity, we can reconfirm that 100 per cent of the income from goods bought in the Club's official stores and on its website are received by the Club and not Sports Direct, as the 'Dispatches' programme claimed.

The only money paid by the Club to Sports Direct is for the stock (at cost price), plus a handling fee. This represents far better value than the costs the Club historically incurred in relation to purchasing, storage and distribution.

In fact, the change to our retail operating structure introduced in February 2013, which saw us partner with Sports Direct, increased the profit margin by over 50 per cent. This benefits the Club hugely.

In simple terms, the Club receives more money as a result of this relationship.

Channel 4 failed to contact the Club in order to clarify any facts in relation to our retail operation.

Given that this information was already in the public domain, and had been for over 15 months, we find it incredible that the makers of an investigative current affairs programme chose to air information which was so obviously factually incorrect.

http://www.nufc.co.uk/articles/20150428/newcastle-united-club-statement_2281670_4675719


Any perhaps of more interest is the open letter the Ashley Out folks wrote in response:


Dear Ms Taylor (Wendy Taylor is the club's media and communications manager),


AshleyOut.com note with interest the statements released by Newcastle United Football Club yesterday evening and earlier today in response to Channel 4’s Dispatches programme titled “The Secrets of Sports Direct” that was broadcast yesterday at 8pm.

Firstly we would like to applaud the club’s ability to react with urgency and determination when it considers its dignity as a proud institution under threat. That said, we do consider it remarkable that a slight inaccuracy about Sports Direct’s relationship with the club has brought about this resolve, and not the fact that thousands of the club’s fans are turning their backs to the club in disgust. Or the fact that the decision to weaken the squad and not appoint a proper manager leaves the club on the brink of another relegation. Or even the fact that its chosen “interim” manager has hurled abuse at the club’s fans for the second time this season.

Of particular interest in the Club’s statement was that “in the Club’s view, the broadcaster deliberately misled Newcastle United supporters and provided yet another example of erroneous media reporting which only serves to further antagonise fans”. A rather ironic stance coming from the current administration at the club, considering they have previously admitted in the Premier League Manager’s Arbitration Tribunal that they had “repeatedly and intentionally misled the press, public and the fans of Newcastle United”.

We regret not contacting the club prior to the launch of our website to allow it to comment on its contents, but we realise it is better late than never and we certainly would not want any information on our website to be “wholly inaccurate”. To avoid falling foul of the thorough scrutiny the club seemingly applies in its public relations, we have to date published 37 articles on our website AshleyOut.com and we assure you we have earnestly endeavoured to ensure all articles are factually correct with sources referenced where applicable. In the spirit of your club statement we appreciate that “Newcastle United would like to clarify the facts for the benefit of supporters”, such as:
AshleyOut.com hereby offers you an invite to provide comment on the published articles on our website so that we may rectify any factual inaccuracies as long as accurate information is provided to counter any errors.

Should we not receive a response within 7 days of the date of this correspondence we will assume that all content on our website is 100% factually correct to the satisfaction of Newcastle United Football Club.

Yours sincerely,

AshleyOut.com

http://ashleyout.com/articles/dear-wendy-an-open-letter-to-wendy-taylor-nufc-head-of-media/
 

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