MIKE ASHLEY has emerged as one of the three entities fighting to become the new owner at Sheffield Wednesday.
The former Newcastle chairman is facing tough competition from a US-based consortium and a poker player as the club looks to move on from controversial boss Dejphon Chansiri.
The club has been in crisis in the past year, with financial issues leading to transfer embargoes, and now multiple points deductions that have left them essentially down and out in the Championship on minus nine points.
And despite his unpopular spell with the Magpies, it is Ashley who many Wednesday fans are naming as their preferred pick.
Among them is journalist Alan Biggs, who made his case for why the 61-year-old would “not be the worst option” in the pack.
The first and most obvious advantage he has over his competition is his track record in football.
The US consortium, fronted by billionaire John McEvoy and the Storch family, has not got that sporting pedigree.
And though poker star James Bord has been involved with other clubs and runs an AI-assisted football analytics outfit, his involvement with bitter rivals Sheffield United will have some fans unconvinced by his approach.
Ashley spent 14 years at the helm in the North East, and although he oversaw two relegations and some more than dreary football, that reliable experience has to count for something at a club that has been as poorly run as Wednesday.
Ashley knows how a football club is run, and learned to accept the opinion of the football experts he brought into the club during his time at Newcastle, after some questionable early appointments.
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Although criticism surrounding his sparing investment in Newcastle on the pitch comes with good reason, he is most likely looking at a project that involves trying to take a League One side up the pyramid.
That means that, for a few years at least, he would not have to deal with the astronomical fees of Premier League transfer business and could work on building the project from the ground up.
That conservative approach to finances might be exactly what Wednesday need to stabilise and avoid fiascos like being unable to pay the players that they do bring in.
That, opposed to the potential approach of say a professional gambler for instance, is probably closer to the smooth sailing which is desperately needed at Hillsborough
Of course such a pragmatic approach could become frustrating to fans, as it did to Magpies supporters following his 2007 takeover.
His attitude towards the club itself was another source of friction, with Ashley coming across quite cynically with his treatment of the club and its stadium as purely financial assets.
Perhaps the most controversial example came in 2011, when Ashley renamed St James’ Park ‘the Sports Direct Arena,’ in an attempt to attract sponsors who would want to take over naming rights.
This understandably wound fans up the wrong way, but some supporters of Ashley’s Wednesday bid have highlighted this cynicism as a plus.
Ashley ended his stint at Newcastle by selling them for a profit after stabilising them in the Premier League.
If his main objective is to make a profit, then Ashley will have to invest to get the Owls back to the top of the Championship, or potentially into the Premier League.
A pragmatic, experienced and efficient owner is probably the best Wednesday could hope for in the circumstances, and though he’ll surely rub some up the wrong way if he was to come in at Hillsborough, Ashley’s CV puts him in a strong position.
Some fans seemed to agree, with one saying on X: “To do what he’s done in business, as well as his experience of owning football clubs is a combination that’s hard to find.”
While another added: “I don’t get the anti Ashley stance. He put the Geordies in a stable position and then sold them and made a profit.
“If we get in the premier league under his ownership and he does the same again, I would take that any day.”
