The dealmaker What next for Mike Ashley's patchwork retail empire?

The lush green fields, scattering of farm buildings and 12th-century splendour of nearby Coombe Abbey that surround the village of Ansty in Warwickshire are a long way from the neon football boots, giant mugs and piles of tracksuit bottoms of Sports Direct's busy stores.

- Sarah Butler

But the two worlds will soon meet. On Christmas Eve the sports fashion chain's owner, Frasers Group, received an early festive gift: planning permission to build a 4 million sq ft headquarters near Ansty. The vast development - which will include a hotel, shop and recreational facilities for its 7,600 workers - puts the business on a collision course with concerned local people and thousands of existing staff who the Unite union say are unlikely to be able to move from its current East Midlands head office.

The plans for Ansty are a typical shock and awe move for Mike Ashley, who owns 73% of Frasers. Over four decades, the billionaire has built a reputation as a relentless dealmaker who has seen off a string of powerful rivals to become the de facto king of the high street and an enigmatic figure whose motives are frequently guessed at.

However, with Frasers recently ejected from the FTSE 100, cutting profit forecasts and Ashley thwarted in an attempt to join the board of the online retailer Boohoo, are there signs his disparate empire is beginning to creak?

From squash to shops Ashley may no longer have a seat on the Frasers board, but by many accounts, which are denied by the company, he still calls the shots at the group he built from a single sports store in Maidenhead, opened in 1982 with £10,000 from his parents.

He left school at 16 with no qualifications to become a squash pro and, although that did not work out because of injury, he can now be consoled with an estimated fortune of almost £3.8bn, according to last year's Sunday Times rich list.