Sheffield Wednesday fans will have Mike Ashley stance tested in the next 24 hours | OneFootball

Mike Ashley is set to table a revised offer to purchase Sheffield Wednesday, so can the Hillsborough fanbase have their stance on him tested?

Former Newcastle United owner Mike Ashley is set to make a second offer to purchase Sheffield Wednesday, having previously made a £20million bid for the Championship side.

It's hugely important that Sheffield Wednesday's administrators reach an agreement with a new buyer soon. The club is at risk of being hit with a 15-point deduction if their next owners don't meet the criteria of 25p in the pound to creditors, and the pressure is on all-round to get the right man for the job ASAP so that they can run a smooth summer ahead of a return to League One, where a huge rebuild is needed right through the club.

The Owls have been in the hands of the administrators since October 2025, as Dejphon Chansiri's dismal reign in charge of proceedings was finally brought to an end.

It was revealed by The Telegraph's John Percy that former Newcastle owner Mike Ashley is set to table a new bid for the Owls, having had his £20million bid to purchase Sheffield Wednesday knocked back in November, amid some speculation he would've been happy to see the Owls on -15 points in League One just to get a more favourable purchase.

It remains to be seen as to whether that new bid will be preferred, but Ashley's rumoured move is likely to have a mixed view from the Sheffield Wednesday supporters, who have plenty of positives and negatives to mention on their prospective options to take charge of the club.

Mike Ashley wasn't the most exciting option for Sheffield Wednesday

Ashley's move to take control at Sheffield Wednesday late in 2025 was, indeed, met by a mixed reaction from supporters.

It's unfair to say he isn't an improvement on Chansiri, but the long-suffering Sheffield Wednesday fans were drawn to the criticism he received at Newcastle United during his time there as owner.

Whilst Newcastle were a Premier League side under Ashley and had bounced back from setbacks, at the time he left the club, the Toon Army were totally against the club. They were fighting relegation and had a toxic attitude towards Steve Bruce, who had coincidentally left Hillsborough for the job at St James' Park.

When you look at Newcastle now - League Cup winners, Champions League quarter-finalists and pushing for Europe regularly - it's a far cry from where they were when Ashley was in-charge and almost unrecognisable under PIF.

Of course, Wednesday fans would bite your hand off for Newcastle's position in the pyramid at the time Ashley sold, yet after years of division under Chansiri, the gut-feeling whilst other offers were on the table was that the last thing the club needed was another owner that could have 90% of the fanbase against him. At this time, Wednesday needs togetherness and someone supporters could get behind.

The preferred bidder was James Bord, but as the weeks passed by, his move to take control became less and less convincing until the point when it collapsed, leaving Ashley to re-enter the conversation after his £20m attempts previously.

The narrative around Mike Ashley is changing

A week is a long time in football, let alone three months since Ashley's low-ball bid, which was seemingly half of what Bord was offering.

Scanning over social media now, you see Wednesday fans warming to the idea of the former Newcastle owner taking control of the club.

One fan - @Jonatha38633501 - on X wrote: "My message to the administrators it has got to be Mike Ashley," he also added: "Got to be Mike Ashley for me, got the experience and saying the right things."

Another - @timbaway - said: "So Mike Ashley is the current favourite to takeover. He’s far from perfect but I’ll take it. He’s sensible and won’t get us into financial ruin. I just hope he is willing to provide funds for a big summer. Manager included. Time will tell I suppose"

@joshkswfc said: "At the end of the day, Mike Ashley would be buying us to make money on, and given our position, that’s totally fine. The only way he profits is by stabilising us in the Championship or even higher and honestly, we could do a lot worse right now."

With the threat of League Two on the horizon, @DanW32601216 summed up the changing mood: "People dreaming of the prem [sic], somewhere we haven't been for nearly 3 decades, when really we should be dreaming about the championship [sic] instead of reality that is we could be in league 2 [sic] in 16 months. Mike ashley wont [sic] spent billions but he wont let it fail, hes [sic] a businessman."

It has previously been reported that Ashley would be willing to spend £100million on Sheffield Wednesday if his bid was to prove successful. He's got £300m in the bank from selling Newcastle, and he sold them from a position of strength in the Premier League. If he can execute a similar rebuild at Sheffield Wednesday in the mid-term, it could set them up for an exciting future like Newcastle.

Doubts remain, naturally, about Ashley and not every Sheffield Wednesday fan will be thrilled at the prospect of a man that was hated at Newcastle coming in. The surrounding mood is changing, though, and those with the lingering doubts still could well have their stance changed in the next 24 hours if Ashley comes forward with a bid that is to the liking of the administrators.