When is a news story not a news story?
When it is the same story every week and nothing ever comes of it.
In around June 2007, Mike Ashley bought Newcastle United. Ever since then, seemingly every five minutes, there has been a story in the newspapers (most frequently in the News of the World) indicating that he’s about to sell up and move on.
Mike Ashley is considering the sale of his new toy, Newcastle United, two months after buying the mighty premiership club for £133 millionThe Times, August 21 2007
…although it was nice of them to refer to us as ‘mighty’. We’ve not been ‘mighty’ for a while, unless you count the 1980s where we might get promotion one season and then might get relegated the following season…
Then, in February, he was selling up again, either to DIC…
Mike Ashley, Newcastle United’s owner, recently made an indirect approach to Dubai Investment Capital, inquiring if it might be interested in buying the club for £300mThe Guardian, 19 February 2008
…or to Alan Shearer’s takeover consortium…
ALAN SHEARER has been asked to front a £250million takeover bid for his beloved Newcastle. The Toon legend has been approached by a consortium of businessmen based in the North-East who want to buy out the club’s billionaire owner Mike Ashley. News of the World, 17 February 2008
Then, February finished, with Ashley still owning the club, and not having sold it to anyone.
But when the summer came around again, he was apparently set to sell the club to the Bin Ladens. Yes, those Bin Ladens (well, the ones related to Osama, who don’t talk to him anymore).
The Saudi Binladen Group, whose chief executive is Osama’s half-brother, Bakr bin Laden, and which was founded by their father, Sheikh Mohammed bin Laden, is said to be considering a £300millionplus deal to buy the club and then carry out a lucrative redevelopment of St James’ Park and land surrounding the ground.Daily Mail, 6th July 2008
At this point, Ashley said that he wasn’t looking to sell, but he wouldn’t mind additional investors…
Newcastle owner Mike Ashley admits the Magpies could follow the QPR route and have several billionaire owners [...] “It has got to be able to compete. Newcastle is not something you make a profit on, you have to enjoy it and love it. If we had some multi-billionaire that wanted a stake in Newcastle it will help, but sell the club? It’s not the same answer.”Sky Sports, 12th July 2008
So, there have been stories indicating that Mike Ashley is about to sell pretty much since he took over, despite the fact that he has specifically said he doesn’t want to sell the club, and that despite more than a year’s worth of stories, he — as yet — hasn’t sold the club.
But the story resurfaces again today…
NEWCASTLE are at the centre of a massive £260million takeover battle between TWO of Asia’s richest companies. Toon owner Mike Ashley is in talks with Anil Ambani, the sixth richest man in the world and head of Reliance Communications, India’s biggest telecoms company.News of the World, 3rd August 2008
Have you ever heard the story of the boy who cried wolf? Whether or not Mike Ashley wants to sell the club is one thing, the fact that the newspapers continually say that he is on the verge of selling the club and then doesn’t is another — it makes these ‘nothing’ stories, as no-one really expects it to go through because we simply don’t believe what the media are telling us any more.
Let’s be clear: if Mike Ashley actually sells the club, that is news. This continual speculation is so far away from being news, or even of the remotest bit of interest, unfortunately doesn’t seem to stop the papers seem to want to tell us it. I can’t help but wonder whether Ashley actually wants to sell, as the papers suggest (as surely he could have sold up by now if he wanted to), or if there’s some disgruntled figure in the wings, deliberately attempting to smear and destabilise the club…
(Although no doubt if he does ever sell up, they’ll be quick to trumpet that they were right about him selling the club, conveniently ignoring that they had been repeatedly wrong about it in the past).
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