Mike Ashley confirms to FT his team filmed the Cowgill footage

Mike Ashley has publicly acknowledged, for the first time, that people in his employ filmed the covert footage that ultimately contributed to Peter Cowgill’s 18-year tenure as Executive Chairman of JD Sports coming to an end. According to the Financial Times, which conducted the rare interview, the admission provides the first direct confirmation of responsibility, resolving long-standing speculation about the origin of the recording.

The recording dates back to 2021. It showed Cowgill in the front seat of a black Mercedes, speaking with Barry Bown, chief executive of Footasylum, a competitor JD Sports was simultaneously in the process of acquiring. Under the terms of that acquisition process, the two companies were barred from sharing commercially sensitive information. The footage was leaked to the Sunday Times, triggering a Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) investigation that resulted in fines totaling nearly £5 million split between JD Sports and Footasylum, and contributed to Cowgill’s departure from the company in 2022.

Ashley told the FT he was not “hiding from the fact” that he wanted Cowgill out. “He shouldn’t have been in the car park and maybe I shouldn’t have been in the bushes,” he said, before clarifying that associates in his employ, not Ashley himself, carried out the recording.

The rivalry that shaped UK sports retail

To understand why Ashley moved against Cowgill, it helps to understand what JD Sports had become by 2021. Frasers Group – Ashley’s vehicle, encompassing Sports Direct, House of Fraser and Flannels – built its model on discount volume and aggressive physical expansion. JD Sports, under Cowgill, took a different path: premium positioning, a curated edit of Nike and adidas product, and a sharp read on youth athleisure culture. The two models competed for the same consumer and, increasingly, the same brand partnerships.

Ashley’s own assessment of his former rival is striking for its candor. “Peter is exceptionally good. He was the biggest and best competition by a country mile,” he told the FT. He added that while JD Sports would have struggled in the current market environment regardless, Cowgill “would have done a better job” than what followed his departure.

That departure set in motion a succession sequence that has left JD Sports exposed at the leadership level. Andrew Higginson replaced Cowgill as Chairman, and Régis Schultz was appointed chief executive. In April, Higginson announced his intention to step down in July – reports indicate the exit followed a failed attempt to persuade the board to remove Schultz.

A new position on PUMA’s cap table

The FT interview did not arrive in a vacuum. Ashley is building a new platform beyond the Frasers Group portfolio. In March, a stock-exchange filing revealed that Frasers had taken an additional 5.77 percent stake in PUMA, making Ashley the German sportswear brand’s second-largest shareholder. The only larger stake is held by Anta Sports, which agreed in January to acquire the 29 percent block previously held by Artemis – the investment arm of French luxury group Kering – for €1.5 billion. That transaction is expected to close later in 2026.

The PUMA position is consistent with Ashley’s broader track record of accumulating minority stakes in branded sporting goods companies before seeking operational influence. Whether the PUMA investment is a passive financial play, a prelude to deeper involvement in brand governance, or a hedging position against Frasers’ own competitive exposure to PUMA’s wholesale channel remains to be seen. None of the parties involved have commented.

What the admission changes – and what it doesn’t

Ashley’s acknowledgment that his organization filmed Cowgill does not, in isolation, create immediate legal risk. The CMA investigation concluded in 2022 with fines against the two companies captured on the footage, not against the party that recorded and leaked it. No regulatory action was taken against Frasers Group or Ashley personally at the time. 

What it does change is the reputational and commercial context in which Ashley now operates as a public shareholder of a listed German company. Ashley’s disclosure about 2021 introduces a variable into PUMA’s shareholder dynamic that the brand’s incoming ownership structure will need to absorb.