Who would you like as new DCFC owner?

[DesertRam]

Whatever anyone says about MA, he did have enough ambition to get Raffa and back him

to succeed -  that's good enough for me.

I hope that whoever does but DCFC they keep WR, as you have to be impressed with

the playing side of things at the moment!

[GboroRam]

8 hours ago, Gritstone Ram said:

It doesn’t matter whether they have millions or not. It’s running the club properly and not throwing good money after bad. If someone comes in with a big wedge so be it but run the club properly. A short term bit of financial help may be required but we can’t go back to how things have been run over the last few years. 

You're not wrong. I'm hoping that we don't need a mega rich owner because we will need them to be prepared to pump more money in, if we're expecting to run at a loss. I'm bored of the pointless chase of the big time at the detriment to the security of the club. Just an owner who gets the club run well - and in my mind that means no more operating at a loss. 

[StantonRam]

Ashley now at 50% on here.

I think I know why.

He has other local investments a.k.a. the Sports Direct sweatshop.

He is English.

He withstood fan criticism for a long time, kept Newcastle solvent, and didn't bail out until new ownership was secured.

He kept within FFP rules and never had to go into Administration.

In other words, he is the devil we know, which for many people is better than the devil you don't.

From his point of view, a Championship club will tie up fewer of his resources than a PL one, and we represent a safe home for his dosh due to the loyal fanbase.

We are desperate TBH and we won't have a pop at him too much if he does the deal, not for a while anyway.

Our model of investing in local & Academy talent is similar to Newcastle's already.

From his point of view, it will make a change to be actually welcome somewhere rather than being the subject of constant abuse from the ungrateful hordes LOL.

The main issue that always crops up at Newcastle, namely "we have 50,000 fans, why aren't we top of the PL and winning stuff?" etc, won't be a problem here for some time to come, thus he obtains a breathing space from all the flak.

In conclusion, we don't have to like the person taking over, or approve of his business methods, but he has done nothing illegal (as far as I know), he isn't just a front for a deeply oppressive dictatorial regime in a foreign country, and he isn't an American with no real knowledge of how English football works.  He is the devil we know and he has money.  We could do far worse.

IMO Ashley, right here right now, is the LEAST WORST option of those available, and that's why I voted for him on here.

[oldtimeram]

20 hours ago, Nuwtfly said:

Over 30% of this forum currently voting for Mike Ashley. 

Mike. 

Ashley. 

Oh dear no

[deanoakaram4life]

Ashley is the best option by far! He kept loyal to Newcastle during the years and could have easily jumped ship. 
 

We need a stable backer and Ashley would supply us with the sponsorship and funding to keep us going! 
 

People forget he actually backed the Toon heavily under Mcclaren and when they got relegated. 

[ramsbottom]

5 hours ago, GboroRam said:

You're not wrong. I'm hoping that we don't need a mega rich owner because we will need them to be prepared to pump more money in, if we're expecting to run at a loss. I'm bored of the pointless chase of the big time at the detriment to the security of the club. Just an owner who gets the club run well - and in my mind that means no more operating at a loss. 

You've got to look at Brentford's board for how a club should be ideally run.  Smart recruitment on and off the pitch means they've been able to flog their best players every season yet have no trouble replacing them, with modest outlays and maximum reward.  Screwing us over royally buy making us pay £3m for Jofezoon shows you they're no mugs...

[MK-Ram]

Have I missed something or has the Appleby/Rush rumour completely disappeared? And do we have any idea who Garry Cook is supposedly fronting for?

I don't know enough about the Binnie family to comment on them but I'd welcome them if they did arrive.

Based on his time at Ipswich, I'm not sure Marcus Evans is the right man for us right now, and Jez Moxey hasn't been particular popular in his career, but again, would he be the main man?

Ashley wouldn't be spectacular. Advertising would be everywhere, and he would spend the bare minimum on facilities, however there is no chance we would have ended up where we are with him in charge.  I doubt the rumour of his interest is true but, out of him, Moxey, and Evans, he is definitely the option I'd go with.

[MackworthRamIsGod]

10 minutes ago, MK-Ram said:

Have I missed something or has the Appleby/Rush rumour completely disappeared? And do we have any idea who Garry Cook is supposedly fronting for?

I don't know enough about the Binnie family to comment on them but I'd welcome them if they did arrive.

Based on his time at Ipswich, I'm not sure Marcus Evans is the right man for us right now, and Jez Moxey hasn't been particular popular in his career, but again, would he be the main man?

Ashley wouldn't be spectacular. Advertising would be everywhere, and he would spend the bare minimum on facilities, however there is no chance we would have ended up where we are with him in charge.  I doubt the rumour of his interest is true but, out of him, Moxey, and Evans, he is definitely the option I'd go with.

I've just been reading up on Appleby and Jez Moxey.

They are an interesting couple of guys who I think could be where we end up. Thing is, they won't be buying us, they will be brokering the deal for someone else.

There MO is to sift out the time wasters and deal only with people who mean business.

Moxey was at Wolves when Fosun Group took over.

So in terms of who is the best fit, I'd like to listen to whoever or whatever deal Appleby is bringing to the table as it could turn out to be a good thing.

[BucksRam]

4 hours ago, LondonRam2 said:

Ashley now at 50% on here.

I think I know why.

He has other local investments a.k.a. the Sports Direct sweatshop.

He is English.

He withstood fan criticism for a long time, kept Newcastle solvent, and didn't bail out until new ownership was secured.

He kept within FFP rules and never had to go into Administration.

In other words, he is the devil we know, which for many people is better than the devil you don't.

From his point of view, a Championship club will tie up fewer of his resources than a PL one, and we represent a safe home for his dosh due to the loyal fanbase.

We are desperate TBH and we won't have a pop at him too much if he does the deal, not for a while anyway.

Our model of investing in local & Academy talent is similar to Newcastle's already.

From his point of view, it will make a change to be actually welcome somewhere rather than being the subject of constant abuse from the ungrateful hordes LOL.

The main issue that always crops up at Newcastle, namely "we have 50,000 fans, why aren't we top of the PL and winning stuff?" etc, won't be a problem here for some time to come, thus he obtains a breathing space from all the flak.

In conclusion, we don't have to like the person taking over, or approve of his business methods, but he has done nothing illegal (as far as I know), he isn't just a front for a deeply oppressive dictatorial regime in a foreign country, and he isn't an American with no real knowledge of how English football works.  He is the devil we know and he has money.  We could do far worse.

IMO Ashley, right here right now, is the LEAST WORST option of those available, and that's why I voted for him on here.

Good post.  I thought the academy comment interesting.  I have a couple of Geordie mates and they both are of the opinion that Ashley has done little to invest in, or develop their academy over the years.  However if you read a number of press articles he seems to have invested some £50m in their academy, helping to keep them in profit and so mean the new owners apparently have some £200m to spend on players without breaching FFP.  Whether he actually invested £50m in the academy, or it's just a figure on paper for FFP purposes is another question I guess; maybe it's paper money only if the general feeling seems to be both the academy and ground are pretty run down and show evidence of little investment. 

That would worry me for Derby, where our academy and ground represents some of the best in the country.  But that said, Ashley does seem to be a known quantity, not least making his businesses profitable which, let's face it, is what we need short to medium term. Love him, or hate him, if he provided financial stability for us then maybe we settle for that until we're back in the black, then we look to kick on from there, i.e. he'll sell for a profit to someone willing to take on and invest in an already profitable football club. 

I'm sure we'll find out sooner rather than later....albeit not 48hrs. 

[AutoWindscreens]

Put them all in a room armed with bone saws and see who's the last one standing.

[BBG83]

Ashley said himself that he can't compete financially with some of the investors in the Premier League now. The landscape has changed considerably in the last 14 years. The problem with Newcastle supporters is their expectations outweighed Ashley's wealth. But look at them now. Without Ashley they wouldn't be in that position, they might not have been in the Premier League to be attractive enough to buy.

The man isn't stupid. But he wouldn't be buying a club with high expectations in Derby. You couldn't get further from it.

Will he run the club as a business? yes. Would we agree with every decision he makes (for the business)? no. Would he leave Derby in the same mess Mel has? no. Would he sell the club at a profit? you bet he would.

If the latter is the case, and he sells us in the Prem, I'm damn sure we'd be wrong to judge him on what Newcastle fans wanted for so long. Especially now they've got it.

[Anag Ram]

A lot of fans take the attitude well you've got loads of money so spend it when it comes to ownership. 

People who have made a fortune do so by analysing every business decision and inherent risks before going ahead. 

Mel seemed to abandon such principles when he took over as a fan and bowed to pressure from fellow fans. 

Ashley wouldn't be like that. 

If we are mid-table and solvent that'll do for him. 

 

[i-Ram]

48 minutes ago, AutoWindscreens said:

Put them all in a room armed with bone saws and see who's the last one standing.

… said Mohamed Bin Salman after taking over Newcastle and hearing that there might be dressing room unrest.

[Nuwtfly]

33 minutes ago, Anag Ram said:

Ashley wouldn't be like that. 

If we are mid-table and solvent that'll do for him. 

 

Pretty sure he didn't even do an interview until they got relegated for the second time.

Newcastle United. Relegated. Twice!

He just wants a club with enough public exposure to significantly promote Sports Direct. Hope you're all dead keen on Sports Direct by the way, as we'll all be travelling to the Sports Direct Arena soon enough*.

I appreciate the situation we are in, and that there's an element of "beggars can't be choosers" about this, but if there is a list of potential buyers, I think almost every other one should be given a chance to prove themselves before we turn to Mike Ashley.

I despair at those begging for him. Go and talk to literally any Newcastle fan. 

*Maybe instead he'll rename the ground to: "The Gulag" a nod to Ashley's most recent work in Derbyshire: https://www.theguardian.com/business/2015/dec/09/sports-direct-warehouse-work-conditions

Edited October 11, 2021 by Nuwtfly

[ram59]

According to Toon fans, he has not invested in the club and seems have run it into the ground.

He's done well to sell it for about £400M then.

He might not be everyone's cup of tea, but he has a lot of experience running an English football club on a sound financial footing and keeping it at a level most of us would be happy with. When I hear of potential foreign investors with no experience of English football, it fills me with dread. Some have worked out, but some have been a disaster, I feel that an Ashley type person will be a more safer middle of the road option.

[NottsRammy]

There are alot of people on here begging for Mike Ashley who when this has all passed and the club have survived will be moaning like hell when there is no investment in players .These same people who moaned about the dour football of the Nigel Clough era .

The thing is people esp fans have very short memories and once the dust settles they wil lsoon sing a different hymn on Mike Ashley just like the Newcastle fans do . 

Incidentally i live a few miles from the sports direct empire in Shirebrook and the place is a right sh**hole and full of non english people who are employed there . He isnt a very nice bloke and i for one do not want him anywhere near , there are others to save us . 

[Gritstone Ram]

2 hours ago, NottsRammy said:

There are alot of people on here begging for Mike Ashley who when this has all passed and the club have survived will be moaning like hell when there is no investment in players .These same people who moaned about the dour football of the Nigel Clough era .

The thing is people esp fans have very short memories and once the dust settles they wil lsoon sing a different hymn on Mike Ashley just like the Newcastle fans do . 

Incidentally i live a few miles from the sports direct empire in Shirebrook and the place is a right sh**hole and full of non english people who are employed there . He isnt a very nice bloke and i for one do not want him anywhere near , there are others to save us . 

So Shirebrook has improved a bit since I last went.

Edited October 11, 2021 by Gritstone Ram

[BramcoteRam84]

2 hours ago, NottsRammy said:

There are alot of people on here begging for Mike Ashley who when this has all passed and the club have survived will be moaning like hell when there is no investment in players .These same people who moaned about the dour football of the Nigel Clough era .

The thing is people esp fans have very short memories and once the dust settles they wil lsoon sing a different hymn on Mike Ashley just like the Newcastle fans do . 

Incidentally i live a few miles from the sports direct empire in Shirebrook and the place is a right sh**hole and full of non english people who are employed there . He isnt a very nice bloke and i for one do not want him anywhere near , there are others to save us . 

With what has happened I think the majority of fans would welcome a GSE/ Nigel Clough type era again. You don’t know what you’re losing until it’s taken away and that has nearly happened, it still might though looking less likely. Think that will make fans re-assess priorities and therefore be more amenable to a Mike Ashley or Marcus Evans as owner.

[mwram1973]

3 hours ago, Nuwtfly said:

Pretty sure he didn't even do an interview until they got relegated for the second time.

Newcastle United. Relegated. Twice!

He just wants a club with enough public exposure to significantly promote Sports Direct. Hope you're all dead keen on Sports Direct by the way, as we'll all be travelling to the Sports Direct Arena soon enough*.

I appreciate the situation we are in, and that there's an element of "beggars can't be choosers" about this, but if there is a list of potential buyers, I think almost every other one should be given a chance to prove themselves before we turn to Mike Ashley.

I despair at those begging for him. Go and talk to literally any Newcastle fan. 

*Maybe instead he'll rename the ground to: "The Gulag" a nod to Ashley's most recent work in Derbyshire: https://www.theguardian.com/business/2015/dec/09/sports-direct-warehouse-work-conditions

Of his 14 years, 12 in the prem. 2 relegations with automatic promotion the following season. Sells club for £300 mill and could have got more.

Nah, give me worst points total in history and not been seen in the prem for roughly the same amount of time any day of the week. 

Jesus.?

 

 

[StantonRam]

I think some people missed my deliberate and capitalised use of the words LEAST WORST.

In theory MM was the dream owner - deep pockets, local, lifelong fan, in other words maybe too driven by emotion when making business decisions, with the results we now see.  Mike Ashley on the other hand comes across as a rude, uncultured slob who just happens to have a head for business.

Say what you like about Ashley, and many people have, but Newcastle are not in Administration, we are. So at this point in time, maybe the question to ask is this.  Which person on that list of 5 at the top of this thread has owned an English PL club for 14 years, overseen 2 promotions to the PL, and forked out to employ one of Europe's top managers?  Only one.