Mike Ashley is the man currently being heavily linked with the purchase of Sheffield Wednesday Football Club.
The man who previously bankrolled Newcastle for a number of years – and not always successful ones – is keen to get back in to football with the South Yorkshire-based outfit.
Wednesday fans are desperate for a break. The Owls were recently deducted another six points by the EFL and after Tuesday’s 1-1 draw with Watford, they languish at the foot of the second tier with a points total of -9.
Henrik Pedersen has been a superb head coach in the wake of such turbulence, but it’s the links with Ashley that are causing the most debate among the Wednesday fan base at the moment.
Photo by Steve Bardens/Getty ImagesFinance expert delivers verdict on Mike Ashley taking over Sheffield Wednesday
Here at Sheffield Wednesday News, we’ve seen what you, the supporters, have been saying and after the heartbreaking nature of recent times, we’re all entitled to an opinion.
Ashley will undoubtedly divide the fan base, with some only having eyes for his work at Newcastle, which came with lots of baggage and a clear lack of forward planning when it came to investing in the infrastructure of the club.
However, there are some fans who would relish Ashley, citing him as a safe pair of hands and someone who can get all the ducks in a row before selling on to wealthier people in the future.
We decided to get the lowdown from football finance expert, Adam Williams, who delivered his somewhat scathing verdict on the possibility of Ashley coming to Hillsborough
He told Sheffield Wednesday News: “Mike Ashley comes with so much baggage as an owner now. There are a few levels on which I think this wouldn’t work for Sheffield Wednesday.
“They need someone who is going to be a safe pair of hands, yes, and Ashley has deep pockets. You would never get to where they did with Chansiri under Ashley. But the club is also crying out for someone who can galvanise the fanbase, can give them some hope, and – crucially – can restore pride in the club.
“On that latter point, I personally think Mike Ashley is one of the men responsible for the hollowing out of post-industrial Northern towns like Sheffield. I wouldn’t be proud for him to own my club. He’s repeatedly been found to have overseen pretty egregious working conditions for Frasers Group employees in the UK and abroad.
“He’s almost as unpopular at Rangers as he is in Newcastle. Clearly, he isn’t at all worried about alienating fanbases if it’s in his business interests. Wednesday have had enough of that for a lifetime.
“In terms of the actual finances, it’s hard to predict what kind of owner Ashley would be in the EFL. He is obviously keen to get back into football – you can see that through his interests in Coventry and Derby in recent years. Based on his record at Newcastle, I wouldn’t expect dizzying displays of ambition. He gave the club about £140m over the years but that was all repaid with interest. With the sale to PIF, he ended his time there about £400m up.
“In the Ashley era, Newcastle were one of the only English clubs to regularly generate profits. On face value, that’s great. More clubs should be run sustainably. However, it’s short-term thinking…. Very, very little of those profits was invested in infrastructure – so it’s sustainable until it isn’t.
“Wednesday need significant investment in the stadium as a bare minimum, plus they need to reinvest in transfer and wage markets to repair the squad. They have got a very, very high ceiling and they need someone willing to spend to get them there. Ashley’s entire business model is based on ruthless cost-cutting and margins.
“Most clubs that get promoted from the Championship – excluding those who have recently been relegated from the Premier League – usually do so thanks to eight or even nine figures of owner funding, which pays the bills that aren’t covered by your revenue. Is Ashley going to take that kind of risk on? Or is it more likely that he invests a little bit, gets them up from League One, then sells them on for a markup on the £30m price being quoted at the moment? Wednesday need someone who is looking at a 10, 15 even 20-year project. I just don’t see that with Ashley.
“And another thing – Ashley did run Newcastle in a self-sufficient manner in the short term, but there are now plenty of teams who are proving that you can do that, invest in infrastructure and overachieve on the pitch if you spend smartly and get your recruitment right. Nothing at Newcastle suggests to me that Ashley is forward-thinking enough to do that.
THIS is the ‘ruthless’ 5️⃣point agenda that Mike Ashley could bring to Sheffield Wednesday
Do you share these concerns? Let us know in the comments below…👇
Football finance expert Adam Williams suggests that Mike Ashley might be bad for Sheffield Wednesday, citing the following five-point agenda:
- 1. Local pride
- 2. His previous record at Newcastle and Rangers
- 3. Ashley’s reluctance to invest in infrastructure
- 4. The level of owner-funding needed in the EFL
- 5. Lack of big-picture thinking
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Ashley will divide opinion but Wednesday need a solution
It does feel at the moment like beggars can’t be choosers, and these reservations held by Williams are justified, given what happened at Newcastle when he was in charge.
However, as big as Sheffield Wednesday are, the expectation at Hillsborough would be nowhere near as significant as that of Newcastle and by going back to basics, Ashley could actually win over some people.
Wednesday fans will always expect big things, but there is no doubt that it wouldn’t be the same scale of job as that of Ashley when he was handed the reins at Newcastle.
Would you take Mike Ashley as the new Sheffield Wednesday owner
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The Owls will need a clear recruitment plan and an owner who doesn’t have the level of ego that dictates that he’s involved in every aspect of the club, like Dejphon Chansiri was.
Ashley knows people who would instantly be able to come in and start getting certain areas of the club sorted and even if it wouldn’t be overly popular, Wednesday would quickly become a club that you simply cannot take your eyes off.