Newcastle United co-owner Amanda Staveley has told BBC Sport that PIF would be happy to display Sports Direct signs at St. James’ Park if Mike Ashley is willing to pay.
Staveley has said that Newcastle owners Public Investment Fund (PIF) and she herself would be happy to speak to Sports Direct chief Ashley if he still wishes to advertise his company at St. James’ Park.
Ashley sold Newcastle to PIF last year.
As reported by BBC Sport, the Sports Direct signs were removed from St. James’ Park after the takeover in December.
Amanda Staveley on Newcastle and Mike Ashley
Speaking about an ongoing legal case with Ashley, Staveley told BBC Sport: “We have filed a defence. We are big fans of his and fans of Sports Direct, but we want to see something different for Newcastle.
“If Sports Direct came and said we want to pay you tens of millions of pounds, we would be delighted to speak to Mike. It’s about revenue. It’s a difficult challenging time.
“Mike had run the club efficiently. We arrived and had a different business model to turn it into a global club and brand. We want to challenge for trophies and that needs investment.”
Newcastle fans will not be happy
In our view, Newcastle fans will not be happy if Sports Direct signs are back at St. James’ Park.
Now, we do not think that Ashley will want to pay Newcastle money to advertise for Sports Direct.
And we do not think that PIF should be open to the idea even if Ashley is willing to pay a lot.
We know that Newcastle fans did not like the Ashley regime, and the removal of the Sports Direct signs was the end of the particular era.
There is no point in Newcastle going back.
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