New Sheffield Wednesday takeover update emerges as 'honest' message given | OneFootball

The administrators of Sheffield Wednesday have issued a fresh update on the circumstances surrounding the takeover of the financially troubled club.

Kris Wigfield of the insolvency practitioners Begbies Traynor, who are dealing with the administration of Sheffield Wednesday, has issued a fresh update on the position of the financially-stricken Championship club.

Despite having now been in administration for more than three months, nothing seems to have improved for Sheffield Wednesday. The wave of optimism that swept the club upon the departure of hated former owner Dejphon Chansiri on the 24th October has almost completely evaporated, while relegation to League One at the end of this season is already pretty much guaranteed.

With the takeover of the club by a consortium led by former professional gambler James Bord coming under extremely heavy scrutiny from the EFL, there remains no end date to the club's current woes, and the January transfer window resulted in the departure of two of the club's promising younger players, Bailey Cadamarteri and Yisa Alao, as well as club captain and Sheffield Wednesday legend Barry Bannan.

But with that window now having closed, the club's administrators, Begbies Traynor, have issued a fresh statement on the state of play at Hillsborough with three months of the 2025-26 season left to play.

Sheffield Wednesday administrators issue fresh statement on the state of play at Hillsborough

Sheffield Wednesday supporters may be slightly irked by the fact that Kris Wigfield, who is running the day-to-day affairs of the club while the club remain in administration, felt the need to preface his latest statement with the word 'honest'.

And Wigfield was quick to clarify that he understands the pain caused by the departures of Bannan, Cadamarteri and Alao: "There’s no getting away from the fact that this has been a difficult period. Losing players you care about is painful, especially when the club has already been through so much. But it’s also important to step back and look at the full picture of what has been achieved since the Club entered administration — and what we are working towards."

But although Wigfield was unable to give Wednesdayites the news they long for the most, that Sheffield Wednesday are under new ownership and their future can begin, it wasn't all bad news for them. Wigfield confirmed that:

There was, however, no news of progress of the checks into the funding of the proposed takeover bid by Bord's consortium, with Wigfield saying: "The sale of a football club in administration is a complex process involving numerous stakeholders and requiring various approvals – all of which takes time to work through. Rest assured, all sides are working in the timeliest manner possible."

Administration can be a painful process, and the EFL are under pressure over Sheffield Wednesday

The most important thing that Kris Wigfield said in his latest statement was: "The Club now has sufficient cashflow visibility to enable it to trade through to the end of the season under all reasonable scenarios."

Sheffield Wednesday were, are, and will remain - until a sale of the club has been completed - in a highly vulnerable state. Entering into administration is not a decision that businesses take lightly. For a majority of businesses that enter into an insolvency process, being bought out of administration and trading as they did before is not the ultimate outcome.

Of course, football clubs are not like most businesses in many ways, and the outcome for clubs that do enter into administration is far more positive than it is for the majority of other business types because they are community institutions as well as businesses. Sheffield Wednesday will continue to exist, and that is the most important aspect of this entire story.

The biggest concern that Sheffield Wednesday fans will have at present is whether their team will start the 2026-27 season on -15 points or not. The big selling point of the Bord consortium bid was that it paid the club's creditors the 25p in the pound dividend required to avoid such a sanction next season. If their bid fails EFL checks, it's likely that further bids for the club will fall short of this.

But the gambling connections are, in the current political climate, something that the EFL cannot afford to take lightly. Clive Betts, the Labour MP for the Sheffield South East seat in which Hillsborough is situated, has already urged them to be rigorous in their vetting of Bord's consortium.

“The source of funding has to be a concern, given the inherent volatility of those industries,” Betts said. “Even if the EFL approves the takeover, what level of sustainability is there? These are issues that need to be addressed. I’m sure the regulator will be taking a close look, as even if they aren’t running the ODT they could inherit these owners. This is a massive test for the regulator. Given the nature of the bidders they will want to ensure there’s a thorough process, and it could take a long time.”

The EFL are under immense pressure over this. Should Sheffield Wednesday end up back in trouble in a year or two's time, it'll be they who shoulder the blame, even though an Independent Football Regulator would be in place by that point. As such, it's no surprise that they're taking their time over this decision. Frustrating though it may be, all the club's fans can do for now is continue to wait and continue to hope.