Shepherd and Mega Sam on Ashley takeover bid
By A.K. Dholakia On Fri 25 May 2007 |
Freddy and Mega Sam give us their two cents on Mike Ashley’s possible takeover bid for Newcastle - not exactly £55m, but it’s essential reading all the same.
Freddy Shepherd:
“There is nothing Mike Ashley can do with this club unless he gets 75 per cent of the stake,”
“He can’t take full control, he can’t change resolutions or the club’s articles or associations.
“He has spent more than £50million, but he will have to spend a whole lot more as he must now make an offer not just for my shares, but the shares held by all the other shareholders.”
Sam Allardyce:
“I’m as shocked about this as chairman Freddy Shepherd. I didn’t know this was going to happen.
“I will be talking to the chairman to see what it all means and we’ll go from there.
“I don’t know anything about the person hoping to take over, but he must want good things for Newcastle if he’s spending such an amount on the club.”
Is Freddy just trying to extort from Ashley a little more money before he makes way or is he really not selling? What of the newly-appointed Sam Allardyce, who is contracted for 3 years - what does this mean for him?
Loading ...
Its been said today that the board are meeting Ashley and advisors to discuss his plans for the club. Apparently Shepherd is keen to hear what he’s going to do. Good news, hopefully the useless fat one will be out soon and we can rebuild for next season. If Ashley wants to try and build the club and brand he knows he needs to be in europe and be successful. He’s managed at every other business so maybe he fancies the challenge. Its not like he’s short of cash. If he keeps out the way and organises the finances, and doesn’t interfere with player choices he’ll be ok by me.
Sent in on: May 25th, 2007 at 8:45 pm
It is amazing how many people still subscribe to the view that FF has “backed managers”. He has done the opposite , routinely taking millions of OUR cash in dividends and salary . I can find NO EVIDENCE in the accounts going back to before 2000 that he has EVER invested his own cash in team building .. in contrast he has used OUR cash to build up his shareholding .. and hence his dividend.
The drain of resources to Directors and shareholders converts us from a team that generates an income that places us in the worlf top ten , to one that can barely outspend also rans like the boro in terms of investment in players
Worse ..to cover his tracks he tends to indulge in one off big name signings that will hogg news space .. Owen, martins, Luque .. While we all like big name signings they need to be combined with solid investmetn in back up players too otherwise we have this disastrous overdependency on form and fitness of the superstar
So on the one hand we have a buffoon who :
- rapes the clubs finances
- boasts of ripping off fans
- can’t keep his trap shut ” Man u = rudderless ship ” “i’ll carry owen to liverpool”
- awful judgement .. Sounness .. roeder ..luque
- has presided over 3 years of declining financial performance
Enter Mr Ashley … while we don’t know much about him what we do know is encouraging :
- Billionaire
- Astute businessman with links to sport and a 4% shareholding in adidas so plenty of synergies
- like to stay in the background and run things through professionals
- Has already invested £55m
- has indicated in the offer document (clause an intention to cut the dividend …. ie retain money in the club
Not a Geordie .. but this may help … if he fails he will go .. clean and simple.
What’s in it for him ? .. we don’t know ..
Maybe its his hobby
More likely it is a business opportunity but why fear …..what we do know is that he is not investing £133m to get a £5m or so dividend … for him to make money the value of the club has to grow . Consider this .. if we grow to half the value of Man U that gets us to £400m and he doubles his money
But why do we care .. for him to make money we HAVE to be successful
Sent in on: May 25th, 2007 at 4:34 pm
I for one hope that FFS does not put up the fight he appears to be setting himself for
Already his negativity to the situation appears to be coming to the fore, he (Ashley) can’t do this, he can’t do that - this scares the crap out of me as the longer the pie-eater drags the situation out the more we will be in limbo during the close season and the greater the probability we will miss out on the targets that SA wants
Freddie, you claim to be a fan, so prove it, you are going to walk sooner or later with a bloody big wedge, something the rest of us fans can only dream about, as Cyprus Toon states get your VIP box and enjoy your new wealth but don’t f-k the club over as your last remaining memory to us, some of us carry hatred for a long long time (Pirate Jack, Mckeag…do you want to be added to the list as at the moment I only consider you on the fringe of that at the moment even after some of the disgraceful press you have given us)
With regards to the Mike Ashley, I could not care less what he is like as long as he is genuine and has the Club’s best interests at heart and I don’t hear of him calling us morons and our womenfolk dogs - we are, have been and always will be NUFC, blessed by the Almighty to be born and bred Geordies (even if some of us are now 12,000 miles away) with a passion for our club that others can only dream of aspiring to, if Ashley shows an inkling of this then he’s my man
FS thanks but your time has come take your $30,000,000 and enjoy yourself but give us our pleasure and do it NOW - the change is underway don’t you dare try and fuck it up - give the new kings the chance to build a new empire
HTL
Trev
Sent in on: May 25th, 2007 at 9:34 am
fatness has had his chance, move on and let someone else have a go, take your money with a bit of dignity, slide out the back door, and dont drag nufc name through the mud again, somehow i think he needs to be seen as putting up some resistance though, out of spite i reckon.
the halls have certainly shafted him, 51% is all asley needs to run the club as he wants, you dont really think he”s spent this money knowing that at he hasn” t at least got that, cmon.
the guys a billionare, he”ll flick fatness aside as if he was some irritant flee, which of course he is.
good luck ashley, best news to come fromsjp for years, a club which will regain a modicum of sensibility, professionalism, and a policy that will only benefit nufc and us
Sent in on: May 25th, 2007 at 9:31 am
People have very short memories, both shepard and douglas hall hold newcastle fans in complete contempt, and in anyother walk of life would have been forced to resign years ago. Dont give me the crap that shepard has backed his managers with money “Yes Our Money”. And now he will walk away with a massive profit. The sooner we see the back of him the better.
Sent in on: May 25th, 2007 at 8:37 am
I need to disagree with Shaun Daggett, if Shepherd stayed on, he’d screw everything up that Ashley wants to do, that would be the sour grapes that he didn’t get to take complete control.
Shepherd should sell up & watch the Toon from a VIP box which he could puchase from the £38m that he’ll pocket from Ashley.
This is gonna be the summer that we finaly get to say “We are a BIG club again” let Ashley & Sam get this TOON show on the road to greatness & watch out the top 4, yer gonna have to content with a resurgence of the 90’s TOON ARMY!!
Sent in on: May 25th, 2007 at 8:21 am
Yep. FF is scraping the bottom of the barrel for sure. Plus the man is feeling a little rattled after what seems to have been a massive unexpected shock for him now Ashley owns 42% of the club. He wants to look like he is going down punching. What a loud thud he will make.
As for Sam, he is in a win/win situation. Regardless of what happens he’ll get his 10m. Personally I hope he stays. He is set to fix the infrastructure at the club and by the sound of things, he will get a bit more to spend on transfers.
The air is feeling much fresher that’s for sure. I just hope the business of the takeover happens quickly. Sam needs his time to get players in and settled for a decent campaign. Anything better than 13th will be good. Sam will be judged I hope in 2008/09.
Sent in on: May 25th, 2007 at 6:22 am
I think it could be a good thing, it’s what the club need to move forward, but Freddy should stay on, he may of made mistakes but he is a toon fan, Ashly needs that if he want to take the club in the right direction.
Sent in on: May 25th, 2007 at 6:06 am