New Sheffield Wednesday takeover revelation may worry Owls fans | OneFootball

The prospective new owner of Sheffield Wednesday has said that the club are in 'deep distress', and this will worry fans of the club.

The prospective new owner of Sheffield Wednesday has said that the club is in "deep distress", and this may worry fans of the troubled Championship club.

After almost six months in administration, the future of Sheffield Wednesday remains very much in the balance. Relegation to League One was confirmed at the end of February, the earliest in the entire history of the EFL, and the club may yet end the 2025-26 season with a negative points tally, another first in that 136-year history.

Since entering into administration at the end of October, the club have had a rollercoaster of a journey. The decision to name a consortium led by the professional gambler James Bord was made on Christmas Eve, but Bord's bid collapsed just a few days after relegation was confirmed amid speculation that the source of his funds may have been in contravention of League rules.

A second preferred bidder, Arise Capital, was confirmed on the 11th March, but the club still hasn't exited administration, and now a statement issued by David Storch, who's leading the Arise consortium, may raise concerns among Wednesday fans about the ongoing viability of their club.

David Storch's statement indicates that Sheffield Wednesday are in a worse state than even he'd imagined

The statement issued by Storch has been published in full by the Sheffield Star, and it makes for grim reading for Sheffield Wednesday fans. Storch confirmed that appeals for clemency over the 15-point deduction that's set to be imposed for not meeting the EFL's 25p in the pound rule for clubs exiting administration have failed, adding that, "We fundamentally disagree with this decision."

But while the threat of a further points deduction has garnered the most comment, much of the rest of Storch's statement will concern Sheffield Wednesday fans because it lays bare the extent to which the club has fallen into disrepair. Storch decsribes this point as "a critical moment for this historic club", and goes on to describe exactly what a poor state in which the club finds itself.

Storch's group have carried out due diligence since their offer was made, and it is clear that the club is in a far worse condition than they had originally believed. Of particular concern are what he describes as "infrastructure challenges," explaining that, "These include inadequate water supply affecting even basic sanitation, and insufficient electrical capacity to support certain essential upgrades."

He adds that "these are issues that [soon-to-be former club owner] Mr Chansiri must have known about for many years, yet we are required to fix them in months", and that this, coupled with the need to completely renovate the club's playing staff at the end of this season, means that Sheffield Wednesday risk "entering what could become one of the most challenging seasons in EFL history."

Getting Sheffield Wednesday to a point of being competitive in League One is going to be a costly process

It's very clear from both the content and the tone of David Storch's latest statement regarding Sheffield Wednesday that the club is in a far worse physical condition than he'd believed when he submitted his offer to buy them out of administration.

The lack of investment in Hillsborough itself has been common knowledge amongst the club's supporters for years, and a hint of the extent of this was revealed last summer when Sheffield City Council closed the North Stand because of concerns about the structural integrity of its roof. This repair work was carried out in time for the start of the 2025-26 season, but this story in itself has proved to be something of a canary in the coalmine for concerns about the infrastructural condition of the club.

An "inadequate water supply", "basic sanitation" and "insufficient electrical capacity" are not trifling matters that can be easily dismissed. These are fundamentals which are required for the stadium to be considered safe to use, and the local council's safety group will be inspecting the stadium again in the summer in order to certify its safety.

This is repair work that needs to be carried out. Storch himself has described the work as, "significant and urgent, and likely to result in the need to invest substantial further sums."

A similar level of repair work will be necessary on the club's playing staff, come the end of the season. Wednesday have twelve players falling out of contract from an already threadbare squad at the end of 2025-26, and only one of them - Svante Ingelsson - includes an extension that can be triggered by the club itself. If the club is to be in any way competitive in League One next season - whether with or without a further 15-point deduction - substantial work will have to be carried out on the first-team playing squad, and that isn't going to be cheap.

Given the evident frustration of David Storch over this, some Sheffield Wednesday fans could be forgiven wondering whether he could be set to pull the plug on his offer and walk away, which would leave the club in an even worse position in which they currently find themselves. On this front, Storch at least had some degree of reassurance for the fans: "Despite all of this, let me be clear: it remains our absolute intention to complete this transaction by 1 May."

But as the last twelve months have progressed, the extent of the problems that had been building up behind the scenes at Hillsborough have become increasingly evident, and it is perfectly understandable that supporters of the club will not be able to relax until the takeover has been confirmed and work starts on correcting the neglect caused by a decade of mismanagement on the part of former owner Dejphon Chansiri. With only two weeks left until that 1st May deadline, there's likely to be more tension to come before the club can actually get on with the business of rebuilding.