Sports Direct owner and former Rangers shareholder Mike Ashley has taken to Twitter to make a public apology for recent business decisions amid the coronavirus outbreak.
Ashley was widely criticised for planning to keep Sports Direct stores open amid the global pandemic despite orders to close non-essential stores, whilst also increasing the prices of several goods.
This is something which did not please the British public and Ashley has been forced to firefight the situation with a public statement on the matter.
“I am deeply apologetic about the misunderstandings of the last few days,” said Ashley.
“Given what has taken place over the last few days, I thought it was necessary to address and apologise for much of what has been reported across various media outlets regarding my personal actions and those of the Frasers Group business.
“Our intentions were only to seek clarity from the government as to whether we should keep some of our stores open.
“We would never have acted against their advice. In hindsight, our emails to the government were ill-judged and poorly timed, when they clearly had much greater pressures than ours to deal with.
“On top of this our communications to our employees and the public on this was poor.”
The public gaffe concerning Sports Direct isn’t the only PR storm which billionaire businessman Ashley has been caught up in this week either.
The Newcastle United owner drew the ire of the Newcastle United Supporters Trust [NUST] for taking up to £500 from supporters’ bank accounts for season ticket renewals.
Given the complexity of the economic situation concerning the pandemic, many supporters may need support or patience when it comes to financing tickets.
There is also no fixed date for the return of the English Premier League season.
Mike Ashley bought over 8% of shares in Rangers in 2014 before selling them on three years later.
The club continues to be embroiled in an off-pitch legal battle with High Street businessman Ashley over Rangers’ retail operations.
