Second exec quits Ashley’s empire

MIKE Ashley has lost a second top executive from his Sports Direct retail empire in a matter of days.

Company secretary Cameron Olsen resigned on Monday, according to documents filed with Companies House.

His departure comes hot on the heels of Karen Byers, who quit after 28 years as head of retail. She joined Sports Direct shortly after Ashley founded the firm that would become his retail empire in Maidenhead in 1982.

Olsen has been replaced by Tom Piper, who has been with Sports Direct since February 2017.

The departure will heap pressure on the firm’s billionaire boss Mike Ashley, 54, as he fights to turn his stores into the ‘Selfridges of sport’.

In the last few years, Sports Direct has seen several senior members quit, including chief executive Dave Forsey; chairman Keith Hellawell; senior non-executive Simon Bentley; and acting finance chief Matt Pearson.

But despite this, Sports Direct has launched a string of raids on other brands including House of Fraser, Game Digital, Debenhams and Goals Soccer Centre.

A spokesman for Sports Direct said that Olsen is returning home to Australia for personal reasons.

‘Naturally we are saddened he is leaving but he goes with our very best wishes,’ he said.

Olsen was promoted to company secretary in 2013 and leaves after 15 years at Sports Direct.

Ashley, who once dreamed of becoming a professional squash player, is known for his unconventional business style and boozy lifestyle – with one drinking competition among colleagues ending in him vomiting into a pub fireplace, according to documents filed in a lawsuit two years ago.

He has handed over large amounts of responsibility to his son-in-law, Michael Murray, who has been given the job of finding suitable locations for new stores and improving the brand image.