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A date has now been set for Mike Ashley to face the Newcastle United owners in court.
This will come 40 months after the October 2021 Newcastle United takeover.
When thousands and thousands of Newcastle United fans spontaneously gathered outside St James’ Park to celebrate the departure of Mike Ashley.
A decade and a half finally ended, where Ashley had made supporting Newcastle United a miserable experience, as he milked the club purely for his own financial benefit.
It would have been pretty naive to think he would go quietly and so it had proved, with Mike Ashley having attempted all kinds of ruses to try and help prevent the Newcastle United owners from rebuilding the club.
Mike Ashley furious when the new Newcastle United owners refused to allow him to keep a minority stake in the club. Whilst the shameless former NUFC owner unsuccessfully attempted to force the new Newcastle United owners to keep his repulsive free advertising inside St James’ Park.
Then earlier this year, a new legal battle emerged, involving Mike Ashley and the Newcastle United owners. This also involving Adidas and JD Sports.
This led to May 2024 seeing Mike Ashley and Sports Direct losing a Court of Appeal bid against the current Newcastle United owners (see below).
Ashley trying to force the Newcastle United owners to keep supplying replica shirts to his shops.
This followed a decision made by the club to restrict sales, starting with the new Adidas 2024/25 replica kits, to the club shops, Adidas themselves, plus the JD Sports chain.
The fact that similar arrangements exist at other clubs, such as Celtic, Leicester and Leeds, which Mike Ashley has never had a problem with, or tried to take legal action against, very much points to him clearly having a problem with one specific club and the new owners who want nothing to do with him.
Mike Ashley and Sports Direct wanted an injunction to be in place by 17 May 2024 at the latest to allow time for the potential delivery of the first new Adidas manufactured kit before its expected launch on 7 June.
On 17 May 2024 though, three judges at the Court of Appeal unanimously rejected an injunction. Meaning Mike Ashley and Sports Direct wouldn’t be stocking the 2024/25 Newcastle United home shirts when they were scheduled to go on sale on 7 June 2024.
However, despite that Court of Appeal decision, a court case was almost certain to go ahead, with Mike Ashley and Sports Direct bringing a legal claim against the current Newcastle United owners.
That date has now been set, with Mike Ashley facing up against the Newcastle United owners, Adidas and JD Sports, on 2 February 2026.
Originally, the Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT) stated that Mike Ashley and Sports Direct had no ‘legitimate reason’ to expect Newcastle to continue supplying shirts to Sports Direct. The former NUFC owner’s lawyers then, as outlined above, requested an injunction but this was rejected by the Court of Appeal.
Ahead of the 2 February 2026 hearing, court papers have now been made public, stating:
“By way of background, these proceedings relate to a dispute between the Claimant and the Defendants as to the decision of the First and Second Defendants (together “the Club”) having appointed Adidas U.K. Limited (“Adidas UK”) to manufacture the Club’s “Replica Kit”, and granted certain exclusive rights to market and sell the Replica Kit to the Third Defendant; and to no longer to supply Replica Kit to the Claimant.
“The Claimant commenced its claim by a Claim Form issued on 14 March 2024, and alleges that the Club held a dominant position on markets for the retail and wholesale supply of its Replica Kit in the United Kingdom and that its conduct amounted to an abuse that dominant position; further or alternatively, that the Club’s agreements with the Third Defendant and/ or Adidas UK were in breach of Chapter I of the Competition Act 1998.
“The Claimant alleges that its inability to sell the Club’s Replica Kit would cause it to suffer loss of profit and reputational harm; and would harm consumers by restricting their choice of outlet and price competition.”
This court date news coincides with the club announcing at the weekend, that two club stores are set to open by the end of November, one at St James’ Park and another at the Metrocentre.
Of course, Mike Ashley closed down all of the club shops apart from the SJP one, to try and drive more customers to his Sports Direct stores.
The Mag report – 17 May 2024:
Mike Ashley and Sports Direct have lost a Court of Appeal bid against the current Newcastle United owners.
This is the just the latest stage in legal action taken by the former NUFC owner against those who bought the club from him.
Mike Ashley trying to force the Newcastle United owners to keep supplying replica shirts to his shops.
This follows a decision made by the club to restrict sales, starting with the new Adidas 2024/25 replica kits, to the club shops, Adidas themselves, plus the JD Sports chain.
Mike Ashley and Sports Direct wanted an injunction to be in place by 17 May 2024 (today) at the latest to allow time for the potential delivery of the new Adidas manufactured kit before its expected launch on 7 June.
Today (17 May 2024) though, three judges at the Court of Appeal have unanimously rejected an injunction. Meaning Mike Ashley and Sports Direct won’t be stocking the 2024/25 Newcastle United home shirts when they go on sale in three weeks time (7 June 2024).
However, a court case is almost certain to go ahead, with Mike Ashley and Sports Direct bringing a legal claim against the new / current Newcastle United owners.
LBC report – 17 May 2024:
Sports Direct has lost a Court of Appeal bid over Newcastle United’s exclusive football kit supply deal with rival retailer JD Sports.
The retailer, run by former Newcastle owner Mike Ashley’s Frasers Group, had asked for a temporary court order forcing the club to supply it with replica kit for the 2024/25 Premier League season.
Last month, the Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT) unanimously rejected the company’s request, concluding that it had “no reasonable or legitimate expectation” of continued supply from outgoing manufacturer Castore.
It said a suggestion that new kit maker Adidas and the club were obliged to continue provision would be “a significant fetter on competition”.
Sports Direct then brought a bid for an interim injunction to the Court of Appeal, with its lawyers arguing the club’s deal is “an unlawful anti-competitive agreement” amid a planned full trial of the legal claim.
But in a ruling on Friday, three judges dismissed the retailer’s request.
Sir Geoffrey Vos, sitting with Sir Julian Flaux and Lady Justice Andrews, said that while the CAT was wrong to find there was no serious case to be tried, it made the right decision in not granting the injunction.
Sir Geoffrey said: “The tribunal was right to think that, though damages would not be an adequate remedy for either side, the balance of convenience favoured refusing interim relief and ordering a speedy trial.”
He added: “The trial will no doubt be hard fought, but the damage to Newcastle United will be far more fundamental if the injunction is wrongly granted than the damage that will be done to Sports Direct if it misses one, or even two, seasons’ supply.”

 
