In 2014, Mike Ashley, the combative and controversial British retail magnate, was determined to take control of Elverys Sports. The Irish sports retailer, a major employer in the west of Ireland, had fallen into insolvency, and Ashley liked the idea of bolting on its network of 50-odd stores into his expanding Irish business. Ashley was, however, slightly late to the party. For much of the previous six months, management at Elverys Sports had been quietly hatching a plan to acquire the business through a carefully orchestrated management buyout (MBO). Nama, the state’s bad bank that controls much of the group’s…

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