Newcastle United owner Mike Ashley has been fined £7,500 by the Scottish Football Association for breaching the “dual ownership” rules because of his involvement in Rangers FC.
Mike Ashley – on Saturday at St. James’ Park
Ashley’s lawyers held a five-hour meeting with the SFA legal team last night, and the Scottish Football Association has just released its decision, and Mike was found guilty on the dual ownership charge.
A second charge relating to Disciplinary Rule 77 – in which those involved in football in Scotland must act in the best interests of the game – was “not proven” – a unique legal verdict in Scotland which says he was not guilty but also not innocent – the charge was simply not proven.
Ashley owns less than 10% of Rangers FC, and the Sports Direct magnate has been prohibited by the SFA from going over 10% ownership of the iconic Scottish club, which was an attempt to limit Ashley’s power at Rangers.
However, it doesn’t seem to have worked too well.
There is an Emergency General Meeting (EGM) of Rangers in London on Friday, when South African based businessman Dave King and his Rangers First organization, will try to gain control of the club.
That looks like it will be successful, but one of the agreements for the loans Mike Ashley has given Rangers, states that he can have two Directors on the Rangers Board.
Exactly how this thing will sort itself out is hard to say – but just like at Newcastle – it doesn’t appear that Mike Ashley is very welcome at Rangers FC.
That fine of £7500 by the SFA is unlikely to be any punishment to a man who is worth a whopping £3.5B.
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92 comments so far
MacToon
Mar 3, 2015 at 6:17 PM
Comment #1Basically covering their bar bill for the nights deliberating!
Thought Fridays meeting had changed back to Ibrox?
optimistic prime
Mar 3, 2015 at 6:23 PM
Comment #2Why bother
cyprus
Mar 3, 2015 at 6:23 PM
Comment #3I’m going to bat for JC and not Shearer here. True, it is JC who is on the inside:
‘“Three seasons ago we finished fifth and we had an outstanding season. We probably punched above our weight a bit, but our goals are high.” “We have got to aim high and we have got to try and win as many games as we can and get as many points on the board as we can.”
Hats off.
cyprus
Mar 3, 2015 at 6:27 PM
Comment #4Sorry, Ed, but I really doubt Ashley is saying, ‘let’s be average, let’s just stay in the PL, so I can make millions’. You do see that that doesn’t make sense. Unless he’s nuts.
swemag
Mar 3, 2015 at 6:28 PM
Comment #5Reports from last night, lets say we got ambitious, as it probably wont happen playing with the thought of it might be as close as we will ever come.
So, Toon to spend 60 million on three players, an attacker, a creative mid and a defender.
Who is your pick? Who would want to come to this newly ambitious club?
welshgeordie9
Mar 3, 2015 at 6:29 PM
Comment #6Oh and I know I said I’d never respond to you again or acknowledge you even existed but fcuk me welsheagle9 – your a waste of spunk if there ever was one. You and your high five buddy Jeffrey from outer space. That is all.
is that the best you can come up with average contents.
Ha ha ha
Belfast
Mar 3, 2015 at 6:31 PM
Comment #7The meeting is at Ibrox Mactoon, and there’s no point holding it because Ashley’s cronies have already addmitted defeat. Apparently they’re refusing to resign until they get 12 months pay cheeky kernts.
Tsunki
Mar 3, 2015 at 6:33 PM
Comment #8Cyprus, if you don’t see it, explaining won’t help
BoyDoneGood
Mar 3, 2015 at 6:36 PM
Comment #9[reposted]
£7.5K fine for what? That Diciplinary Rule 19 is written like Catch-22. It is clearly intended to prevent any influence to advantage a footballing rival. Anyway, Rangers can have Mr Squeaky Clean King instead, provided they tell the SFA that he is a fit and proper person. They don’t have to prove it – he clearly is not both on the grounds of coughing to 41 offences each punishable by a two year sentence or a fine, and because he was a director in the board that ran Rangers into administration 3 years ago. A hundred or more other offences remain on the books.
Belfast
Mar 3, 2015 at 6:36 PM
Comment #10I actually hope it goes ahead just to see Llambias get dogs abuse lol
MacToon
Mar 3, 2015 at 6:37 PM
Comment #11I seen that Belfast, bloody disgrace. It’s great to see Ashley losing the battle but gives us little hope in Newcastle that we might see the end of him here too.
cyprus
Mar 3, 2015 at 6:38 PM
Comment #12Tsunki,
that’s what I’m looking for sense, not the wave of discontent. Did he buy NUFC t make money? Does anyone (apart from the Glazers) do that? Does he need money? Does he just want to spite southerners? Does it make sense to have his family threatened? Just see what I mean, don’t agree mate.
cyprus
Mar 3, 2015 at 6:39 PM
Comment #13Northeners
Ron Knee
Mar 3, 2015 at 6:40 PM
Comment #14Cyprus
Pardew back in January: “But we punched above our weight at times.” What a coincidence!
Tsunki
Mar 3, 2015 at 6:40 PM
Comment #15Pl places 6-10 are the sweet spot maximum revenue for minimum spend, that’s how he leverages every penny he has ‘ invested’ in nufc. We are a marketing platform, a sidearm of SD, much less a sporting institution. The figures show how healthy the turnover is becoming, but what you can’t see is the massive advertising gravy train SD is riding.
Tsunki
Mar 3, 2015 at 6:43 PM
Comment #16And if you look back at his comments regarding purchasing nufc, he basically said just that.
cyprus
Mar 3, 2015 at 6:46 PM
Comment #17I see what you mean but the SD train does not depend on NUFC at all and NUFC is not a popular team (yep). Ask anyone abroad which team is related to SD, they won’t name NUFC. If he wants the ad signs, he can do that with 10 mil at a top team. It just doesn’t make business sense.
And positions 6-10 are way less ludicrous (apart from just money, ‘caught-in-the-middle’ in marketing terms, also runs in laymen’s terms) than the top ones.
And, after the first billion, surely, you don’t need to suck poor norteners dry.
cyprus
Mar 3, 2015 at 6:51 PM
Comment #18I don’t want to take the Billson role here.
There are plenty of things I’d love: A crazy purchase (35 mil) to show intent, like Liverpool did. An owner willing to lose big to make us great. Entertainment and success and not the dross football…
But I blame AP – sorry Ed 😉 and the coaching stuff (and demi-god Carr, see t-shirt on your right) as much as the owner.
Belfast
Mar 3, 2015 at 6:53 PM
Comment #19Yes Mikey has lost the battle.
Fair play to the Rangers supporters trust and the other fan groups.
No doubt you’ll probably read about dodgy lucrative contracts that are of no benefit to Rangers in the coming weeks.
Tsunki
Mar 3, 2015 at 6:54 PM
Comment #20Cyprus – mike gets international advertising by satellite for free. How much does that normally cost? Actually no, he gets paid by the PL to the tune of millions. No matter that nufc aren’t the most famous, his brand is elevated and placed into new markets by virtue of being associated with a top flight sport club.
I think you meant lucrative 🙂 and no they aren’t. Position 1 is, also cup and cl and euro winners spots. But they cost a massive rise in sustained investment. Ashley has honed nufc to hover at a budget just below that cost threshold, but staying in the area where the PL payouts are relatively high. The behaviour of the business is now self evident I’m afraid.
None of this has anything to do with spite or grudges, it’s just sound business. But it’s a horrible way to run a football team.
cyprus
Mar 3, 2015 at 6:55 PM
Comment #21The only business thing that makes sense is that the team itself is probably now worth 500 mil., not too shabby
But, then again, seeing the hate campaigns, which billionnaire would want that kind of headache?
cyprus
Mar 3, 2015 at 6:57 PM
Comment #22Yep, lucrative 🙂
Tsunki
Mar 3, 2015 at 6:59 PM
Comment #23Cyprus mate we’re going to have to disagree, but imho, if it has webbed feet like a duck, a beak like a duck, quacks like a duck and has feathers like a duck, you might have to let go of the duck-billed platypus assumption.
Tsunki
Mar 3, 2015 at 7:00 PM
Comment #24Should have put a 🙂 after that.
Tsunki
Mar 3, 2015 at 7:02 PM
Comment #25I am also on record as saying Ashley will never sell while he makes money from us. In fact it will spur him on to find more like us, probably abroad.
Tsunki
Mar 3, 2015 at 7:03 PM
Comment #26Oh, forgot – shut it Belfast.
cyprus
Mar 3, 2015 at 7:04 PM
Comment #27So, the coaches and scouts are blameless? The total value of the squad is in the top 6 and the salary base around 8th (haven’t checked these in a while). This doesn’t exactly show a completely don’t give a s–t attitude.
Before I go out on the streets with a vague slogan (someone said, above, let’s make a professional banner, we’ll figure out what to write later…. hhhm), I want to see what a real coach can do with this group – plus two super players, in summer.
cyprus
Mar 3, 2015 at 7:05 PM
Comment #28Ok, then. Hope you are proven wrong. For the team’s sake, not mine!
Tsunki
Mar 3, 2015 at 7:05 PM
Comment #29Anyone else get those ‘dude! I want that.com’ adverts at the bottom? If so, what does ‘ NSFW Allet’ mean? Quality ads these, Eds 🙂
Tsunki
Mar 3, 2015 at 7:09 PM
Comment #30Cyprus – I really would like to be wrong, and of course I may be, for the sake of our club.
If Ashley got it really right, he could have his cake and eat it by getting an up and coming hotshot coach and getting some real bargains ( not crocked) who could give mike some more bang for his buck and get us some silver.
Cyprus, was it you who broke the blog a few seasons back? 😀
BoyDoneGood
Mar 3, 2015 at 7:11 PM
Comment #31I’m with you, Cyprus. Now the club is profitable, and the expensive contracts for underperformers are coming to an end, and the young squad provides a midtable springboard for greater things… Yes. Either MA will sanction serious (not stupid) spending this summer, or he’ll sell the club if the price is right. Probably.
Ibizatoon
Mar 3, 2015 at 7:12 PM
Comment #32Cyrpus…How is the team worth £500m? That’s a hard one to call, as it depends on your viewpoint.
FYI – NUFC currently have the 10th most expensive squad in the PL.
We’re 11th in the wages league.
Transfermarkt have us down in 9th for squad value – but this is a minefield and based on assumptions of what a players value is to the club.
We’d all love to see what a good coach can do. Many have been saying that for years. Why don’t we have one?
I think our scouting is fine. What the club decide to chose from Carrs list is another matter altogether.
For me, most (not all) of our issues stem from Ashley and his non-footballing ambitions for this club. They’ve been on fan expectation limitation for years now. Highs and lows make it hard to plan. What he wants is for us to sit somewhere in the middle, for as little outlay as possible. That’s not ambition, it’s simply a guaranteed audience to advertise SD – which has been admitted by several sources.
Well, that’s my view on things anyway. 🙂
Tsunki @23…I might have to steal that one 🙂
Tsunki
Mar 3, 2015 at 7:13 PM
Comment #33So why would mike sell nufc?
Tsunki
Mar 3, 2015 at 7:15 PM
Comment #34Ibiza, all my stuff is royalty free. Though I would appreciate a mention in the credits 😀
MacToon
Mar 3, 2015 at 7:17 PM
Comment #35Yay, let’s all cheers for jam tomorrow!!
Tsunki
Mar 3, 2015 at 7:19 PM
Comment #36Mactoon – we are the ‘Jam Tomorrow’ team of the PL 🙂
Ibizatoon
Mar 3, 2015 at 7:19 PM
Comment #37Tsunki…I’ll work on some re-wording and change the example to something about kitchen fitters. Therefore credit will be implied.
Fair is fair.
As for why he would sell. I’m sure I read on here recently that he doesn’t need the money, so why would he keep it? 🙂
Not sure why that person hasn’t twigged yet that if that was the case, he would have sold it already, he’s clearly benefitting from the adventure. But anyway….
Tsunki
Mar 3, 2015 at 7:20 PM
Comment #38Oh great ‘cleanse your colon’ ads again eurghhh. Leave my diacritics and punctuation alone will you!
Ibizatoon
Mar 3, 2015 at 7:20 PM
Comment #39Actually guys, tomorrow is looking unlikely. Does Thursday work for you?
Oh wait, I have a dentist appointment Thursday.
Jam Friday?
cyprus
Mar 3, 2015 at 7:23 PM
Comment #40Ibiza,
Yep, those valuations are just mine… hardly professional 🙂
But, if the team is really crap, surely, Carr must shoulder at least some of the blame. Or did you buy that T-shirt on the right 😉