Why I Hate Mike Ashley

I have nothing against Newcastle United, the team owned by Ashley. I admire the fan’s dedication to their club through the regular ups and downs, and always looked forward to Leeds/Newcastle games – my first ever visit to a football match was a game against Newcastle at Elland Road in March 1974.

My ire comes from a rare visit to a ‘Sports Direct’ store. The chain is also owned by Ashley, and on a previous visit to a store I came away with an impression of a disorganised place selling third-rate rubbish. However, requiring a cheap top for work use, I made the unfortunate decision to visit their Birmingham store yesterday. It must be the worst shopping experience available. The place is a disaster. Most of the stock is on the floor, the remainder is just thrown on racks, with no sense of showing off goods at their best. ‘70% off’ labels adorn everything in the store – I doubt anything has ever been sold at full price. There are various cardboard boxes and step ladders left on the shop floor. Payment is made at a back of store counter, where clueless shop assistants couldn’t even work out who was at the front of the queue ( which was informally put together by customers as there is no obvious queue position ). It’s a craphole.

The customer is given a variety of brands to choose from ( Dunlop, Slazenger, Donnay, Lonsdale ) which are all owned by Sports Direct, and all appear to have similar design quality ( bugger all ). Yes, there are a batch of leftovers from Nike, Adidas and Reebok, but it’s basically set up for mug customers who continue to buy crap in the belief they’re getting good value. Avoid.



I did my regular Saturday football punt yesterday, as I was out all afternoon and early evening. I picked out ten matches, generally staking to win around a fiver. I managed to scratch one bet on my I-phone, leaving me with seven winners and two losers. The result – a red £1.68. It’s amazing how many times I arrive back near zero.

The main culprits were Austria Vienna, previously unbeaten at home, but turned over by LASK Linz ( no previous away wins! ). I was struck during analysis of the Europe-wide results that we are heading into the latter part of the season, where previous form is less important than league position in selecting winners. It’s time to be wary of those sides under relegation threat, and where those in safe mid-table positions are hard to predict. I will only bet on football for another month, once April is upon us it tends to become a lottery as the promotion/relegation issues are resolved.

I’m a little gutted to find no All Weather racing card today. This seems to have become the mainstay of my profits in recent weeks. So I think betting will take a back seat today, I’ll be watching the two FA Cup ties and sorting out my business finances. Enjoy your day.