Fresh reaction given to Sheffield Wednesday takeover situation - "I'm just not seeing" John Textor taking over | OneFootball

FLW's Owls fan pundit comments on the rumours linking American businessman John Textor and Sheffield Wednesday, quietening as of late

This article is part of Football League World's 'Terrace Talk' series, which provides personal opinions from our FLW Fan Pundits regarding the latest breaking news, teams, players, managers, potential signings and more...

Talks about a potential takeover of Sheffield Wednesday by John Textor have quietened over the past month or so, and that could be seen as a real worry for the future of the club.

It's been over a month since it was reported that the American businessman registered his interest in buying the club from Dejphon Chansiri, but since then, no smoke has been detected over the possibility of that story developing.

Chansiri remains in control over proceedings regarding a takeover, and is seemingly staying firm on his pledge to sell the club for no less than his lofty asking price of £100 million.

Whether talks are still ongoing in the background or not is unknown, but FLW's Sheffield Wednesday fan pundit, Patrick McKenna, hasn't allowed his hopes to be raised by the links in late August.

This is partly due to Textor's current affiliations with Lyon and Botafogo, which are currently on the rocks and in need of sorting out, but mainly because of Chansiri's unwillingness to engage in any talks regarding a potential sale.

Sheffield Wednesday fan pundit pessimistic about John Textor takeover rumours

Unfortunately, given John Textor's commitments to other clubs, the rumours surrounding a takeover of Sheffield Wednesday by him haven't made McKenna hopeful.

"Regarding John Textor taking over, it's gone quiet on that front, and it was a rumour that did persist," McKenna told Football League World.

"To be honest, whenever there is interest in buying Sheffield Wednesday, I never really bought into the idea that he'd be the front-runner to take over the club.

"He has a lot of issues to sort through with his other clubs, so the idea that he could focus on a takeover of Sheffield Wednesday I always found slightly fanciful."

Textor recently sold his 43% stake in Crystal Palace for £190 million in June, but he still has involvement in French side Lyon and Brazilian outfit Botafogo.

It's safe to say that he's not the most popular man in Lyon currently, after a poor financial state almost led the seven-time Ligue 1 champions into forced demotion this past summer, before they were reinstated after winning their appeal two weeks later.

There have been reports of him cutting ties with both sides recently, and McKenna feels that the Americans' focus may be more on that than on Sheffield Wednesday at this moment in time.

"With the talk of American consortiums, I didn't think that one involved him," McKenna continued. "In theory, you can't rule him out of launching a bid, but I'm just not seeing it."

Dejphon Chansiri's iron grip on Sheffield Wednesday makes it almost impossible for a sale to be made

Ultimately, even if Textor was interested in launching a bid, McKenna feels that it's practically impossible for the American to pry the club away from Dejphon Chansiri's grasp.

"Unfortunately, as it stands, Chansiri is showing absolutely no willingness to sell the club, so if you are someone who is looking to buy, naturally you're going to start to look elsewhere," he said.

"That could be the case with John Textor. His focus could move away from waiting for Chansiri to engage in a reasonable selling process."

The Wednesday owner has been searching month-by-month for investment to ensure that he remains in charge at Hillsborough. As long as he can do that successfully, he's unfortunately under no real added pressure to sell outside of the constant protests against his ownership, and he's ridden them all so far.

"I just don't think any sale is on the horizon," McKenna added. "Chansiri is against all reason and logic, so any takeover talk is just going to keep fading away and extending the misery for Sheffield Wednesday supporters.

"Hopefully, the day does come when Chansiri does sell, and I think there will be several bidders when that happens. Not necessarily John Textor, but you can't predict that 100%."

Seemingly, the longer this saga goes on, the less and less belief Wednesday fans have in a deal actually being made.