Sheffield Wed Financial Problems

The Wednesday debacle is nearing its conclusion. The favourite to purchase the ckub is Mike Ashley with the other potential buyer - an American consortium drawn from two earlier American bidders - not being able to meet the Administrator's terms

It appears that the Ashley offer is 'only' £20mill which is much less than expected - and less than the American's offer - and will result in yet another points deduction for the club. That would probably mean that Chansiri won't receive his full 25p in the pound on his loans. Worra shame!

I wonder what the fans think of Ashley becoming the owner of their club?

Edit - Things can change quickly! Another consortium with wider interests in football ownership, including owning a Scottish championship club, is rumoured to be announced shortly. This consortium has agreed to pay the creditors what is owed in accordance wirh the EFL rules, something which Ashley refused to do.

 

Thanks.

The parallels between Benham's approach at Brentford and Botd's intentions at Wednesday are obvious. Both regard data analytics as a key part of building quality squads without some of the eye watering costs. Whether Brentford's success can be replicated at Wednesday is the big unknown. We may well be able to judge that better when we see them at VP next season!

 

The EFL is believed to have made that very point to the Wednesday administrators. The difficult part to swallow would be that Chansiri who is the largest creditor and the creator of this mess would get 25% of his loans back under the EFL insolvency 'rules'. The only positive is that at least he won't be covered for everything!

 

Yes you are missing something. Wednesday received two sets of points deductions, 18 points in total for the 2025/26 season That resulted in their relegation from the Championship. Quite separately, they were given another 15 points deduction for the 26/27 season. That was for the new owner being unable to pay Wednesday's creditors the expected 25p in the £. The biggest beneficiary of that would have been Chansiri who would have pocketed around £20mill from that aspect. That particular points deduction is discretionary and not mandatory and can be waived in full or in part by the EFL. No bidder, including Storch was willing to pay the full 25% to creditors and the purchase deal would have collapsed forcing Wednesday to be liquidated. That was the EFL's dilemma and they waived the additional points deduction as agreed with the Administrator.

It's wrong to say that the club and its previous owner faced no punishment. The club was relegated because of the original points deductions and the previous owner lost his £80 mill of loans provided to the club. The new owner hasn't faced any punishment but why should he? He has bought a club which otherwise would have been liquidated and disappeared from the EFL and which has already been relegated. If Saturday's attendance is anything to go by, the Wednesday fans seem to be supportive of the outcome of this saga.