Sheffield Wednesday takeover: New statement, Norwich City tickets, “very serious” potential bidders | OneFootball

The mood around Sheffield Wednesday has been transformed by administration, so here's the latest on takeover talk that has been circling this week.

Sheffield Wednesday are in administration, and the runners and riders to buy the club are starting to reveal themselves. Here's the latest regarding the takeover.

It hasn't yet been two weeks since Sheffield Wednesday were put into administration, but it is already clear that there is considerable interest in buying the club. On the pitch, Wednesday remain anchored to the foot of the Championship on -5 points as a result of their 12-point deduction from the EFL, but there has still been an air of celebration around Hillsborough since hated owner Dejphon Chansiri was pushed out of the direct running of their day-to-day business.

Because this is all at a relatively early stage, there's a huge amount of speculation over who will be the next to take over the running of the club. EFL rules state that the administrators are required to market the club as up for sale for a minimum period of 28 days.

But even if it is widely believed that relegation to League One is already an inevitability, there is clearly an opportunity for whoever is able to make the best case to the administrators to start rebuilding the club, so here's a round-up of all the latest news from Hillsborough on a takeover which could prove transformative for the Championship club.

Begbies Traynor issue a fresh statement on behalf of Sheffield Wednesday

On Wednesday afternoon, a statement was issued on the Sheffield Wednesday club website from Kris Wigfield, a managing partner at Begbies Traynor, the insolvency practitioners who are running the club at present, giving an update on the state of play since they took over the running of the club and an overview of what happens next.

In the statement, Wigfield outlines the legal processes which have to be followed in accordance with insolvency law, and gives an outline of how the sale will proceed. He states that "proof of funding to cover £50m liquid assets" will be required from any prospective buyers of the club before giving them access to a "Data Room."

A data room is secure data storage that provides controlled access to the club's accounts and other confidential documents relating to the club's financial performance, allowing prospective buyers to make a formal bid based on the reality of the club's overall financial position.

Wigfield ends the statement on an upbeat note, saying that, "There is real progress being made in the efforts to find a suitably qualified buyer and owner that can help Sheffield Wednesday move forward."

Wednesday fans may pack out Hillsborough for the Norwich match

Something that's essential if Sheffield Wednesday are to survive the administration process is working capital. This is the money required to ensure that essential outgoings can continue to be met.

Speaking earlier this week, reported via iNews, Kris Wigfield was confident that this would not be a major issue: "There’s no real danger of the club not being able to trade for a number of months. If it comes down to it we’ve got a large EFL payment due in January of about £2.5m. If necessary, we can effectively borrow against that payment."

But pushing Wednesday fans to spend has remained paramount for administrators since they took over the running of the club. For their last home match against Oxford United, which was played the day after the club's administration was confirmed, Wednesday fans responded to the call by purchasing an extra 9,000 tickets for the match, swelling the gate to a season-high of over 27,000. Ticket prices were then slashed by the administrators as part of a plan to pack out Hillsborough for their upcoming home matches.

The administrators issued a statement on Halloween thanking fans for the financial support that they have shown the club in which they mentioned that there were already fewer than 7,000 tickets left for the match. With ticket sales having already been slashed, it's possible that Hillsborough will be close to capacity for the Norwich match.

It's not known how many tickets have been sold, but the Norwich Evening News has reported that the match could be a sell-out. Such a state of affairs isn't only important to Wednesday in terms of providing working capital, either. It also demonstrates the potential of the club to prospective buyers.

At least 10 "very serious bidders" have already expressed an interest in Sheffield Wednesday

The i Paper report earlier this week also confirmed the level of interest in buying the club, and it's high. According to their Northern Football Correspondent Mark Douglas: "An initial 30 to 40 serious enquiries are expected to be whittled down to at least 10 who have been able to either provide proof of funding or are of such high net worth that they do not need to go through that process."

Douglas also confirms that any new Sheffield Wednesday owner will inherit £14 million in debt, of which £8 million is owed to former owner Dejphon Chansiri, and that EFL rules state that any offer has to guarantee a minimum payment to unsecured creditors of 25p in the pound.

This rule - as well as the one requiring the club to be advertised for sale for 28 days - is designed to prevent "pre-packaged" administration, in which a business is sold immediately or shortly after an administrator is appointed, with the sale terms negotiated beforehand.

Such practices are often considered sleight of hand which can leave unsecured creditors in the lurch with extremely low offers and little allowance made for an open bidding process to flush out the best offer, which could be extremely reputationally damaging for the game in a broader sense.

The report also confirms interest from former Newcastle United owner, Mike Ashley, though the administrators' statement on the 5th November warns against speculation over the financial aspect of the sale: "At this early stage in the process no bidders will have had a chance to fully review the complete picture of the business, assets or profits and losses, and so any estimates on specific financials is simply premature guesswork."