It is the corporate vacancy that is proving impossible to fill. The role would hand the lucky candidate a competitive salary and a once-in-a-life-time opportunity to etch their name in the City’s memory for years to come – yet despite months of trying, Sports Direct is still searching for someone prepared to be its new non-executive chairman.

Senior headhunters said yesterday that the task could prove extremely difficult, given the challenge of working alongside Mike Ashley, the tycoon who founded the business with one shop in 1982.

Rivals also point to another looming problem – the state of its Sports World and Lillywhites stores. John David Group said on Tuesday that it believed shoppers were getting “tired” of the discount approach taken by Sports Direct, which has made its name on the back of a “pile ’em high, sell ’em cheap” strategy.

Recruitment experts will not take any prospective chairman to the Sports World store in Haringey, North London, in a hurry. A visit to the ladies section reveals greying items of Miss Fiori underwear. A bra may cost only £2.29, but, as one shop assistant admitted, “you may not get the stains off”.

Another shopper left the store irate at the service they had received: “They’re not helpful at all – it’s mad,” she said. “We’re going to JJB.”

One 47-year-old City worker clutching a new bag outside the Sports World branch in St Paul’s, Central London, was happy with his £9.99 purchase – but he added: “It’s the kind of place I might buy a cheap bag from, but I wouldn’t buy running shoes here. I don’t think they’d be good quality, or fit. Just looking around the place, I’d never buy shares in this company.”

Some tourists wandered in to look through the replica England football shirts, marked down by 70 per cent. Jeff Wheeler, 36, said: “It’s a shame it’s been allowed to get into this state. It’s the way the high street’s going.”

Shares in Sports Direct have plunged since listing in March at 300p in a float that handed Mr Ashley a £929 million windfall. A profit warning last month pushed the stock to a new low of only 93.25p. Yesterday they closed at 100p.

Despite his vast experience as a retailer, Mr Ashley has admitted that he was “very green” when he floated the business and that he found being in charge of a public company “challenging”.

David Richardson was brought on board as chairman at the time of the flotation but walked out at the end of May. The former Whitbread executive said that he had been unable to establish a strong relationship with the rest of the board.

Simon Bentley, the former head of Blacks Leisure, took over as an interim appointment and insisted that a high-calibre chairman would be recruited by Christmas. A spokesman yesterday insisted that the search was “ongoing”.

Analysts believe that Mr Ashley could soon buy the business back. He has a near68 per cent stake and Sports Direct will ask investors for the right to buy back more shares at an extraordinary general meeting in two weeks.

A senior headhunter told The Times: “I wouldn’t want to work for Mr Ashley; it’s an impossible job. I would only do so if he reduced his influence on the business. Any candidate would need a good retail background and good marketing expertise, as you need to reinvent the proposition. It’s outdated and tatty.

— Additional reporting: Peter Stiff, Olivia Bennett

State of play

‘We are making progress but we want to make sure we get the right person. I hope that by the end of the year, Christmas, this will be resolved’ – Simon Bentley, Sports Direct acting chairman, September

‘I wouldn’t want to work for Mike Ashley; it’s an impossible job’ – Senior headhunter

‘It’s a shame it’s been allowed to get into this state’ – Jeff Wheeler, 36, outside Sports World, St Paul’s, London

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