Mike Ashley takeover situation is dividing Sheffield Wednesday opinion | OneFootball

The former Newcastle owner has been closely linked with Sheffield Wednesday, but fans are divided over whether he would be good for their club.

The former Newcastle United owner Mike Ashley has been closely linked with a Sheffield Wednesday takeover, but fans are divided over whether he would be good for their club or not.

Sheffield Wednesday fans are on tenterhooks over who the new owner of their club will be, and one name has consistently been linked with them since they entered into administration.

It's already been reported that the former Newcastle United owner, Ashley, has had one bid for the club of £20 million rejected, but he is now reported to be considering a higher bid in order to take ownership of the club.

But Ashley has a mixed record in terms of his previous involvement with football clubs in this country, and the question of whether he would be the best owner for a post-administration is starting to cause considerable debate online.

Fans seem divided over whether Mike Ashley is the right man for Sheffield Wednesday

Mike Ashley's bid to buy Sheffield Wednesday has been backed by the Wednesday fan account on the social media platform X, South Stand Pies, who claim that Ashley is "a potential owner who’s got his own sports brands and money ready to go".

They argue that "Mike Ashley knows he needs to invest in this club to get something out and get into the PL and that takes serious money", and that "all those saying “anyone but Ashley” need to have a serious think about it, because he’s one hell of an upgrade on DC" - referring to the club's much-hated, soon-to-be former owner Dejphon Chansiri.

But this post has encountered some pushback from Wednesday fans. One pointed out that "the point is that there seems to be much better than Ashley around", pointing to Ashley's £20 million bid for the club as proof that he would have accepted a 15-point deduction for the start of next season when it would require £30 million bids to avoid this scenario:

Others, meanwhile, pointed out that while just about anybody would be better than Chansiri, Ashley's previous record is a cause for concern:

Not all the comments from Wednesday fans were critical of Ashley, though. Some fans saw advantages to having someone running the club who had previous experience of running a football club in England.

While others feel that the negative side to his involvement in the game may have been overstated by the supporters of other clubs:

And others just want somebody who can turn the club's fortunes around, and aren't fussed by Ashley not setting too many pulses racing:

Mike Ashley has been a controversial figure in British football since 2007

Mike Ashley's previous record in football certainly hasn't endeared him to the clubs at which he's been involved in the past.

He bought into Newcastle United in 2007, and his purchase of the club was initially popular, although there was criticism of confirmation that he later gave in an interview that he had not performed due diligence on the club's accounts when he bought them.

But having shored up his popularity with fans by re-hiring Kevin Keegan as the Newcastle manager, he undid that good work by ending Keegan's second spell with the club in acrimonious circumstances, following a dispute with Keegan over the club's transfer policy.

Relegated to the Championship twice under his ownership - although they did bounce back at the first attempt on both occasions - protests against Ashley's running of the club became a regular fixture at Newcastle until he sold the club to the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund in 2021.

Ashley hasn't only been controversial at Newcastle. There were also protests against him over his involvement at Rangers in Scotland, while he served an eviction notice on Coventry City after he bought the CBS Arena in 2022 over a dispute over the club's length of tenure there.

Of course, Sheffield Wednesday fans have no ultimate say in whom the next owner of their club will be. The club's administrators have rules within which they have to work to secure both the best outcome for the club's creditors and the club itself.

But it is concerning that Ashley made a £20 million bid for the club in the presumable knowledge that this would incur Wednesday a 15-point deduction for next season, and his previous history of involvement at three different clubs left the fans of all three unhappy with him.

Agonising though it may have been, Sheffield Wednesday's current position is an opportunity for the club. But once a new owner is decided upon, it's decided upon. It's a one-shot deal, and whoever the club's new owner turns out to be, they'll be stuck with them, for better or for worse.

And while anybody probably would be a better owner than Dejphon Chansiri, Mike Ashley's previous record in football alone should be enough for fans to be questioning whether he's the right man to take them forward. All Sheffield Wednesday fans have to do is ask fans of Newcastle United, Rangers or Coventry City for their perception of him to get their answer.