Darragh MacAnthony INSISTS Mike Ashley Could Take Reading From League One to the PREMIER LEAGUE! 😱

Darragh MacAnthony reveals to talkSPORT why he believes Mike Ashley could buy Reading FC and within six years take them to the Premier League.
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[@baddestlemming]

Lets come back to this video in 3 years

[@user-dq6se6er8j]

Mike Ashley doesn’t take clubs backwards. He’s a shrewd operator

[@dajo8723]

The way Dai Yongge has destroyed the club, I'll be there won't be a Reading Football Club in 3 weeks, never mind 3 years

[@Chez114]

​@@user-dq6se6er8j Yes, he's made the club more financially viable to BUY because he's fixed the debt, but that's literally the only good thing he's done. That's a good business man in terms of resale value, but only JUST. He's NOT a good football business man... Huge difference. He's taken Newcastle backwards in terms of league places and revenue and that's because he missed the biggest opportunities for making the club money in TV and sponsorship deals. If he had done that, he could have sold the club for twice as much

[@alexbremner8361]

Mike Ashley will milk Reading FC for every single penny possible. He has no interest in investing in any football club only self gain. Stupid comments.

[@Haribobizla11]

Coming from a Newcastle fan, he absolutely won’t.

[@TPCDAZ]

Not quite true. The question was "would Mike Ashley save Reading" ... yes he would. They just wouldn't be successful.

[@Haribobizla11]

@@TPCDAZ Darragh MacAnthony INSISTS Mike Ashley could take reading from League One to the Premier League is the title of the video, which is what I was commenting on.

[@Micfri300]

Last season Luton came up in a weak championship. Not every season will there be a Leeds Leicester or Southampton getting relegated. Reading could get into the premier league.

[@TPCDAZ]

@@Haribobizla11 And he probably would. He did that with Newcastle. Kept them in the premier league and when they were relegated he brought them back up. Don't get me wrong I think Mike Ashley was a scumbag of the highest order but I believe he would get them there. But thats it.

[@CDMaccles]

He would get them out of debt then let them rot with balanced books.

[@danwillan-vasey1984]

Who is this fool saying Ashley will take reading to the PL in 6 from league 2 😂😂 I really hope he buys them.

[@Micfri300]

Ashley will make a stable mid table championship team though and will then sell them so what's the issue

[@JamesLimb]

Darragh's a great addition to this show

[@tuberjr]

talks rubbish

[@Stataze]

What mental reality is this.ashley is the worst owner

[@readingfcdec]

The worst owner is the current owner. A man who could take a 150 year old club to extinction. Ashley isn't perfect but he will pay the bills

[@Ballsdeepsport]

Darrah’s a top addition to this show and it would be good to give him a regular once a week slot alongside Jim and Simon, especially his insight as he’s active in the game. I think he lives in the US though, and maybe he doesn’t fancy being up at 6am to call in.

[@jonathan-livingstone-acoustic]

Yeah hard not to like Darragh really. Talks sense, in English. Simon is great, Darrah is great. Similar chaps yet rather contradictory quite different chaps at same time. All great contributors to Talksport.

[@davidwebster5946]

He lost all credibility when he said Mike Ashley will take Reading to the Premier league. He absolutely asset stripped Newcastle and got 2 relegations under his belt. He won't put his own money in and didn't increase the clubs commercial income either He would be good for the short term purely as he won't let them go bust

[@josephkerrigan733]

He'd put as much in as he needed to where it would serve as a steady revenue stream. It's undeniable that he doesn't care about football and just wants an asset that he can leverage. The idea that he'd get any team to the premier league is a joke.

[@markgribbon9335]

totally agree

[@Noxon19]

Ashley would get them to the championship, then forever be stuck mid table as you would have to sell your best players

[@Micfri300]

When Ashley sold Newcastle he left them with no debt. Which can't be said for many clubs.

[@davidwebster5946]

@@Micfri300 wrong. We had a loan of around £120m. Also we were into an overdraft for another £20m The fact he left us 19th bound for the championship with no relegation clauses in the players contracts the inevitable 3rd relegation under his watch would have plunged the club into the red

[@jamesfretwell1511]

I wouldn't trust mike Ashley to save a football club. Hes the guy that thought it would be a good idea to bring joe keaneer out of something like a 15 years retirement to manage a premier league team, and caused the poor man to have a heart attack. He totally asset stripped Newcastle United, and caused fans of over 50 years to stop attending matches. He would ban any media outlet if they bad mouthed him, he stopped all the previous Newcastle united legends from having roles at the club. He turned Shearer's bar into the number 9s club out of pure spite, he sold any half decent players at the club, and replaced them with cheap alternatives. He hired friends with no experience to do important roles at the club. He supposedly hired alan pardew because pardew owed a big gambling debt at his friends casino, and he would pretend to put the club up for sale every transfer window so he didnt have to bring in any new transfers. The worst crime put of all his crimes though imho, is the fact he went to sell Newcastle United to the people who would later buy man city, but totally insulted them by telling them he doesn't do business in a tent. His arrogance has no limits, and I hope he doesn't buy a football club in this country ever again.

[@anthonyoliver6687]

The football owners club sticking together, what a shock. As a Newcastle fan I would not wish him on any club. You have no idea how bad he is as a owner until you experience it.

[@danielrobins6497]

What an absolutely terrible take. I feel so terrible for any club that ends up with Mike Ashley as their owner. He's a parasite. They probably think Steve Bruce is a good manager too 😂

[@St4rdog]

He will strip them of all assets and transfer all rights to Sports Direct. Avoid this crook.

[@freshprince9015]

I think I speak for all geordie when I say 'HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA'

[@Scrim71]

Why does he even think this? Mike Ashley has never built a lower league club into a Premier League club EVER!! He has dragged a Premier League club into the championship twice though with a third relegation almost nailed on!!

[@thevoiceofingrates]

A new sports direct stadium

[@magpies77]

Balance sheet champions with him skimming millions of it instead of investing

[@richardwebsell775]

Reading are a big football club compared to most championship/league 1 clubs, plus it has a massive catchment area with limited competition in the south east/west outside of London, could easily be a Brighton style club with the right management and investment.

[@VR46314]

There’s so many great clubs like that I wish them all the best I remember them in the PL growing up

[@oufc90]

They aren’t a big club compared with most championship clubs, or even a lot of league one clubs. If you look at their history prior to Madejski they were usually a 3rd or 4th tier club. I may be biased but I’d say Oxford are better placed to fill that similar catchment area, we now have wealthy owners, a lovely new stadium planned for 2026, and are currently 2nd in league one

[@Dave-good36]

​@oufc90 oxford are a good club. But smaller then Reading fc.

[@ben597]

​@@oufc90Reading are a much bigger club then Oxford and most other league one clubs baring I'd say Derby, Pompey, Charlton and Bolton would put then level with Wigan maybe Wigan edge it due to the fa cup

[@Gas_615]

Bunch of 12 year olds 🤣🤣🤣🤣

[@Natsu01]

Yeah like Philip Green saved BHS LMAO

[@MPJordan89]

What you will get with Ashley is Financial stability... atm, Reading need that and MA probablythe best man for that, will he get them into the Premier league, i very much doubt it.

[@darrenlee9237]

I would like to see Mike Ashley and his ilk permanently closed-out of the English game. Yet another corporate tosser who doesn't care about his club/s. He'll use Reading to boost his own profits. Mike Ashley might well take over at Reading. He may well save the club financially. He will probably aid their Premiership ambitions. But once they're back in the Premier League he will simply use the club as a promotional tool to make his businesses more profitable. Only his ego and the contents of his bank accounts are important to Mike Ashley. He didn't care about Newcastle. He does not care about Reading. He doesn't really care about football in general. He certainly isn't Bill Kenwright. Ashley will only care about the club treading water in the top flight. Reading will be used as a Sports Direct billboard amongst the Premier League audience.

[@snookerstones]

Mike Ashley a bad owner if you want high ambition but if you want stability he’s a good owner.

[@cameronwilkins4909]

Coming from a devoted Reading fan here who has experienced so much in recent years, would take Ashley in a heartbeat. Dai Yongge has strengthened us a fanbase for all the wrong reasons but we are in desperate need for someone to come in and throw us a lifeline. Think our club will be a great fit for Mike and think there is too much nitpicking about will he do this or that, he's shown interest and he is successful and at this point in time to turn that away and stick with this donkey to wait out a better fit and let's be honest, we will almost certainly not find because of the state he's left us in is absurd. We need the good times back and he's the answer.

[@LeoDragon34]

Much as I dislike Ashley’s business modus operandi at Direct Sports and know what Newcastle fans would think about it, a club like Reading would be perfect. The fanbase is more middle class (compared with Newscastle) and, yourself possibly excluded, less passionate. They would accept a change of stadium name in a heartbeat (it will always be the Madejski stadium to everyone in Reading) and be amenable to just about anything that would lift the team from where they are. Getting back to the championship would be good enough. The Prem would be icing on the cake. And he unquestionably has the business nous to do it.

[@glynhallett9895]

My concern as a Reading supporter is he’s just interested in buying the stadium and not the club itself. Coventrys ground Headingley Now our stadium? Maybe just building up property.

[@richardbilcliffe9345]

I like Darragh he’s entertaining but wow he does talk some poo. Reading from league 2 to the prem in 6 seasons? Loooool

[@NEMag1892]

I said when he owned us, Mike Ashley would be perfect for a club like Sunderland, who were churning over owners, debt etc. and meant it without any malice. He wants to run clubs a certain way and if he'd been open and honest with us NUFC supporters from the beginning, instead of pulling stupid PR stunts and hiring yes men, he'd probably still be here now without much complaint or he'd have made a lot more than £305m. If he buys Reading I genuinely think he'll do a great job.

[@guyallison1475]

As a Sunderland fan who has suffered Stewart Donald & Charlie Methven i totally get your point!

[@jh55x]

Is he alright?

[@robb1982]

Laughable

[@banned_from_eating_cookies]

Mike Ashley doesn’t know how to run a Premier League football club. Ashley’s Newcastle were very poor at generating commercial revenue because Ashley didn’t get that side of the business. By plastering SportsDirect on everything he avoided bringing in tens of millions of pounds in commercial revenue from third parties. They also signed some terrible deals for poor players on long-term contracts. Ashley did enjoy owning a football club, but was unwilling to give it the investment to stay in the Premier League long-term. He might be interested in getting Reading into the Championship, but he will not give you the budget to get into the Premier League and stay there.

[@patrickkiely295]

Great show just keeps getting better ,fantastic addition with daragh great insights to what goes on at a club behind the scenes

[@thetopfootycoach]

For stability he's a good owner but he wasn't the right fit for Newcastle who needed ambition to get them up to the table rather than battle relegation and promotion, year in year out. he could probably get Reading to the Premier League but then he'd have to sell as he won't spend the moolah required to stay up there.

[@darrenlee9237]

Yep. Reading could forget about any notion of going on a spending spree and mounting a campaign to finish in the European places. There will not be a concerted effort to spend big, finish in the Champions League places and then have a crack at Real Madrid, PSG and Inter Milan. Mike Ashley merely uses football clubs as elaborate advertising hoardings.

[@zombievikinggaming4258]

​@@darrenlee9237Gets them to top flight and gives them the healthiest books in the league, rather than siphoning money like the Americans.

[@darrenlee9237]

That must be why the Toon held him in such high regard. He had Newcastle barely treading water for years and merely used the players and stadium to hawk the SPORTS DIRECT brand at every given opportunity. Mike Ashley got his drink out of the deal. Albeit indirectly. Incidentally weren't the conditions in Ashley's Sports Direct warehouse described as being akin to a Victorian workhouse? Such a wholesome fellow. I can see why you want these corporate leeches sucking on the teat of the beautiful game.

[@davidcooper3317]

1st time i watched Darrgh seems genuine sincere and seems to know what hes talking about.. shame you cant say the same about Matterface.. he thinks he knows but hes hopeless...should not be on talksport doing football

[@MrMallum]

Any team that has played in the Premier League in the last 20 years are a big team imho

[@karlm641]

Newcastle fan here. Ashley will, if anything, keep the books in shape. However, he knows very little about football. You want to hope that he appoints football men to run the club, however I doubt this will happen so just be prepared…

[@alanwann9318]

Mike Ashley is not interested in football nor competing in it

[@lfcspectre4335]

Simon & Darragh = Top LADS Proper Clobbers 💯 Facts Simon should buy Reading get himself back in the game.

[@ivanaleksandartsanev1693]

Simon should buy your rat lot.

[@Nufc99]

Mike ashley damnnnn

[@paulnoble2640]

Feel sorry for them if he does

[@shluglez4128]

As a Newcastle fan i think Newcastle were too big for Ashley couldnt match expectations and competing was too expensive for his taste . Reading perfect for his outlook , getting to the prem and surviving is success for him and for the club .

[@magpies77]

I always said he should have bought a Wimbledon if his thing is dealing with pennies

[@VentusMedia]

Save you? Yeah. At the expense of your soul. Don't say you weren't warned...

[@johnstaffyOTBC]

I want Simon and darrah to take over Norwich City and be majority owners 🙏🏻

[@Framework_Studio]

That’s what they said when he took over NUFC 🤦🏼‍♂️ he destroyed them & ripped their soul out… NUFC were relegated more times from the top flight of football more times in MA reign then in their whole history.

[@Gav3sixty]

He will balance your books but you'll see no investment as he just makes you pay more and more interest on the debt he inherits lol. So looking at the books everything is being paid but he has no intention of paying anything off completely to allow you to progress. Soon he will be readings next fristation.

[@flyoverfredusa]

Spot on about Alex steals a living

[@thumpertoon76]

As a Mag he did financially keep Newcastle afloat and put us back in the black and saddled the debt left which he stupidly didn't do due diligence on BUT at the time Mike could have easily done what Man City did and opened up a cheque book and spent via his own sponsorship but didn't have the nouse to do exactly that and we just treaded water until it was to late and down we went, he will sort Reading out financially and he will get back amongst probably the championship teams

[@thumpertoon76]

@@watsonfc519 and I lived thru the Mckeag years aswell

[@thumpertoon76]

NOPE

[@tommurphy3544]

I’d say darragh brings bags for the lads

[@bensouthwell1339]

Ashley will take them down as he did with the Toon twice and almost three times before Amanda bought it off him.

[@yippyialeftside8351]

Ashley shocking bloke left Newcastle to rot, im a Brighton fan told his managers to pick week teams in fa cup to Brighton 2 years running

[@anthonyseggie]

lmaoooo he only taking money out the club and promises he carnt keep

[@PabloDav2024]

Agree on Ashley - nufc wrong club for him but Reading perfect !!

[@PhantomOverlordX2]

I can see fans of my club Newcastle, coming on here, and being like 'LOL NO HE WON'T' in terms of picking up Reading, and driving them forward. When actually he will. I don't know if Prem wise, but the thing is, there is a big difference between where Newcastle were at the time, and where they want to be, compared to where Reading are atm. The expectations would be far lower, which would make it more manageable. MA would save Reading for sure, and they more likely could become a stable Championship side in long run.

[@adambest-shaw9343]

Exactly. If we had what Newcastle had under Ashley he’d deserve a statue

[@rmh032]

Expectations are fluid. If he gets Reading into the Prem the fans will want to stay there. He took Newcastle down twice

[@BigDom61]

Ask Newcastle and Rangers fans if they agree with this he tried to ruin both clubs

[@SirGingerOfKnight]

William Storey teasing football clubs now that he's been laughed out of Formula 1 enough times!

[@robertstraw9881]

William “bullshit” storey more like

[@astralchimp]

Mike Ashley could'n't lead a dog on a leash

[@Crymeariver78]

lol, no he won't

[@ben597]

Reading are a big club by league one standards

[@stephenwellstead]

Simon mate READING FC is a FOOTBALL CLUB.. we are one off the oldest club in this country… get you r facts right😡😡😡😡

[@TheSurfacejulian]

Has to be the dumbest observation 😂😂 Mike Ashley took Newcastle from Champions League level to Championship level. Zero evidence that he could do a job there. Nothing except soul crushing misery.

[@Casey-Jones]

Darragh has been smoking some wacky baccy

[@harrydrake4173]

Simon and Darragh are the only reason I watch Talksport. No one's tuning in to watch the likes of Danny Murphy, Jason Cundy, or Jaime O'Hara 😐

[@easybeat307]

There is a stark difference between buying a team who frequently qualified for Europe to buying one that is bottom of league 1. If Reading fans are happy with being mid to the lower half of the Championship then that's okay as that's probably where they'll end up under him.

[@tennysonfordblackbird2087]

Storey is a fantasist😂

[@readingfcdec]

william storey doesn't have a penny

[@cickymain6585]

Dargah macsureofmesel!

[@LEON.1717]

Sheriff Fatman should stay out of football.

[@simonblues1]

😄😅

[@scottanonymous798]

As a Newcastle fan Ashley was a horrific owner, he communicated once or twice in 14 years and when he did what he said was lies he never delivered on anything he stated. That and he brought in his mates to run the club in key positions, he churned our absolute dross season after season got us relegated twice due to his inept ownership and decision making, he almost killed our club his name in Newcastle is mud the one good thing he did was sell the club. If I was reading I would be worried seeing Ashley linked with the club he cares about himself and sport direct he couldn’t care less about you as a club or fans

[@dominicwindle5707]

Would take Ashley at the club in a heart beat. SellBeforeWeDai

[@Gas_615]

Don't save Reading

[@matthewdoyle3877]

Reading Football Club sold it soul by leaving Elm Park in 1998