Sorry, I've been away for a few days so didn't get a proper chance to reply. I guess most of the owners of the other clubs (if not all of them) are ambitious and trying to get success as much as anything. Whether that's getting as high up the league as possible, getting into Europe, getting into the CL, winning a trophy or whatever. Given Ashley isn't interested in anything bar staying in the league and also taking into account what appears to motivate him generally, then it's probably safe to assume he's in it for the money. I agree with you that making a profit at a Premier League club is very difficult but that would just support my initial point which was, in essence, his hanging onto the club doesn't make much sense from a financial pov. One thing I would ask though is, if you did want to make money - what would you do? Without wishing to put words into your mouth I would guess that you and I would probably have similar views. You would look to maximise match day revenue, you would look to employ an experienced and capable chief executive, you would try and make the academy the best in the region and one of the best in the country and you would invest in getting the coaches that would make this possible. Additionally you would probably try and have a scouting network both at home and, particularly abroad which helped to insure you had an excellent chance of picking up emerging talent. All of those things would require investment but the potential returns, if you did it right, would far outweigh that. Yet, some 10 years into his ownership Ashley has done none of these things and shows no intention of doing so. So, from a financial point of view, again (to me) the way he approaches things makes no fucking sense.
That's not dissimilar to the point I was making really but the headline figure of £135m doesn't take into account the debt he took on and the stadium repayments which needed to be made immediately. Bearing those in mind, does the figure the club is now worth (in actuality, rather than in the owner's dreams) represent a decent return on his investment? I think it was @Howay who said he'd have been better off with a FTSE tracker let alone the sort of hedge funds he could've had access to with the levels of cash we're dealing with. You talk about the trend continuing for the next 10 years but what has the trend been? We've gone down twice due to his falings as an owner. If he doesn't sell and Benitez goes, then would you bet against another relegation in the foreseeable? And what then? If you look at the money in the Championship and how competive it is now then would you fancy us to bounce straight back with an inferior manager? Also, if it's not the case now then it certainly will be the case soon that a good Championship striker is likely to set you back something in excess of our record signing (which, as we all know, pre-dates the current owner anyway). You also mention that he's looking for a figure in excess of what the club would appear to be worth so as not to bruise his ego. While that may be the case, on what planet is a prospective buyer going to pay £100m over the odds just to provide Ashley with a profit he doesn't deserve? Again, none of this makes a great deal of sense.
I would argue you would just take a look at what other clubs in the league make from billboard advertising at the ground and base your estimate on that. Either way it can't make financial sense to own the club and sink hundreds of millions into just for that. As for the association with the brand, it appears to be a prett toxic one. Also, he's still pretty reclusive and and seemingly pretty thin-skinned in regards to any criticism. Even if it was just for the exposure it's not very good value for money.
I think we had a similar discussion before and I would reiterate that (bearing in mind how difficult he is to read and how perplexing some of his decisions are then I don't discount your reasoning. I.e. they may well be the reasons why he continues to own the club. But if they are, they're fucking ludicrous iyam.
