David Richards eyes Sheffield Wednesday takeover - but how did he build his wealth? | OneFootball

David Richards has been linked with taking over Sheffield Wednesday

Sheffield Wednesday supporter David Richards has recently been credited with an interest in taking over the club.

The Owls’ perilous situation was somewhat glossed over during the past month, when impressive performances from Wednesday on the pitch made it seem like relegation to League One was no longer a certainty.

However, owner Dejphon Chansiri failed to pay players on time for September, marking the fifth instance of this happening in the last seven months.

The Steel City side are currently under six different embargoes, as well as a fee-paying transfer restriction until the summer of 2027 and change doesn’t look to be on the way anytime soon.

Wednesday were acquired by the Thai businessman in 2015 for £30 million and saw his reputation with supporters quickly sour after a points deduction due to a breach of spending regulations in 2020 ultimately led to relegation.

Chansiri has named his valuation of Sheffield Wednesday at £100 million, which is an amount deemed to be too excessive by any interested parties.

Such interested parties haven’t been put off the idea of buying the South Yorkshire outfit entirely though, with Sheffield Star reporter Alan Biggs recently revealing that businessman Dave Richards would be keen on taking over from Chansiri.

Following this news, Football League World has taken a look at how Richards made the money that has put him in the Wednesday owner conversation.

Born in Sheffield, Richards initially began work in a bank before his ambition pushed him to seek a new challenge.

The 54-year-old moved to London in 1992, where he acquired stock in Druid, a growing software consultancy.

Richards was almost a millionaire at age 22 and decided to set up his own consultancy called Insevo, offering expertise in business software.

Once selling Insevo, the businessman set up further companies such as Librados and Wandisco, with the latter offering a service which replicated and synchronised multiple computer databases in real-time, which allowed the whole system to keep running even if one server crashed.

In 2014, his stake in the company was valued at £51 million, but reports by the Evening Standard in 2023 stated that this figure had dropped massively to £920,000, after shares in the business plummeted by 96 per cent.

In 2023, Richards resigned as chairman and chief executive of WANdisco. The 54-year-old subsequently co-founded Yorkshire AI Labs, a firm aimed at investing in Yorkshire-based technology businesses.

Sheffield Wednesday will want reassurances over Dave Richards’ money

Due to the fact that Richards was born in Sheffield and supports Wednesday, it is easy to believe that he would have the club’s best interests at heart.

However, given the current mess that the Owls find themselves in, they would need extra assurances that the businessman would be able to provide sustainable backing.

Recent times haven’t been kind to the 54-year-old, leading to him exiting from Wandisco, and it is yet to be seen whether he has the financial means to take over from Chansiri.

Although the Hillsborough faithful desperately want their current owner out, they must make sure they’re making a clear upgrade with whoever comes in next.