“Caution, it is the Daily Mail:”

Of course, Hugh, but it kind of looks “wrong” from the other side. Not just the usual reporter writing a specious story, but the fact that this fella is parading himself before the media with press releases and pictures by the Tyne looking suitably “Geordie”. It just smells wrong. A serious, credible bidder would be much more discreet. He wouldn’t be like a poker player showing his hand to everyone else before the game has even started.

Hugh – a lot of sense spoken there!

Whose up for the next article?
I’ll struggle today!

That he didn’t do that is, I think, down to his personality.

In his early business years he was so reclusive that he gained the “modern day Howard Hughes” moniker. He ran his business as a sole trader for as long as possible to avoid having to submit accounts and even when he went ‘Ltd’ he was notoriously difficult to find and talk to.

It was only when he went ‘PLC’ that he finally had some sort of public profile, but he still never spoke publicly unless he absolutely had to and gave most journalists the instant brush off.

Ashley is a reclusive man, hugely protective of his privacy and communication probably doesn’t even register as a priority for him.

As if that wasn’t bad enough, in Llambias he got a man who was similarly reluctant to communicate.

In fact, I seem to remember when Llambias did finally come out and speak to us, he admitted that he and Ashley had intentionally tried to keep their heads down because they “wanted to operate that way”. He admitted it was a mistake and wanted to change it, but a lot of damage had already been done by then.

I think that, just on grounds of personality, Ashley and Llambias are more suited to something like MI5 than NUFC.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2009/jun/12/mike-ashley-newcastle-united-singapore-profitable