Ashley gets £100m windfall - will we see any of it... and what would you do with it?

I note with interest that MA has just had a £100m windfall via a share sale. It got me thinking... would we see any of it at NUFC.... and if you were to inject £100m of your money into the club how would you go about spending it?


http://www.cityam.com/article/ashley-offloads-100m-stake-sports-direct


SHARES in Sports Direct fell six per cent yesterday after founder Mike Ashley sold £100m of his majority stake in the sports retailer, taking the market by surprise.

Ashley sold 25m shares at 400p, a seven per cent discount to Monday’s closing price, in an accelerated bookbuilding run by Goldman Sachs.

The book was two times covered in less than two hours of the offer being launched on Monday evening.

It is the first time the Newcastle United owner has sold down his shareholding since he floated the company in 2007 at a price of 300p, netting him £929m.

Sports Direct gave no reason for Ashley’s decision to sell down part of his stake, although City experts highlighted that there have been calls in the past for Ashley to offload shares to raise the liquidity in the stock.

He has agreed to a one-year lock-up of his remaining shares. With a stake of almost 65 per cent, it was unlikely Ashley was calling the top of the market, Panmure Gordon analyst Philip Dorgan said.

The sale also comes amid rumours that Ashley is interested in making a bid for House of Fraser or the collapsed retail chain Republic.

But analysts said he did not need the money and would be more likely to bid for assets through Sports Direct.

The group, which owns Lilywhites as well as the Dunlop and Slazenger brands, has seen shares soar by more than 40 per cent this year, benefiting from the demise of rivals, a growing online presence and a motivated staff due to a lucrative bonus scheme.

The FTSE 250 firm posted a 23 per cent rise in quarterly profit last week and said it was certain to reach its full-year earnings target of £270m.

Goldman Sachs carried out an accelerated book build on Monday evening to sell Mike Ashleys’s 25m Sports Direct shares, which the bank acquired from the sports retailer’s founder in a so-called bought deal.

 

If I had £100m I'd try to build another sports complex on the town moor and house the Rugby, Basketball and Ice Hockey teams. SJH once had a vision of a single Newcastle sporting brand and I still believe it would be possible to do.
I reckon £75m would help that little project along with £25m left over for player recruitment.

Alternatively on a pure NUFC basis I'd look to make ST's more affordable by, say giving a shirt away free with each ST. I really believe a lot more can be done to help tickets be more affordable. With the rest of the cash I'd look to but a top notch CB, LB and Striker and invest the rest in the academy..

 

As I'm an accountant I had to put my pennies worth in here. He's unlikely to invest any of it in nufc but if he did then the best he could do would be to invest in the youth setup. To generate your own players is far cheaper than buying in general and Gaining the category 1 status would enable us to attract the best young players from the countries we have good connections with.

 

congrats on post number 500 mate!

 

I'd be happy with a 20m summer budget, but if we can get the right players for less, the I'm ok with that.

As long as the club have learned from last year's mistakes. We need to spend!

 

And as I put in an earlier post see if we can agree a pre contract for a striker as its frustrating when Mr. Carr does all the legwork and another club then comes in for the player.

 

He won't do it.
A few factors need to come into play if he were to do so :
1) Desire to win something
No, his first wish is to offload the club and at least break even
2) Love for the club
I don't need to say much, I guess we all know he doesn't love the club

So I really don't see why he would put money into the club

 

Hes already pumped millions into the club mate from his own pocket to keep us afloat financially and has almost completely re-invested the Carroll money on buying new players, Llambias has only just recently had an interview where he states they made a mistake not investing in players in the summer, which they have tried to make up for with the newest 5 signings.

I dont want to jinx it but it looks like the board are finally starting to learn how things should be done and are acting upon this.

 

We just need another CB if/when Colo goes, another striker, and a full back for when Simmo goes.

 

Wow I didnt realise. I'm a little emotional so.......

 

spend some on ashley willams ..

the mans brillant especially when he does things like this


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-YpwTgk14fw









brillant ..be nice in a black n white shirt..

 

We should get VHR to form a business plan for him, he sounds like he knows what he's talking about, and perhaps with a little influence from the right places, who knows??

 

We might see some of it. Ashley owns the toon outright and has no interest in it failing so if we need cash he will use some, but as he has proven he won't waste it.

If I had it ? I'd just continue as we are which means put a good bit into the academy, address weaknesses in the team, take the pick of Carr's tips and bank the rest until it is needed

 

sell Obertan and Williamson and Colo and Simpson leave.

Buy Sahkho, a Striker (Benteke) to play nw and a younger striker for the future along with a winger to eventually replace Gutierrez. And a additional defender who can preferably play on both the left and right for cover for Santon and Debuchy maybe more for the cups.

I reckon these changes along with recruiting talented youngsters would keep us ticking along nicely !

 

Got something out of MA today, bought a quilted jacket at the Club shop and got 10% off it.

 

why would we see any of it? the outrageous increase in PL money will be more than enough to cover the transfer budget

 

A clip from a piece in the Ronnie.

There is only one place to be when it comes to money next season - and that is the Premier League.

Survival this season is likely to be worth £70m per club due to the new TV deal, and every club wants a slice of it.

The Premier League agreed a £3.018bn three-year deal with Sky and BT last summer to broadcast matches live into homes, pubs and clubs in the UK from the 2013-14 season - a whopping 70% increase on the previous deal.

Not talking small change here.

 

Agree with your content however Ashley is only interested in making a fat profit and if he can make money then who cares what his actions are
If he spent the money in the summer we could have been in the top 6 and challenging for some silverware
And not fielding a team of jokers against Brighton due to a piss poor squad size

 

I'd rather not hear about Brighton again, it's something I'd like to forget for more than one reason.

 

Anyway, I got a £75 jacket out of him for £67.50 today so I'm quite happy.