Sheffield Wednesday takeover claim made as fresh legal action taken against James Bord - "it's not ideal" | OneFootball

In unexpected news on Monday, Bord is being sued by a former business partner over investment at another one of his football clubs

This article is part of Football League World's 'Terrace Talk' series, which provides personal opinions from our FLW Fan Pundits regarding the latest breaking news, teams, players, managers, potential signings and more…

Sheffield Wednesday are still yet to have a takeover of the club finalised nearly four months into their administration process, despite James Bord being named the preferred bidder relatively swiftly on Christmas Eve.

Whilst some clubs are left in administration for longer, with Derby County's recent stint lasting nine months before David Clowes' purchase, and Wigan Athletic were the exact same before they were bought by a Bahraini consortium.

So, as things go, the process to bring the Owls out of their financial peril isn't going too badly, although more checks are clearly needed before Bord and his consortium can pass the EFL Owners and Directors Test, but Begbies Traynor have done everything they can to maximise revenue in case a takeover doesn't go ahead - which of course has meant selling some players.

There is still hope that Bord's takeover goes through smoothly in the coming weeks or months, but a potential curveball has been delivered, with The Times reporting that the Stanmore-born businessman/poker player is being sued by a former partner - Jonathan Cohen - over his investment in Spanish club Cordoba.

Claim made on Sheffield Wednesday takeover candidate James Bord after being sued by business partner

It is being claimed that Bord, who is on the board of Cordoba, 'wilfully deceived' Cohen that the club were debt free at the time of his investment, and he's also accused of holding Cohen's bitcoin - worth around £4 million - 'hostage'.

This development is perhaps not ideal for Sheffield Wednesday fans to hear, but FLW's Owls fan pundit Patrick McKenna is still putting his faith in Bord to get things right and complete his takeover, given he's put up the non-refundable deposit and already invested some funds into the club.

"Obviously it's not ideal to hear a story like that. I suppose we don't really know the ins and outs at this stage, just what's been reported, so unfortunately, we'll just have to keep an eye on that as it progresses," Patrick told FLW.

"But, I know it may seem that the process has been going for a while, but the necessary checks do need to be done, and I don't think the ones with this consortium are exceptionally longer than anyone else.

"I suppose I haven't really changed my mind on James Bord taking over. I've always been of the position that he put his money up to the administrators, so he gets the right.

"There's not a lot known about him, and that's not necessarily a bad thing, they haven't been going to the media and giving out a lot about their plans.

"They clearly are committed to taking us over as they put down a non-refundable deposit, and paid for some work done on Hillsborough. So, I've just taken that more pragmatic view, because I don't really know enough either way whether they will be good or bad for Wednesday.

"Unfortunately, we are going to have to see the process go through the proper channels, and if he does take over then we will see what he can do, but if he fails, then unfortunately it's back to the drawing board."

It's reported that Bord considers Cohen's suing attempt a 'deeply upsetting matter' but no further comment can be made due to the fact it's now an ongoing legal matter - and there will be obvious concerns from the Wednesday fanbase about this development.

Bord evidently has wealth, with his finger in multiple pies when it comes to football clubs, and his latest attempt to save the Owls has seen him put non-refundable money down, so that's a positive.

But the EFL are still yet to approve the Londoner or the rest of his consortium for that matter, and with the Independent Football Regular entering in May, they face a race against time to get it done.