Mike Ashley has once again sparked fury among Newcastle United’s fanbase on social media, after issuing an apology for claiming Sports Direct was an essential store amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Strict measures issued by Prime Minister Boris Johnson demanded that shops selling non-essential items must close their doors for the foreseeable future, as the government brought in processes aimed at reducing the spread of Covid-19.
Frasers Group, the parent company which owns Sports Direct, responded to the measures by suggesting they should be allowed to keep their sporting stores open amid the global crisis, as Sports Direct and Evans Cycles serve an essential need for the public.
Sports Direct soon abandoned their plans to remain open following relentless backlash on social media and from leading government figures, with Cabinet Office Minister Michael Gove stating on national TV that Ashley must “back off” and that there was no justification for Sports Direct remaining open.
Ashley has now come out and apologised for the poor communication to his employees and the public.
A statement, as quoted by the Chronicle, read: “Our intentions were only to seek clarity from the government as to whether we should keep some of our stores open; we would never have acted against their advice.
“In hindsight, our emails to the Government were ill-judged and poorly timed, when they clearly had much greater pressures than ours to deal with. On top of this, our communications to our employees and the public on this was poor.
“To reiterate, I am deeply apologetic about the misunderstandings of the last few days. We will learn from this and will try not to make the same mistakes in the future.”
Newcastle fans on social media have again responded to Ashley’s actions with fury, with some noting that his comments are “empty” and that they “would never trust a word this man ever says”.
Here are some of the messages shared as fans reacted to Ashley’s apology…
Precisely the point I’ve made elsewhere this morning too. I’m beginning to sound like a parrot, but this so-called “apology” is as hollow as it gets, and is merely an exercise in damage limitation. He’s probably copied and pasted from similar “apologies” he’s made in the past.
— Tom Smith (@CTA_Smith88) March 27, 2020
He is a liar. He has only got Bishop to write this appology to stop people from turning away from his store. Hopefully it is to late and they have seen the real Mike Ashley and they will go somewhere else. Be nice if it forced him to sell or the Premier league take action.
— Kyle (@kyzatoonfan4) March 27, 2020
He’s only sorry he got caught.
— 𝕃𝕖𝕖𝕥𝕙𝕖𝕞𝕒𝕘 (@LeeTheMag) March 27, 2020
Very much so ,and once again it’s a misunderstanding and he’ll learn from his mistakes.
There was never a misunderstanding and he never learns from his mistakes,we’ve seen and heard this all before.— paul (@who_knows_where) March 27, 2020
Another empty apology to suit himself. His advisors have written. He risked thousands of lives and should be held accountable! #AshleyOut #SportsNeglect @SportsDirectUK
— David Tasker (@DavidTazGolf9) March 27, 2020
An apology would have been buying 10000 ventilators…instead of dumping his greed fueled apology on the truck drivers
— Karma will find you (@JONNY_RUBBER) March 27, 2020
Anyone praising this needs to think before they speak. Awful.
— Craig Longmore ⛳ (@craiglongmore) March 27, 2020
Not to mention his signature looks like a child has written it.
I would never trust a word this man ever says or writes down. pic.twitter.com/MjdHAAJ0NC— Ryan (@Doug__85) March 27, 2020
Ashley the coward. Release a PR statement after a major gaff. He isn’t the brightest and will never learn.
— Jason Miller (@rough_justice76) March 27, 2020
In other Newcastle United news, the club can avoid a proposed stumbling block to sign Steve Bruce’s “great” target by simply offloading one first-team outcast.