Steve Bruce drops Mike Ashley claim as Sheffield Wednesday takeover links linger | OneFootball

Steve Bruce has opened up on his relationship with Mike Ashley amid rumours linking the ex-Newcastle United owner with Sheffield Wednesday.

Former Sheffield Wednesday manager Steve Bruce has lifted the lid on his relationship with Mike Ashley amid ongoing speculation linking the former Newcastle United owner with a takeover at Hillsborough.

After just over six months in charge of Wednesday, Bruce controversially left the club to take over at Newcastle in July 2019, and Ashley reportedly paid a compensation fee of £4 million for the 65-year-old following a bitter dispute with then Owls owner Dejphon Chansiri.

While he successfully kept the club in the Premier League for two consecutive seasons, Bruce endured a turbulent spell in charge of the Magpies, and he was sacked just one game after Ashley sold the club to a Saudi-led consortium for £305 million in October 2021.

Ashley has been out of football ownership since departing St James' Park, but he has shown interest in Wednesday since Chansiri put the club into administration in October, and he was believed to have had an initial bid of £20 million rejected.

Despite that, Ashley was thought to be one of the final candidates in the frame to take over the Owls, along with David Storch and James Bord, but a consortium led by the latter was chosen as the preferred bidder by the club's administrators on Christmas Eve.

However, as the wait continues to discover whether Bord will be given approval by the EFL to complete his purchase of Wednesday, it has been claimed that Ashley is waiting in the wings to pounce should the deal collapse, while the Storch family are also thought to be keeping tabs on the situation.

Steve Bruce provides Mike Ashley, Newcastle United insight amid Sheffield Wednesday takeover talk

It is fair to say that Bruce was never a popular choice as Newcastle manager, and he has opened up about some of the abuse he suffered during his time at St James' Park, revealing that he received death threats and even had to get the police involved.

One of Bruce's lowest moments with the Magpies came when his side were beaten 3-0 at Brighton & Hove Albion in March 2021 to leave them deep in relegation trouble, but while he admitted he feared the sack after the game, he has shared details of an unexpected phone call from Ashley the following day.

"I remember when I was at Newcastle going back to Newcastle and we're playing Brighton away and we were poor on the night we got beat badly. I got a phone call off Mike Ashley and I thought: ‘oh, here we go’," Bruce said on the SACKED! podcast.

"You know, we're playing poorly, we’ve just been beaten by Brighton badly and the phone rang at quarter eight on a Sunday morning and said: Hello Steve, good morning. It’s Mike’. I just said: ‘I'm not good enough and I apologise. We’ve got to be better than what we were last night’.

"He (Ashley) said: ‘listen, don’t listen and don't read the newspapers, you are, you are my man, and I'll back you as best I can and if there's anything I can do to help you, right, I'll try and help you get on with it. Make sure you win next Saturday and keep your chin up’.

"Phone went down, didn't expect it."

Sheffield Wednesday fans may have bittersweet Mike Ashley hope amid James Bord concerns

Like Bruce, Ashley was also a divisive figure at St James' Park, with Newcastle supporters regularly protesting against him due to what they perceived as his lack of ambition.

However, while Ashley was reluctant to invest in the transfer market, the Magpies spent 12 of his 14 years as owner in the Premier League, and he certainly brought financial stability to the club, so he could be the perfect man to get Wednesday back on track after a nightmare period.

With Owls supporters becoming increasingly concerned about the lengthy wait to discover whether Bord will be given the green light by the EFL, some may still see Ashley as the better option, even though the club could be hit with a 15-point deduction in League One next season if he does not improve his previous bid of less than £30 million.