The last relegation sowed the seeds for the current situation. He gambled on them staying up while reducing the debt and lost. He then went 'shit or bust' to get them out of the championship and bought basically a new team to get them promoted.
They come up with a wage bill around 90% of turnover and still carrying the I.O.U.'s of a few hundred million to Ashley. It'll either take a massive cash injection from outside or a sale to sort this out in the short term. Even though he's a gambler I cant see anything changing his mind from 'reducing the debt by making a profit from minimal outlay' is the way forward. Especially given the financial trouble his investments are in.
There has only ever been one payment made on reducing the debt of £12m 6 or 7 years ago. I believe it was after the Carroll sale. He hasn't taken any other payment on it, and has since then increased it.
Before he arrived the debt was £75m. Now it's around £140m.
All revenue streams have went down under Ashley, the only income that has increased in the 11 years since he's been here is television revenue, which has no part in.
Following relegation in 2009, Barclays took ownership of the ground and training facilities as collateral on the debt owed to them by NUFC, then issued a mortgage on them. A few months later, Ashley paid the mortgage off to regain ownership and settled the debt with the bank, hence the debt doubling after a drop in PL income for one season.
The interest on Ashley's loan is estimated to be £8m per year.
The advertising space in SJP is estimated to be worth £8m per year.
Ashley doesn't charge interest but takes all the advertising space to benefit his other companies, with the PL being shown in 200 countries around the world, Sports Direct enjoys a lot of exposure globally every fortnight, and at least 6 times a season when the big boys come to play here.
It's a marriage of convenience for Ashley and having that debt puts off any buyers unless they come up with a huge offer.
The club is costing him nothing other than a load of abuse.