Football finance expert reacts to Sheffield Wednesday situation - 'this is a really positive bit of news' | OneFootball

Sheffield Wednesday's current position may be desperate, but a football finance expert has confirmed that the club have received one bit of good news.

Sheffield Wednesday's relegation this season may already be looking like a foregone conclusion, but according to one football finance expert, one piece of news puts them in a strong position after their takeover is confirmed.

A 97th-minute equaliser scored by Vivaldo Semedo cost Sheffield Wednesday two points and a second league win of the season at Watford on Tuesday night, but Wednesday's current position already renders much of this academic.

A combination of points deductions and the threadbare squad that the club was left with as a result of severe restrictions on who could be added to their first-team squad during the summer, have left Wednesday marooned at the bottom of the Championship table on -9 points, a staggering 28 from safety.

But fans are looking to the future at the moment, with the prospect of a preferred bidder being confirmed for the club in the near future, and a football finance expert has now confirmed that the club could be in a strong position in the future as a result of recent developments at the club.

Lifting transfer restrictions and no points deduction for next season will benefit Sheffield Wednesday

Speaking to Football Insider, football finance expert Dr Dan Plumley has confirmed that a combination of Sheffield Wednesday having its player restrictions lifted for January and being able to start next season without a further points deduction puts the club in a "strong position" under new ownership.

The news that the club should be able to start next season without a points deduction is, according to Plumley, very good news for the club: "Having all those points deductions in that season enables you to start fresh in League One next season, but with zero points, which is, you know, as I say, for most fans, I think they take positives out of that," he told them.

And the further news that new ownership should result in a lifting of restrictions on bringing in new players will allow the club to start their rebuild in the new year: "If fee restrictions are lifted, you know, that gives the new owners and prospective owners a chance to come in and, you know, wipe the slate clean again and build from a fraction."

A clean slate could make Sheffield Wednesday an attractive option for players next season

It is clear that the lifting of transfer restrictions and the club being able to start next season without further sanction from the EFL could mean that Sheffield Wednesday are in a strong position by the start of the 2026-27 season.

When a football club collapses into administration, the route out of administration is to agree an arrangement with creditors to ensure that they are repaid a proportion of what they're owed on the basis of pennies in the pound. This is agreed through a "Company Voluntary Arrangement", which is voted upon by creditors, with their votes weighted according to what they're owed. Secured creditors and 'football creditors' are excluded from this process.

But EFL rules place strict restrictions on what can and can't be done once a club is in administration, and if creditors have to agree a repayment of less than 25p in the pound, the club concerned is docked a further 15 points from the start of the following season on top of the 12 points that they're deducted for entering administration in the first place.

The club's administrators have already confirmed that the club's position is such that this 25p in the pound threshold should be reached without too many issues, meaning that this further deduction will not be applied from the start of next season.

Such is the gap that has already grown between Sheffield Wednesday and the rest of the Championship that relegation this season is already being treated as a foregone conclusion, but knowing that they can start their League One season in 2026-27 on a level playing field will put the club in a far stronger position.

The fee restrictions issue also matters. New owners will want a clean slate so that they can start their rebuild of the club's playing squad well in advance of the start of the new season. Having those restrictions lifted in January would give them the opportunity to bring in fresh blood months before the start of the new season.

Indeed, new arrivals will even be able to acclimatise themselves in a relatively low-pressure environment precisely because there is essentially no expectation that the club will be able to avoid relegation at the end of this season. These two pieces of news combined could make them an attractive option to the very players that they will want to attract in order to try and ensure that their stay in League One is brief.

The 2024-25 season has been a wretched one for Sheffield Wednesday, both on and off the pitch. But while details of the rebuilding of the club haven't yet been confirmed, it's clear that the future will look considerably brighter than the past has. If 2025 has been a year to forget for the club, 2026 is shaping up to be a substantial improvement.