{"id":627004,"date":"2025-12-11T20:58:20","date_gmt":"2025-12-11T20:58:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/627004\/"},"modified":"2025-12-11T20:58:20","modified_gmt":"2025-12-11T20:58:20","slug":"mike-ashley-could-repeat-400m-trick-at-sheffield-wednesday-as-ruthless-five-point-agenda-emerges","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/627004\/","title":{"rendered":"Mike Ashley could repeat \u00a3400m trick at Sheffield Wednesday as ‘ruthless’ five-point agenda emerges"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Mike Ashley is the man currently being heavily linked with the purchase of Sheffield Wednesday Football Club. <\/strong><\/p>\n

The man who previously bankrolled Newcastle for a number of years \u2013 and not always successful ones \u2013 is keen to get back in to football with the South Yorkshire-based outfit. <\/p>\n

Wednesday<\/a> fans are desperate for a break. The Owls were recently deducted another six points by the EFL<\/a> and after Tuesday\u2019s 1-1 draw with Watford, they languish at the foot of the second tier with a points total of -9. <\/p>\n

Henrik Pedersen<\/a> has been a superb head coach in the wake of such turbulence, but it\u2019s the links with Ashley that are causing the most debate among the Wednesday fan base at the moment. <\/p>\n

\"MikePhoto by Steve Bardens\/Getty ImagesFinance expert delivers verdict on Mike Ashley taking over Sheffield Wednesday<\/p>\n

Here at Sheffield Wednesday News, we\u2019ve seen what you, the supporters, have been saying and after the heartbreaking nature of recent times, we\u2019re all entitled to an opinion. <\/p>\n

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. <\/p>\n

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. <\/p>\n

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<\/p>\n

He told Sheffield Wednesday News<\/a>: \u201cMike Ashley comes with so much baggage as an owner now. There are a few levels on which I think this wouldn\u2019t work for Sheffield Wednesday.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey 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 \u2013 crucially \u2013 can restore pride in the club.<\/p>\n

\u201cOn 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\u2019t be proud for him to own my club. He\u2019s repeatedly been found to have overseen pretty egregious working conditions for Frasers Group employees in the UK and abroad.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s almost as unpopular at Rangers as he is in Newcastle. Clearly, he isn\u2019t at all worried about alienating fanbases if it\u2019s in his business interests. Wednesday have had enough of that for a lifetime.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn terms of the actual finances, it\u2019s hard to predict what kind of owner Ashley would be in the EFL. He is obviously keen to get back into football \u2013 you can see that through his interests in Coventry and Derby in recent years. Based on his record at Newcastle, I wouldn\u2019t expect dizzying displays of ambition. He gave the club about \u00a3140m over the years but that was all repaid with interest. With the sale to PIF, he ended his time there about \u00a3400m up.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the Ashley era, Newcastle were one of the only English clubs to regularly generate profits. On face value, that\u2019s great. More clubs should be run sustainably. However, it\u2019s short-term thinking\u2026. Very, very little of those profits was invested in infrastructure \u2013 so it\u2019s sustainable until it isn\u2019t.<\/p>\n

\u201cWednesday 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\u2019s entire business model is based on ruthless cost-cutting and margins.<\/p>\n

\u201cMost clubs that get promoted from the Championship \u2013 excluding those who have recently been relegated from the Premier League \u2013 usually do so thanks to eight or even nine figures of owner funding, which pays the bills that aren\u2019t 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 \u00a330m price being quoted at the moment? Wednesday need someone who is looking at a 10, 15 even 20-year project. I just don\u2019t see that with Ashley.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd another thing \u2013 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.<\/p>\n

THIS is the \u2018ruthless\u2019 5\ufe0f\u20e3point agenda that Mike Ashley could bring to Sheffield Wednesday <\/p>\n

Do you share these concerns? Let us know in the comments below\u2026\ud83d\udc47<\/p>\n

Football finance expert Adam Williams suggests that Mike Ashley might be bad for Sheffield Wednesday, citing the following five-point agenda: <\/p>\n