Exclusive: Sheffield Wednesday eye ex-Arsenal man for sporting director role | OneFootball

The Owls are looking to add to their hierarchy under David Storch's proposed ownership

Sheffield Wednesday's 2025/26 Championship season, ultimately, will be one for the history books, albeit for extremely unwanted reasons both on and off the pitch.

With less than a month of the second tier campaign to go, the Owls are still yet to confirm a long-awaited takeover that has been in the pipeline for many weeks and months now, following on from Dejphon Chansiri's departure back in October.

The Thai placed Wednesday into administration over fears of a winding-up petition at Hillsborough, leaving the club to be placed into the temporary hands of joint-administrators, Begbies Traynor, who have been tasked with sourcing a new custodian.

With just four matches of the season to play, Henrik Pedersen's side have had their fate sealed for almost two months, largely due to an 18-point deduction, 12 of which were docked as they entered administration seven months ago.

However, there is still hope that current preferred bidder, David Storch, will be able to finalise his takeover through Arise Capital Partners LLC, by the set date of May 1st, the day before the final match of the season against West Bromwich Albion.

Storch is set to be joined by his son, Michael and Tom Costin if the takeover is approved, and Football League World can exclusively reveal an appointment they are eyeing up when it comes to the sporting side of the hierarchy.

Sheffield Wednesday eye ex-Arsenal chief James Ellis in sporting director role amid David Storch takeover talks

Wednesday have already started to begin their preparations for a gruelling first season back in League One since 2023, and FLW understands that the club are eyeing a move for ex-Arsenal technical director, James Ellis, to perform a similar role in S6 under the prospective new owners.

Ellis was previously head of recruitment at the Emirates Stadium before being promoted to the position of technical director last summer. However, he would only be in said role for a matter of months as he exited the Premier League leaders in February.

Ellis was also a senior scout at Fulham between 2015 and 2021 after previously working in Scandinavia with Swedish outfit, Ostersunds FK, also in a scouting role.

Ellis has worked in the world of sport for over 25 years, as reflected in a statement he provided upon leaving the Gunners earlier in 2026.

“I recently departed Arsenal Football Club, where in nearly 5 years I gave my all in an attempt to help contribute to supporting the development of elite level club and its high performance environment," he said.

Sheffield Wednesday supporters will hope potential James Ellis appointment brings similar success at Hillsborough

At this stage, Storch and his consortium are in constant dialogue with the EFL over several aspects linked with running the club, and that saw the American take aim at Chansiri and the governing body earlier in the week after it was revealed they are set to start next season on -15 points.

Storch is urging those on social media to use the #FairDealForWednesday, whilst also holding talks with the EFL over the potential lifting of a current restriction which denies the Owls the opportunity to pay funds for new players until January of next year.

Meanwhile, given the upward curve which Ellis oversaw in two roles at the Emirates, Wednesdayites will be hoping a similar trend can finally occur in this part of South Yorkshire after years of false dawns and near misses.

There is a long way to go before the club can potentially think about ending a Premier League exile which has lasted 25 years, but this is a potential appointment that would send the right messages out, particularly if Storch is successful in his takeover bid, which is reportedly worth £18m.