Mike Ashley panics to save Newcastle investment

All in all, it has been a pretty awful time for Mike Ashley. Of course, not many people will have an enormous amount of sympathy for him, and there’s no reason to encourage people to do so. Much about Ashley is easy to dislike, and much of what he does can be described as deeply unpleasant. Beyond that, there’s a kind of carefree approach to common sense, mixed with a bloody minded desire to aggressively succeed.

In the last couple of months, Sports Direct’s shares have come close to halving in value from their peak. When the shares were at their most valuable, Ashley was seen as a clever operator, pushing margins as far as he could to get the most money out of the smallest square footage. His purchases of old British brands to operate under seemed to be working, and the company had plans for expansion.

The problems then came. MPs made a stand against Ashley’s alleged failure to pay some of his staff the minimum wage. His son-in-law has a job identifying property for the company, despite not appearing - on the surface, at least - to have the experience or expertise to do the job. Family members are employed elsewhere, such as his brother being in charge of IT. Profits have fallen, and there are questions about the governance at the company.

Obviously, this is not the first time that Ashley has endured mixed fortunes at a company, and it’s certainly not the first time that his attitude to common sense and governance has been questioned. His highlights at Newcastle United include appointing Denis Wise to the club to do… it’s not really clear exactly what he achieved. He brought back Kevin Keegan, giving many supporters what he wanted, but forced him into resignation (there’s a case to be made that Keegan absolutely did not deserve another chance at the job, but that only further denigrates Ashley’s judgement).

It is easier to turn around the prospects of a football team than it is a business operating in several countries, with many thousands of properties. As such, we can see that Ashley is operating far quicker with Newcastle to make sure that this company remains profitable. Newcastle have moved swiftly in the transfer market to add to the recent, if gradual, improvement in their performances.

When Steve McClaren was appointed as Newcastle manager, and also given a place on the board, it was accepted that the job was given to him because nobody else had quite the same level of desperation as he did. After watching his Derby side collapse from promotion favourites to mid-table disappointment, McClaren was in his worst period since he was taking the sensible step of using an umbrella in bad weather. Newcastle had watched as Alan Pardew showed what he could do with support and investment at Crystal Palace. They then watched what John Carver could do when left to his own devices.

With the new television deal money due to kick in, it is too much of a risk for Ashley to skimp, as his nature. At least for the next month. Newcastle finally seem to have understood that if they work together and follow McClaren’s instructions, they are capable of performing well. That they clocked this during a defeat against Arsenal, and did not give up as a result, is more encouraging. Against Manchester United, they kept going until the very end, and they then built on that with a win over West Ham. It is a thin thread of hope, but it is more than they had a month ago. Ashley has used this as a sign to give the manager and the team more support.

Jonjo Shelvey might be a limited player, but he adds what Newcastle lack. He has strength coupled with the passing range to make the most of Ayoze Perez and Giorginio Wijnaldum. Vurnon Anita’s obvious technical ability is not sufficient in a league where everyone else towers over him. Moussa Sissoko seems devoid of inspiration and commitment, having failed to make a move to a higher level in the summer. Shelvey can lighten the load, or replace either of these disappointments.

Obviously, Ashley needs to do more than just buy Shelvey. Henri Saivet has arrived, the kind of middling, once promising French talent that Newcastle have bought before. In the past, the French signings seemed to rarely fail, now they seem to rarely succeed. Emmanuel Riviere and Sylvain Marveaux, for example, remain at the club, totally unused but still receiving their stipend. More than Saivet and Shelvey is needed, and it seems like Newcastle and Ashley might deliver on that. They need a left-back, a central defender and a striker.

Florian Thauvin looks likely to return to Marseille, and Cheick Tiote should bring in £8 million with a move to China. Should these go through, it is expected that the money will be used on finding a striker. Saido Berahino would be the favourite for Ashley. He is young, British and likely to be worth a great deal more in a few years, but Loic Remy might end up returning to St James’ Park after a mediocre spell at Chelsea. Andros Townsend has also been rumoured, but £14 million seems an act of desperation rather than decisiveness, should it go through.

What is essential, though, is a defender. Chancel Mbemba has dress sense and promise, but he can’t be relied upon. Paul Dummett is not good enough, despite his enjoyable equaliser against Manchester United last week. Which means that Ashley needs to show that he accepts Shelvey is not enough, and that scraping by isn’t enough. Ideally, someone to partner and then replace Fabricio Coloccini would arrive, but finding someone like that will not be easy. Ashley has a huge amount of work ahead of him to fix Sports Direct, but at least emergency surgery on Newcastle won’t be so difficult.