The two EFL clubs Mike Ashley nearly bought instead of Sheffield Wednesday | OneFootball

Will it be the third time lucky for Mike Ashley when it comes to owning an EFL club?

Mike Ashley's name has once again come up in conversation surrounding the takeover of an EFL club, as the former Newcastle United owner has thrown his name back in the hat at Sheffield Wednesday.

The 61-year-old had his initial bid of £20 million rejected back in November, while Wednesday's administrators were looking for their first preferred bidders.

In the end, they went with a consortium led by former professional poker player James Bord, who was revealed to have bid £47.8 million for the club towards the tail end of 2025, a bid that they eventually pulled out of in late February, stating that the "sizeable bid could no longer be justified."

Now, administrators are searching yet again for a preferred bidder, and, according to John Percy from the Telegraph, Mike Ashley is ready to launch a revised bid to buy the already-relegated Championship club.

The former Frasers Group CEO has been out of football ownership since his 14-year association with Newcastle ended in 2021, but it may only be a matter of time before he's back.

That being said, Sheffield Wednesday isn't the only club in the EFL that Ashley has shown an interest in purchasing over the past five years.

Mike Ashley has twice been linked with takeovers at Derby County

Sheffield Wednesday became the first Championship club to enter administration since Derby County did in September 2021. Like with Wednesday now, Mike Ashley was heavily linked with being the man to save the club.

The businessman's head of PR, Keith Bishop, even went as far as to tell Sky Sports in February 2022 that he was "100 percent interested" in buying Derby, but the delays with the progress surrounding the takeover were putting him off.

In the end, he didn't pursue the deal, and Derby almost went out of business before local businessman and lifelong Rams fan David Clowes stepped in and bought the club in July 2022, ending a nine-month administration period.

Ultimately, while Clowes is heralded as a hero at Pride Park, there's been no avoiding the fact that the club would need further investment to reach the next level, with the owner revealing last summer that he was open to selling 80% of his shares at the club.

That began the rumour mill once again, and Alan Nixon would report that Ashley was keeping a keen eye on proceedings at the club with a view to potentially investing in Derby in the near future.

Ultimately, if it's Sheffield Wednesday that he chooses to invest in, then it would end a near-four-year on-and-off saga between the former Frasers Group CEO and Derby.

Mike Ashley showed interest in purchasing Coventry City, and owned the CBS Arena for three years

The only way is up now for Coventry City under Doug King, it seems, but could things have been different if Mike Ashley was in charge?

Indeed, Ashley was readying up a bid to take over the Sky Blues in November 2022, after being named as the preferred bidder for the CBS Arena after its previous owners, ACL, went into administration.

Frasers Group would become the new stadium owners, buying the ground for £17 million, and it was thought that Ashley would be able to buy a significant stake in the club for a cut-price too, but in the end, SISU sold a majority 85% stake to Doug King, instead.

King reportedly put in a late £25 million bid for the ground, too, but a court ruled that the bid had come too late, meaning Ashley took charge of the CBS Arena and its income, but didn't have ownership of the club.

That lasted until August last year, when King completed the purchase of their stadium from Frasers Group for a whopping £50 million, leading Ashley to nearly double his money on the initial purchase.

Now, Mike Ashley has no involvement in football ownership, but that could all change if his imminent bid to buy Sheffield Wednesday is accepted by the club's administrators.