Talk:Mike Ashley (businessman)

Request for wholesale editing

The majority of the latter half of this article is peppered with tittle-tattle and petty carping, and is not worthy of an entry in Wikipedia. It has obviously been the subject of vandalism. The whole article should be thoroughly edited by an impartial Wikipedia editor and then appropriately protected.

General

I was reading my Sunday Paper when I came across this piece on Mike Ashley (Owner of Sports World and other great brands). Isn't it great to see somebody so successful in buisiness but keeps themselves to themselves and don't look for the lime light or adulation that goes with the power. I also like the fact that so many people are trying to find out about him and they all come up against a brick wall. This guy seems to be one top business man, with a great sense of adventure. Some of his achievemets are superb, selling Slazengers intellectual rights to JJB must rate as a great earner and superb bit of business. Buying brands like Karrimour, Kangol and Lonsdale which were classed as great brand names was a masterstroke, I was always drawn to his shops in preference to JJB because of the prices, choices and quality of stock. Yes the shops are sometimes overcrowded and every bit of space is normally taken up with stock bu for me it adds to the excitement and fun of shopping there. At Xmas my mate and I bought some big Jumbo Dunlop Drivers from one of his shops in Reading for £6.00. We couldn't even buy a decent T- shirt for that (unless it was in his shops again). That afternoon we played golf with some RAF friends and one of the guys had a jumbo driver which he paid £200 for, he hit his drive and then asked if he could hit one with my new jumbo driver; well, he hit it so well it flew past his £200 shot. So best of luck to Mike Ashley, he deserves all the luck (not that I think he needs it) in the world and I for one will chuckle when he turns his sports company the biggest in the world and all his well known competitors are left in his wake. Dave Trembath Keep up the good work Mike Ashley. (Wherever you are).

Good work? Let me tell you a little about Mike Ashley that I know from personal experience. He is currently facing a claim of unfair dismissal and another of fraud, the evidence collected against him is enough to hang him and sports world international keep shooting themselves in the foot. This all centers around the closing of their Dunstable warehouse and moving all activities to their Sharbrook warehouse, the way they handled staff and contractors was mainly done illegally. I have seen people take out second mortgages on his promise that their jobs were safe only to see them now struggling to pay them back after he made them all redundant. He was obliged to offer them all jobs in the new facility but he only offered jobs to polish employes who work for almost half the wages. We have evidence that he was planning to close the Dunstable warehouse dating back to november 2006, yet he personally gave us his word that our jobs would be safe, right up until the week before he hit us all with redundancy. He thought he could do it quickly and illegally, he thought that none of us knew our rights or the law, and now he's facing these charges. It's too bad that he'll probably pass the blame down to someone lower down the ladder but it's the most likely thing someone like him would do. So yes good luck Mike Ashley, you'll need it in the tribunal in november. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 81.105.25.160 (talk) 17:11, August 29, 2007 (UTC)

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Come on, Geordies, lets not make ourselves look like idiots here. 128.240.229.6 14:20, 23 May 2007 (UTC)

"the only photos that exist of Ashley to the present day are from the 1970's" Surely other photos exist, on the Ashley mantelpiece for example? Needs revision?Edjack 14:21, 23 May 2007 (UTC)

There is some vandalism of this page right now. As a Newcastle fan, it's too early to do stuff like this. No one knows anything about. Cut it out. Boils 14:54, 23 May 2007 (UTC)

Page has been protected. I doubt it was just Geordies doing the vandalism, looking at some of the edits. Sir-Nobby 15:11, 23 May 2007 (UTC)

This article verges on plagiarism - it's a poor rewrite of the Guardian piece. Should be pulled http://business.guardian.co.uk/story/0,,1939406,00.html

The comments on his purchase of Newcastle united are highly bias, and should be edited to reflect a more neutral view. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 172.202.13.102 (talk) 12:48, 7 September 2007 (UTC)

Industry

I see from the article that Mr Ashley "never attended industry". What does this mean? Millbanks (talk) 18:45, 14 September 2008 (UTC)

Meeting Wikipedia's notability guidelines

The section includsing the passage: "The wearing of this shirt has caused controversy due to the recently contested Tyne-Wear derby, with Sunderland AFC unhappy about giving him permission to wear it in the Stadium of Light corporate box. On the 9 November 2007, the day before the game, it was announced on the clubs official website that Ashley would sit in the away end with the Newcastle United fans so he could wear the club's colours. The game ended in a 1-1 draw. At half time, stewards at the stadium stopped him from buying a pint of lager for every Newcastle fan in the away end." is puerile and does not meet Wikipedia's notability guidelines. It is therefore likely to be deleted. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Colin marks (talk • contribs) 07:35, 6 December 2007 (UTC)

Not at all. You are confusing the puerility of the behaviour referenced (abusing people for wearing the "wrong" football shirt) with the cultural significance of the subject matter. Ashley's style of football club chairmanship indicates a notable shift in British culture, and should be noted by Wikipedia, as it has been on a regular basis by just about every major British media company. Honbicot (talk) 16:24, 8 September 2008 (UTC)

Factual error

It's a minor point, but Mike Ashley was born in Walsall, West Midlands - NOT Burnham in Buckinghamshire. He moved to Burnham at an early age and was raised and educated there. —Preceding unsigned comment added by OldSaddler (talk • contribs) 07:10, 15 September 2008 (UTC)

Newcastle's relgation

Surely it is worth mentioning that under Mike Ashley's ownership Newcastle were relegated from the Premiership in the 2008-9 season and will play in the second tier of English football for the first time in 16 years