Sheffield Wednesday takeover news: Mike Ashley update, Ex-Sunderland man interested, New Dejphon Chansiri claims | OneFootball

FLW rounds up the latest news surrounding Wednesday's never-ending off-field saga

Over four months after going into administration, Sheffield Wednesday's dire financial situation is no closer to being resolved.

Despite the strong work of Begbies Traynor in the early weeks and months, especially Owls fan Kris Wigfield who is part of their team, who sought to maximise fan revenue to raise funds and get a preferred bidder in place as soon as possible, everyone is back to square one thanks to the recent withdrawal of James Bord's bid.

The Stanmore-born entrepreneur and poker player was chosen as Wednesday's preferred bidder on Christmas Eve 2025, but after two months of not making much progress, he and his consortium pulled back from his plans to take over at Hillsborough, citing the mismanagement from previous owner Dejphon Chansiri and the revelation of how bad the finances were as the reason for withdrawing their £47 million bid.

And with that, the process has to go back to the start, and with the new bids that are set to come expected to be a lot lower than Bord's and not meet the '25p in the £1' threshold to avoid a 15-point deduction next season, Wednesday are likely going to have it all to do in League One in 2026-27.

What is the latest though in regards to Sheffield Wednesday's takeover situation? FLW takes a look...

Mike Ashley and David Storch new front-runners for Sheffield Wednesday takeover

There had been little in the way concrete information in regards to new official bids for Sheffield Wednesday, but two names have come to the fore as front-running candidates.

As per the Irish News, via the Press Association, new bids to try and take Wednesday out of administration are expected to land by Friday, with Mike Ashley one of the names that is likely to submit an offer.

It is said that Ashley won't be dealing with it directly, and it will go through executives of his Frasers Group company, but the ex-Newcastle United owner looks keen to get his hands on the Owls for a cut-price fee.

Having sold Newcastle for £305 million four-and-a-half years ago though, Ashley has clear liquidity and money to spend if he wants to, and he could look to get back into football at Hillsborough.

Another name returning to the fore is American businessman David Storch. Founder of Arise Capital Partners and a former worker in the aviation industry, Storch already spoke out prior to Christmas 2025 about potentially making a move to become the new Wednesday owner, although James Bord very quickly became the preferred bidder after that.

Ex-Sunderland chief Charlie Methven keen on submitting Sheffield Wednesday bid

Sunderland Til I Die was a popular Netflix documentary about the Wearside club, documenting their plight and drop into League One in 2018 as well as their attempted rise back up the divisions, and a central figure in that was Charlie Methven.

The Oxfordshire-based businessman bought six per cent of the Black Cats in 2018 as part of Stewart Donald's takeover, and his David Brent-esque mannerisms and actions on the documentary were simply must-watch television.

His time at the Stadium of Light didn't last too long though, having resigned from his board position at the club in December 2019, but in 2023 he re-emerged as part of SE7 Partners' bid to take control of Charlton Athletic - something he was successful in doing.

Methven was chief executive of the Addicks for two years and was largely successful in his time at The Valley, but he's eyeing up a return to English football with the Owls.

As per the Sheffield Star, Methven, along with a consortium of people, have registered an interest in bidding for the beleaguered Owls, but it's claimed that they may be facing a race against time to get an offer on the table, with the possibility that that the lack of time to do due diligence on the finances of the club being a factor for that.

How early a Sheffield Wednesday takeover could actually happen after James Bord setback

With the EFL still doing their due diligence on Bord and his consortium to see if he'd be a suitable owner for Sheffield Wednesday, the Short Circuit Science founder decided to pull out of contention, putting everyone back months with the work that they'd done to get to that point.

Takeovers do not just happen overnight, but with a big summer rebuild needed, a takeover will ideally be done before the start of June, so that the South Yorkshire outfit are in the best possible position to bounce back.

Realistically though, a deal could be struck sooner than that, according to ex-Man City financial advisor Stefan Borson, with a potential four-week time-frame suggested at its very quickest.

“There’s an urgency,” Borson told Football Insider.

“I mean, the administrators have said publicly that they’ve got enough money to get to the end of the season.

Of course, the implicit statement there is that beyond the end of season, they don’t have enough money, and that’s the challenge, so the clock is ticking.

“We are in March. Even the quickest deal is going to take let’s say four weeks, so you’re going to at least the beginning of April, even the quickest.

There’s very little leeway for an elongated process. I think what’s going to happen now is that any bidder who has got any kind of issue getting through an owners’ and directors’ test is basically out.

“I don’t think the administrator could take any risk now of going through with another party, no matter how much they were putting on the table frankly, that was then going to be rejected.”

Dejphon Chansiri claim made by Lee Gregory as Thai businessman set to be stung by loan

News emerged over the weekend that Dejphon Chansiri - the very person responsible for Wednesday's financial demise - could be set for more woes in the coming weeks.

Alan Nixon reported that Chansiri was expecting to make around £15 million from Bord's expected takeover deal due to being the main creditor of the club, but due to the expectation that the new winning bid will be significantly lower than once expected, the Thai businessman's cut will now only be around the £1 million mark.

That has come at the worst possible time for Chansiri too, as a loan that he secured against the purchase of Hillsborough Stadium is due to be paid in the near future, meaning he's going to have to dip into his own pockets as he won't be making as much as first thought on the sale.

One ex-Wednesday player who knows all about Chansiri's dealings is Lee Gregory, and he's this week slammed the 57-year-old for his actions that have sent the club into deep bother.

"Chansiri’s only plan was to get to the Premier League. He didn’t invest in the training ground, the facilities, the ground, nothing. All he cared about was throwing money at players to get to the Premier League as quickly as possible," Gregory told The League Paper.

"When it didn’t happen, everything came crashing down. Even though we knew it was coming, it’s been gutting to see.

"That’s why these new owners - whoever they are - can’t just come in and focus on climbing back up the leagues. Because putting money in at the top without building from the bottom is like pouring water in a bucket full of holes, isn’t it?