The horse w anchor | Vital Football

The horse w anchor

Rexn

Vital Champions League
Nobody can miss the fact that a certain Michael Owen (not the Welsh and Lions rugby forward) has a new book out. He seems such a bitter little man.
 
Whilst I cant stand the little ****** let's look at a couple of things he has said or done.He has had a go at Shearer,had a go at the club whilst taking a fortune out of it,has no time for the fans(scabs).Well fuck me,Ashley treat Shearer like shite,Ashley takes money out of the club and Ashley hates the fans(scabs)
So what is it exactly that the scabs are up in arms about.Just go out and buy his book because they buy Ashley's season tickets.
 
Nothing most of us didn't know regards the odious little ****.Nice to se Al fighting back though.i think thats a friendship that has run it's course now.
 
Whilst I cant stand the little ****** let's look at a couple of things he has said or done.He has had a go at Shearer,had a go at the club whilst taking a fortune out of it,has no time for the fans(scabs).Well fuck me,Ashley treat Shearer like shite,Ashley takes money out of the club and Ashley hates the fans(scabs)
So what is it exactly that the scabs are up in arms about.Just go out and buy his book because they buy Ashley's season tickets.
fecker took 4 years worth of Northern Rock sponsership funds.
 
That was the start of end for Hall. He saw what was going on with Shepherd. Paying over the top for a player who was never going to repeat his earlier performances. Injuries had robbed him of that electric pace but Shepherd went ahead and bought him. Hall could see his investment in the NUFC PLC at risk and went looking for someone to buy the shares he had divided between son and daughter. He found a buyer and when the shares together under one name was enough to trigger a takeover and so began the rape of NUFC.
 
That was the start of end for Hall. He saw what was going on with Shepherd. Paying over the top for a player who was never going to repeat his earlier performances. Injuries had robbed him of that electric pace but Shepherd went ahead and bought him. Hall could see his investment in the NUFC PLC at risk and went looking for someone to buy the shares he had divided between son and daughter. He found a buyer and when the shares together under one name was enough to trigger a takeover and so began the rape of NUFC.

Yet Hall gets almost no shit slung at himself for selling up to a bloke he knew only wanted to buy the club to enhance his SD brand, the old ***** deserves a lot of stick.
 
That was the start of end for Hall. He saw what was going on with Shepherd. Paying over the top for a player who was never going to repeat his earlier performances. Injuries had robbed him of that electric pace but Shepherd went ahead and bought him. Hall could see his investment in the NUFC PLC at risk and went looking for someone to buy the shares he had divided between son and daughter. He found a buyer and when the shares together under one name was enough to trigger a takeover and so began the rape of NUFC.
Shepherd was clever in building up his "blocking" stake at the expense of the club. I'm convinced that he was trying to do a Swales. i remain amazed to this day that Hall trusted Shepherd enough not to realise until it was almost too late. Sure, Hall got a small return on his investment. Shepherd made tens of millions.
 
Hall invested £3m the rest was other people's. He did make a fortune, a huge fortune

And never forget his son Doug's thievery
 
Douglas Hall is a ****, a bigger **** than Ashley IMO. All the metal decisions that happened at that time were down to him.

It was his choice to bring in DogLeash as manager who then replaced half of "The Entertainers" with absolute dross. Followed by the egotistical Gullit and his "Sexy football" :rolleyes:

Things were more organised under SBR but the wankers got that all wrong and the way they treat him was shocking. Replaced by fucking Sourmess? WTF? I still can't believe that to this day. He basically did the same as DogLeash and turned a top 4 side into mid table mediocrity. Couldn't possibly get any worse.....or could it?

A year later Mr Michael James Wallace Ashley, a billionaire came in to much excitement. A certain Kevin Keegan returned and we all thought a return of The Entertainers was about to take place.

How wrong were we!
 
Yet Hall gets almost no shit slung at himself for selling up to a bloke he knew only wanted to buy the club to enhance his SD brand, the old ***** deserves a lot of stick.


Is it fact or assumption that Hall knew that Ashley was going to advertise Sports Direct to the detriment of Newcastle United??
 
Is it fact or assumption that Hall knew that Ashley was going to advertise Sports Direct to the detriment of Newcastle United??

It is fact and on record somewhere that Hall did say that Ashley wanted to use NUFC to advertise Shite Direct in the far east.

As for being detrimental to NUFC then that requires further investigation as to wether Hall said it publically or not. However as these wealthy businessmen are all a bunch of ***** then I would find it highly unlikely that Hall didn't know.

After the Toongate scandal with Douglas cuntface Hall and Shepherd being secretly recorded then both parties would be extremely careful with negotiations.
 
The way I see it is that Ashley had a 'plan' to use us as a vehicle to advertise SD worldwide but I genuinely don't think his vision 12 years ago was how it actually is today

He has reactively stumbled from one bad decision to another during his time here and I still believe that lack of due dilligance in the first instance and Pardew finishing fifth that season and qualifying for Europe was a real turning point in Ashley not feeling the need to invest and accepting that PL survival was enough

I've seen a lot of people accuse Hall of selling in full knowledge that Ashley was going to take the piss - my opinion is that Ashley at the time didn't have any real plans to take the piss from the outset
 
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Rarity Mac - but respectfully disagree with you on this. Hall knew full well the purpose of Ashley’s offer and his intentions. He admitted as much and I posted a quote some time ago. I don’t buy this due diligence stuff Ashley is allegedly not to have engaged in. Above all else - Hall owed a duty of care and perhaps should have done some due diligence of his own on who he actually was selling to when he did the dirty when Shepherd was in his sick bed.
 
I would agree that hall knew of his “plan” but there was seemingly no interest in finding out how NUFC was going to be taken forward and would seemingly not have even crossed Hall’s mind. He wanted rid - having taken NUFC public - and made a fortune. Self interested charlatan selling to self interested parasite.
 
He admitted it in that interview he gave years back. I'm sure a Google search will turn the interview up. He said ashley told him he wanted to buy the club to promote his SD brand, I doubt he wanted to take the piss
though as that would have went against him financially.
The Hall's had the majority of the shares if he truly loved the club like he states he wouldn't have sold it to someone who only wanted it to promote his SD brand. then again as ukrocks states wealthy businessmen are ***** and no doubt just think of the profit they'll make over any love of the club.
 
Rarity Mac - but respectfully disagree with you on this. Hall knew full well the purpose of Ashley’s offer and his intentions. He admitted as much and I posted a quote some time ago. I don’t buy this due diligence stuff Ashley is allegedly not to have engaged in. Above all else - Hall owed a duty of care and perhaps should have done some due diligence of his own on who he actually was selling to when he did the dirty when Shepherd was in his sick bed.

Yeah that's why I'm asking Finn - I knew it was common knowledge that Hall knew about the intentions for Ashley to advertise SD on the back of NUFC (perfectly acceptable business deal on the face of it) but I'm just not aware of any conversations between them where Ashley would have suggested that there would be little investment and that the club would stop competing at all levels??
 
The way I see it is that Ashley had a 'plan' to use us as a vehicle to advertise SD worldwide but I genuinely don't think his vision 12 years ago was how it actually is today

He has reactively stumbled from one bad decision to another during his time here and I still believe that lack of due dilligance in the first instance and Pardew finishing fifth that season and qualifying for Europe was a real turning point in Ashley not feeling the need to invest and accepting that PL survival was enough

I've seen a lot of people accuse Hall of selling in full knowledge that Ashley was going to take the piss - my opinion is that Ashley at the time didn't have any real plans to take the piss from the outset

Ashley's vision was to buy a PL club and keep it for a year or two to promote SD in the far east then sell the club for a huge profit. Unfortunately for Ashley it was going to cost him far more than he anticipated and soon lost interest. He was stuck with us and we were stuck with him.

The cracks started to appear when KK left and Ashley's intentions were clear what his goals were. I think that was his plan from the start, all that drinking with the fans and buying everyone drinks was just for show.

Then the TV deal came in and Ashley saw £££££'s he doesnt need NUFC to be a constant PL club, the money is in being a yoyo club. What he wants is a manager able to get the club back up at the 1st or 2nd attempt. Relegation from the PL doesnt bother him, why pay £100m to TRY and stay in the PL when it costs £50m to get out of the Championship?

In comes Rafa, Ashley's PERFECT manager! Able to keep a very poor squad in the PL probably longer than they should be. Extra couple of seasons in the PL kerchiiiiing! After a couple of years flog who he can for a profit (Perez) clear out the dead wood and start again with paying next to fuck all!
 
Some excellent posts above and to add, although most will know: Hall made the club a PLC (albeit at the second attempt) and became even more wealthy because of it. The same applied to Ashley when he did the same with SD. When Ashley bought Hall's shares I don't think he could do due diligence as he wasn't buying the club lock, stock and barrel. That happened later after he bought Shepherd's shares and then the shares of all the minor shareholders (including me) who were offered an amount per share take it or leave it. If you leave it you get fuck all. It was only when he de-listed the club from a PLC did he realise the full extent of what he had purchased.