By Midorikawa Michiyo, Niihama-shi Chronicle

March 5, 2011 (Niihama, Japan) – Faithful fans of the Ghosts seem ready to revolt following the sudden overnight sale of the team and the ouster of the previous general manager.

At the Nii Street Soba-ya, a regular stopping point for fans before games, the regulars were fuming at the changes. “We who support this squad every season were never warned,” said Dokuohtei Horigome, who has been attending games since the league’s inception. “We deserve better, and we predict only failure.”

Prompting their ire was the decision by the original owner, Chitose Terada, to sell the team in its entirety, and amid secrecy. Terada’s spokesman refused comment, but rumors indicate Terada’s penchant for gambling left him severely in debt, forcing the sale. Some sources suggest Terada had accrued $157 million US in debts to casinos country-wide. Others hint at ties to the Yakuza. There is also talk of an expensive divorce in the offing for Terada.

Purchasing the squad is the family of Akane Kenkyusham, heir to the global “Say Ahh” at-home prostate exam kit fortune. Family spokespeople also would not comment, but promised a news conference for more formal announcements later in the week. The sale is subject to approval by the Commissioner’s office but sources predict that, given Terada’s woes, the league is not likely to block the sale.

Yet such turnover is rare for a successful squad. After three straight third place finishes, the Ghosts won the Shining Star Group Wasei Junkesshou in 2010 and came ever so close to capturing the championship, barely losing to Fushigi Yugi Celestial Warriors. Among those expected to return this season are 3B Nobuhito Hasegawa and 1B Shigochiyo Memoto, winners of the Shining Star Group Saiyu-shu-senshu Award for the past three years.

Memoto, reached by cell phone about the swift changes, was astounded. “I hope my salary is not in jeopardy.” He cut the call of to reach his agent.

Back at the Soba-ya, skepticism that the new management can repeat is rampant, particularly since no new general manager has been named. “We are doomed again to third place, if not lower,” scoffed Kaoru-Kasuga Chikanatsu, an 85-year-old season ticket holder. Her dining companion, who asked not to be named, agreed. “Bums – all of them! We pay their salaries, and then they run off in the night.”