Simon Jordan shared that he thought Newcastle United owner Mike Ashley just wanted to get his money of the club for the right price.
The former Crystal Palace chairman delivered his verdict on the Magpies businessman and shared they he thought it was interesting times at St James Park as Ashley wouldn’t want the club to get relegated.
Jordan also claimed that there was a misconception regarding Ashley as many people believe he owns it to aid Sports Direct but the 51-year-old pointed out that couldn’t be the case as Sports Direct made tons of money for the Magpies owner before he invested in the football club.
“I think these are interesting times as Mike (Ashley) will not want them to be relegated,” stated Jordan on talkSPORT (Sunday October 14, 18:20).
“I know a lot of people make out that he wants to own Newcastle because it’s big for Sports Direct but Sports Direct made a ton of money before Newcastle were even on the horizon.
“So I don’t believe that’s the key, I think he wants to get his money out of the football club for the right price and knows what the value of football clubs are going to be”
OPINION
Jordan is maybe right to suggest that people are wrong to suggest Ashley’s Magpies ownership is motivated by Sports Direct, as he makes a good point about why that is unlikely. The rest of his verdict is also probably on the money as Ashley likely does want to get his money out of the Magpies but is not the type of person to cut his nose off to spite his face. The value of football clubs, particularly a Premier League side, are perhaps going to increase in value shortly due to new TV deals being in the league’s future and perhaps that is making Ashley too stubborn regarding his valuation of the club. However given the amount of negativity his running of the club gets him and that for ages he didn’t seem to care enough to even attend games, you would think he would lower his price tag just to get out of St James Park at this point. If Rafa Benitez’s side get relegated this season then Ashley isn’t going to get his valuation met and will no doubt have to invest even more money to get the club back into England’s top-flight.
