Just reading this thread, the Ryanair thread and a few other places - we seem to have a much bigger chance than you might realise, few airports would be able to match an offer MME could make (because of our desperation), also, it would make the local news like Jacko's death made the national news - it would be talked about for weeks, so whereas three aircraft, and B738s at that, would seem like over capacity, it maybes wouldn't be, people would come from the very corners of our catchment area, not to mention we'd steal pax from LBA, NCL and maybes more!
Also, it wouldn't matter if Ryanair paid nothing for years, they'd attract the right type of pax, we'd make enough profit from car parking, vending machines, the cafes/pubs etc.
It's funny how several airlines leaving have put us in the mess we're in, yet one airline could be about to put us in the best position we've ever been in overnight, and let's not forget, airports with their own based airlines grow a lot faster than those without, Jet2 at Leeds being a prime example and even us with bmibaby to a lesser extent - more airlines and routes would most likely follow!
Still, it hasn't happened yet...