On World Suicide Prevention Day this September 10, the Newcastle United Foundation's #BeAGameChanger campaign continues to support football fans struggling with their mental health. 

Learn more about the campaign here. 

To boycott or not to boycott, that is the question.  Back in the heady days of the birth of the Newcastle United Supporters Club (which became NUST) during 2008/ 2009, we were told that if we could organise a boycott for 6 matches, Mike Ashley would be forced to sell for less than £100M and all would be well at NUFC again. Sadly we couldn’t muster the numbers - less than 5,000 marched in protest of Keegan’s treatment at the hands of Ashley, Wise et al - and that season ended in relegation. The 2009/2010 Championship Campaign saw attendances drop to the low 40,000s, but of course St James’ Park was selling out again by the end of the season.

Fast forward 10 years, the Club is now valued at £350M, like KK before him Rafa has gone, the natives are restless and Ashley’s grip is tighter than ever. Can we organise a boycott? The appetite is there - 62% of Season Ticket Holders according to NUST’s survey - but as ever the proof of the pudding is in the eating - so for this reason we at NUFC Fans United stand with the boycotters. Will it work? Probably not, but after over a decade of Mike Ashley’s ownership we believe the only chance we have to change his way of doing business (or better yet to force him to sell) is to present a UNITED front with the ten groups and thousands of individual fans who are advocating action.

We have no desire to tell people what to do and have no animosity to those who wish to attend. There is one man responsible for the situation we are in, and he is the only one who will benefit from ill will and further division in the fanbase. We understand it is a complex decision and one we have taken with a heavy heart, however we feel the time has come to make a stand, and the message that swathes of empty seats in St James’ Park would send on a televised game is incredibly powerful.  Always remember: UNITED we stand, divided we fall. ​

On 6th November 1978 I walked onto main site of the DHSS and started my first day in the Civil Service in CPB Ledgers 09 Room B1704. 40 years to the day later and I'm standing on stage at the Newcastle United FC Foundation Dinner being interviewed by the BBC's Gabby Logan; chatting with Rafa Benitez, Lady Elsie Robson, former Newcastle United and England International Andy Cole and then being presented with the Alder and Sweeney Community award 2018 by Newcastle United star player Ayoze Perez. An award named in honour of the two Newcastle United supporters who lost their lives along with 281 other passengers and 15 crew when Malaysian Airways flight MH17 was shot down over the Ukraine on 17th July 2014.

I accepted the award not for myself but on behalf of the 52,000 Newcastle United supporters who give their backing and donate to the NUFC Fans Foodbank on match days; helping to feed over 1.000 people a week who attend the Newcastle West End Foodbank; the largest Foodbank in Europe. The idea for a collection point on match days came about after a conversation with two friends, Colin Whittle and Bill Corcoran, having seen Ken Loach's film I Daniel Blake and wondered if there was anything we, as football supporters could do to empower NUFC's fanbase to help people in our community that needed support.

We had faith in our fellow football supporters to rally around and In less than 2 seasons the match day donation station has raised cash and produce donations to the value of over £170,000. last Saturday prior to the Premier League game v Bournemouth, a further £2,300, 350kg of food produce and over 450 advent calendars were added to that total. As a now ex civil servant I find it shocking that so many are being impacted by our Government's policies and practices that underpin Universal Credit (UC) and make food banks so essential and are now being used by Government Ministers as a backstop holding together their failing policy.

Football clubs are often viewed as the mealticket workplace of pandered athletes; young men out of touch with reality. However, I can honestly say that in Newcastle United, their playing, coaching and executives teams, its charitable arm the Newcastle United Foundation and its senior management, operations, finance and development teams, learning and skills coaches, community officers, health and football development coaches, the match day staff; including hospitality, safety, security, corporate and facilities and not forgetting the tea lady we have a collective team who have truly embraced the principles of the Newcastle Fans Foodbank Initiative, supporting the work of the Newcastle West End Foodbank. Their support has played a huge part in the initiatives success and every supporter should be proud of their involvement. As they should their own!

Foodbanks are not there to replace any part of a benefits system but sadly UC is making their need even greater than ever. we aren't feeding junkies, rough sleepers or benefit cheats; we are feeding normal families who don't have enough money to see them through the week; can't survive waiting up to 12 weeks for benefits to be put in place; mothers who are struggling to balance between buying school uniforms, heating their homes, feeding their children and often going without hot meals themselves.

To anyone and everyone who donates to a foodbank; THANK YOU.

Sales of a beautiful new dahlia have raised a magnificent £1,900 to support the work of the Sir Bobby Robson Foundation.

The dahlia, Westerton Ella Grace, is being sold by Halls of Heddon and was bred by brothers Gordon and Harold Hodgson from Binchester, near Bishop Auckland.

Halls of Heddon is one of the country’s leading dahlia and chrysanthemum nurseries and sends out tens of thousands of plants annually to growers across the UK and beyond.

Each year, Halls introduces a number of new varieties on behalf of amateur breeders, which are available exclusively through the nursery. Those breeders, like Gordon and Harold, are entitled to a royalty payment based on the number of plants sold in the first year of introduction.

Very generously, the brothers requested the money earned through this new dahlia, Westerton Ella Grace, be donated to the Sir Bobby Robson Foundation. It is the ninth dahlia Gordon and Harold have bred and sold commercially, and it has been the best-selling dahlia variety for Halls this year.

Gordon, who has been breeding dahlias since 2009, says: “I’ve always been interested in the garden and I love the colour and variety of dahlias. They create an oasis of colour.

“Ella Grace is a tall, strong variety. For the exhibitors, it’s the form of this dahlia they like. It’s round and has good petal formation. But it’s gone out to a variety of people and lots have just wanted it for their gardens because they love the colour.

“This is the third time Harold and I have chosen to donate money raised through our flowers to the Sir Bobby Robson Foundation. We’ve both suffered from cancer so it feels like the right thing to do.”

Sir Bobby Robson launched his Foundation in 2008 to help find more effective ways to detect and treat cancer.

The work funded directly benefits cancer patients in the North East and Cumbria and plays a significant role in the international fight against the disease.

Lady Elsie was very proud to receive the cheque on behalf of the charity and was thrilled to leave Halls with a large bouquet of Westerton Ella Grace dahlias

Lady Elsie says: “I’ve really enjoyed my visit to Halls. What lovely people and I’m so grateful to everyone involved for raising this money.

“How wonderful to help raise funds for our Foundation with something so beautiful and which gives so much pleasure to gardeners.”

Halls of Heddon was founded in 1921 and remains a family business. Run by a team including husband and wife, Dave and Sue Hall, the nursery sent out more than 70,000 plants this year.

Gordon named Westerton Ella Grace after the Halls’ great niece, something Dave and Sue are very proud of.

Sue says: “We’re so happy that Gordon named this beautiful dahlia after our great niece. I snuck up on him one day when he was up at the nursery and said, if you ever need a new flower name Ella Grace is beautiful. So I think my gentle persuasion may have helped!

“It’s a gorgeous dahlia and has already won some prizes nationally. We’re thrilled with how well it’s sold. I think it’s the combination of a great breeder, flower and cause.”

Working within the NHS, the Sir Bobby Robson Foundation does not employ professional fundraisers to proactively raise money and relies completely on third party, volunteer fundraisers and the incredible generosity of the general public.

September 12, 2018 is the Sports Direct AGM. This is an opportunity for shareholders in the Company to ask the Board questions about their running of the business. This level of transparency exists because Sports Direct is a publicly traded company, their shares can be bought and sold on the Stock Market by anyone, and the stock price is effected by things like governance and profits. External factors like bad press and government investigations can also impact share price, and of course when someone has a lot of their wealth tied up in the wallpaper that is Sports Direct shares, their personal wealth can be impacted heavily by these factors too. It’s interesting to note that in the few weeks since the #IfRafaGoesWeGo movement started that the Sports Direct share price has dropped 15% or so.

Unfortunately Newcastle United is not a public company, rather it is a private limited company and there are no external shareholders - Mike Ashley (well St James’ Holdings) - owns Newcastle United Limited lock stock and barrel. That does not mean that his ownership and governance of Newcastle United can go completely without scrutiny. The point of a limited company is to separate it from the owner and director, to create a separate entity to the owner and directors, and protect them in case the limited company fails. The owners and the directors are exposed to liabilities in a limited way. In exchange for this protection there are a whole host of laws and regulations that the company and directors (who are generally, but not always, the owners) must adhere to. There are documents, papers and accounts that must be filed annually and these are published by Companies House (which also is one of the departments of HM Government which regulates Companies).

In the case of Newcastle United Limited, there is currently only one Company Director, Lee Charnley. We all know that Mr Charnley has some control over the running of Newcastle United, we’ve also heard the names Justin Barnes and Keith Bishop bandied about. We all know that while many day to day decisions about the running of Newcastle United are taken by Lee Charnley, the ultimate Boss is Mike Ashley. He can keep Newcastle United at arm’s length as much as he wants, but the facts are the facts: St James’ Holdings is listed as a Person with Significant Control of Newcastle United Limited and a certain Michael James Wallace Ashley is listed the sole Director (and Person with Significant Control) of St James’ Holdings Ltd as well as the sole Director and shareholder of MASH Holdings Ltd.

Questions to consider:

1.   Is Mike Ashley (as the ultimate shareholder and director) in breach of Company Law by running Newcastle United Ltd for Sports Direct’s and his own benefit rather than for the benefit of NUFC?

2.    How was it in NUFC’s interest for Newcastle United Ltd to sell the Gallowgate land to MASH Holdings Ltd, thus preventing its own physical expansion?

3.    Is the free advertising of Sports Direct at St James’ Park declared as a benefit in kind? If so what is the value?  If not, what does HMRC have to say about the arrangement?

3.     What impact does Sports Direct’s free advertising at St James’ Park have on Newcastle United Ltd’s bottom line?

4.    Given what we know about the relationship between Newcastle United Ltd and Sports Direct PLC, what benefits does Newcastle United get from the arrangements?

5.    How does the bad publicity around Mike Ashley’s ownership of Newcastle United Ltd impact on Sports Direct (and vice versa)?

6.    Considering that Keith Bishop Associates Ltd is 51% owned by Sports Direct (which is majority owned by Mike Ashley), and is also paid by Newcastle United Ltd, could some of the negative stories about Newcastle United being spun by people connected to either SD or KBA be deemed to be against the best interests of Newcastle United - while KBA PR is simultaneously being paid by Newcastle United Ltd? Is this conflict of interest acceptable?

​
Further question:

The Sports Direct AGM would be an ideal time for its Chairman Keith Hellawell to clarify the financial benefits that Sports Direct gain from their major shareholder Michael James Wallace Ashley's ownership of Newcastle United Ltd and why his company pays nothing to Newcastle United Ltd in exchange for these benefits. Over you you Mr Hellawell.

The Magpie Group has released details of a planned demonstration outside the Sports Direct Store on Northumberland St at 11am this Saturday.  The Group wish it to be known that the emphasis is very much on this being a Peaceful protest which respects those who wish to go about their normal Saturday morning shopping as well as those who simply work inside the store. So the message is get yourself along, bring your mates; make your presence felt with your feet and your voice.  And remember, WE ARE UNITED.