You might not have heard of Sports Direct, but the company’s success has led to owner Mike Ashley [above right] amassing a net worth of around R36 billion.

They say money can’t buy you class, and that’s certainly true of the man who snapped up Newcastle United Football Club, and then set about trying to turn them into a marketing gimmick for his Sports Direct empire.

News of Ashley’s debauchery won’t shock that many who have followed his story, with images from a drunken bash back in 2011 making the news:

There’s also this video from 2008, showing Ashley crushing a cold one with the boys. As a Newcastle fan myself, I can relate to wanting to drink to excess whilst watching the team:

He has tried to clean up his image since those incidents, but now a court case is bringing some of his antics into the public domain once more.

Ashley is being sued by Jeffrey Blue, an investment banker, who claims the billionaire reneged on a deal – made in a pub – to pay him £15 million if the Sports Direct share price doubled within three years.

Blue says he only received £1 million for fulfilling his end of the deal, and his testimony paints a rather interesting account of business under Ashley.

Below from the Telegraph:

According to Mr Blue’s evidence, Mr Ashley would hold frequent senior management meetings at the Green Dragon pub in Alfreton, Derbyshire, not far from the Shirebrook headquarters of Sports Direct.

Mr Blue, who met Mr Ashley when he was working for Merrill Lynch, the US investment bank, said in his statement that the meetings were “effectively a ‘pub lock-in’ with alcohol continuing to be served well beyond closing hours and fish & chips or kebabs being provided throughout the evening.

“On one such evening, in front of his senior management team, Mr Ashley was claimed to have challenged a young Polish analyst in my team, Pawel Pawlowski, to a drinking competition: Mr Ashley and Pawel would drink pints of lager, with vodka ‘chasers’ between each pint, and the first to leave the bar area for whatever reason was declared the loser.

“After approximately 12 pints and chasers Pawel apologised profusely and had to excuse himself. Mr Ashley then vomited into the fireplace located in the centre of the bar, to huge applause from his senior management team.”

Our 2OV Christmas parties have tended to get out of hand, but I can’t recall anyone throwing up in the fireplace to hearty applause.

Some of Blue’s testimony is pretty relatable, though:

Mr Blue also claimed regular meetings were anything but. He said Mr Ashley’s “ability to express boredom and frustration during client meetings knew no limits, including various episodes where he would lie underneath meeting room tables to ‘have a nap’.”

Who hasn’t wanted to crawl under the desk and rest their eyes for a second during one of those meetings that drags on?

Ashley’s lawyers claim that Blue is an “opportunistic try-on”, looking to make a quick buck with a deal made “over a heavy drinking session at a pub”, whereas Blue’s lawyers say the promise was made “before Mr Ashley had consumed any significant quantity of alcohol”.

Perhaps they should settle this over 12 pints?

[source:telegraph]