Shirebrook is a ‘boring, lonely place’, says Sports Direct boss

Mike Ashley, the boss of Sports Direct has told the High Court that he thinks Shirebrook in Derbyshire, where the firm has its head office, is a “very boring, lonely place”.

Ashley was giving evidence over a £14m legal claim against him by investmentment banker Jeffrey Blue.

In a colour testament, Ashley dismissed Blue’s claim that if he managed to double Sports Direct’s share price he would receive £15m as “total crap”. Blue claims to have received a payment of £1m from Ashley as part of the alleged deal. Ashley said he paid the £1m as a bonus for work done.

Ashley also insisted that he was not “Obi-Wan Kenobi running the Death Star” and that Shirebrook is a “very boring, lonely place”.

Earlier this week, Blue has told the High Court that Ashley once vomited in a fireplace during a drinking competition in a Derbyshire pub during a management meeting, an investment banker suing him has told the High Court.

Jeffrey Blue said that Ashley would engage in “pub lock-in” management meetings during which he would instigate drinking games and order in kebabs and fish and chips.

One session ended with Ashley being sick in the pub’s fireplace, the court was told.

Yesterday (6 July) Ashley replied by telling a lawyer representing Blue: “If you are trying to portray the impression that I just merrily make massive decisions at the pub you are talking total crap.”