Sheffield Wednesday fans must not question Mike Ashley takeover update | OneFootball

Former Newcastle United owner Mike Ashley is a potential candidate to purchase Sheffield Wednesday from Dejphon Chansiri

Former Newcastle United owner Mike Ashley has emerged as a potential candidate to purchase crisis club Sheffield Wednesday from their current controversial Thai owner, Dejphon Chansiri.

It certainly has been a summer to forget for Sheffield Wednesday fans.

Despite sitting above fierce city rivals and last season's play-off finalists, Sheffield United, many Owls fans' concerns have lain elsewhere for the past few months, nine games into the Championship season.

Thai businessman Chansiri has become an unpopular figure among Wednesday's supporters, it would be safe to assume, with players and staff having gone unpaid in five out of the last six months. This means Wednesday are now under five separate transfer embargoes and are almost certainly facing a point deduction.

Wednesday looks almost certain to face relegation at the end of this season, with an underprepared pre-season, depleted squad and pending points deductions all factoring into this.

Many Owls fans have already written this season off and have come to terms with their fate, though what they cannot accept is Chansiri remaining at the helm beyond this season.

Few candidates have emerged as potential buyers of the South Yorkshire outfit, including US businessman John Textor, though talks of a purchase from the American have gone quiet since Chansiri has set his asking price of the club at around £100 million.

The latest interested party to have emerged is former Newcastle owner Ashley, according to Alan Biggs via X, and despite his unpopular stint in the North East, Wednesday fans cannot afford to be too picky at this stage, due to the predicament the club finds itself in.

Mike Ashley was an unpopular figure at Newcastle United, but Sheffield Wednesday cannot afford to be picky

Ashley's start to life on Tyneside in May 2007 began brightly, regularly seen with Toon fans drinking, and even in the away end with the fans for Newcastle's away match to rivals Sunderland, where he was refused entry to the corporate box due to his attire, a Newcastle shirt.

Though things would quickly go south, as his choice to rename St James' Park to the Sports Direct Arena in 2011 proved to go down like a lead balloon among the Toon faithful.

News of a potential name change to the ground dates back to 2009, when it was received just as badly then.

Ashley was never far away from controversy thereafter in the North East, with notable events such as handing Alan Pardew an eight-year contract as manager, not tying down popular manager Rafa Benitez to a new deal, two relegations and a questionable transfer policy.

In 2021, Ashley's reign at Newcastle came to an end, having agreed a deal to sell the club for around £300 million to the Saudi-led consortium, the Public Investment Fund (PIF), who themselves are just as controversial, but due to performances on the pitch, have proven to be much more popular.

Sheffield Wednesday fans should welcome a potential purchase from Mike Ashley

Not to get it twisted, Ashley is certainly not the ideal candidate for the role at Hillsborough, but he may not be the worst.

In a positive light, he appears to be very different from Chansiri in the way he runs a football club, hiring professionals to run key club operations, tends not to interfere and sets budgets for his staff to work with.

His time at Newcastle proved to be unpopular with such a passionate fanbase, where he never really threatened to make any inroads towards breaking into the top six, but he kept them a stable, functioning club, despite a couple of relegations.

Wednesday are in desperate need of someone who can come in and steady the ship over troubled waters, and controversially, Ashley may not be the worst option to do this.

At this point, Owls fans will almost certainly take anyone to be rid of Chansiri, and should be open to the idea of Ashley taking charge, despite his past criticisms, as beggars cannot afford to be choosers.