I’m a power drinker – I down 5 pints an hour
Boasts of Sports Direct boss being sued over £15m bonus
SPORTS Direct boss Mike Ashley branded himself a ‘power drinker’ yesterday, as he told the High Court pints were ‘coming like machine guns’ when he allegedly struck a £15million bonus deal.
the 52-year-old Newcastle United owner said he indulged in five-pints-an-hour binges as he tried to explain away the purported agreement.
He was giving evidence on the fourth day of a High Court case in London after being sued by investment banker Jeffrey Blue.
Mr Blue says the billionaire promised to pay him £15million if he used his expertise to increase Sports Direct’s share price to £8 a share. But he says Mr Ashley paid only £1million – and he wants the remaining £14million as damages.
Mr Ashley denies the claim and says Mr Blue is talking ‘nonsense’.
the judge has heard that the dispute between Mr Blue and Mr Ashley relates to a conversation in a central London pub, the Horse and Groom in Fitzrovia.
Mr Blue says Mr Ashley made him a ‘binding agreement’ during the boozing session with other city bankers. Mr Ashley admits he paid Mr Blue, who he called ‘Jeffers’, a one-off £1million for ‘other deals’, saying it was unrelated to the night out at the pub.
But Mr Blue says this was a down payment, intended to show that Mr Ashley was ‘committed’ to paying him the entire sum.
Mr Ashley has told how he remembered a ‘night of heavy drinking’ with a group of finance specialists at the pub but could not recall exact conversations.
And he suggested he had particular difficulty remembering because he did not spend his life looking back. ‘I’m a person who spends 99 per cent of my life looking forward. Not driving in the rear-view mirror,’ he said.
Jeff Chapman QC, representing Mr Blue, asked how much Mr Ashley had drunk during the early stages of the night in question. Mr Ashley calculated that within an hour he would have drunk four to five pints. He said he had been trying to ‘get p **** d and have a good night out’, adding that the drinks ‘were coming like machine guns’. ‘It was a fun evening – drinking at pace’, he said. He added: ‘I like to get drunk. I am a power drinker.
‘My thing is not to drink regularly. It is binge drinking. I am trying to get drunk.’ Asked how much Mr Blue had drunk, he replied: ‘He would never have been able to keep up. He’s a lightweight...’
the tycoon also revealed that other than beer, his favourite tipple is a tom Collins, a cocktail made with gin, lemon juice, sugar, and fizzy water.
He also claimed to have never profited directly from his business, saying: ‘I have never taken a penny out of Sports Direct – salary or otherwise. As a matter of fact, I subsidise Sports Direct.’
the case continues.
‘I am trying to get drunk’