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Wednesday American bidders join forces

John McEvoy and the Storch family, two wealthy American bidders interested in buying Sheffield Wednesday, have joined forces to strengthen their chances of acquiring the club.

Administrators Begbies Traynor have received offers worth a minimum of £30million from at least two prospective bidders, including the one backed by McEvoy and the Storch family.

California-based billionaire McEvoy is a minority shareholder in NHL team Nashville Predators and MLB side Colorado Rockies.  The Storch family, whose net worth amounts to more than £1billion, were linked with a bid for Plymouth Argyle, the League One club, in the summer.

Insiders believe that the new owners may not have the keys to Hillsborough for another six weeks even though the administrators took charge of the club on October 24 after gaining control from the outgoing chairman Dejphon Chansiri.

Wednesday’s administrators, Begbies Traynor, said initially that they would not consider offers beyond December 5, but that the deadline has been pushed back for due diligence to be completed.

The administrators are asking for at least £30million because that is the figure required to pay off creditors, the biggest of whom is Chansiri, who is due £15million under EFL rules, which state that everyone who is owed money by a club in administration should receive 25p of every pound they are due.

Mike Ashley, the former Newcastle United chairman, has not upped his original bid of £20million.

Simon Jordan, the talkSPORT presenter and former Crystal Palace owner, joined forces with Ryan Howsam, the billionaire insurance entrepreneur from Sheffield, but they pulled out as they felt the price was too high because Wednesday are in effect a League One club following their points deduction, and because their squad, stadium and training ground need serious investment.

“I felt that if we could get the stadium and the club for £20million, that was a sensible deal,” Jordan, said.   “I always felt that if I was going to go back into football, I would like it to be with Wednesday because they are one of those clubs that really had the fanbase to grow. But it’s a distressed asset that’s in a terrible shape. There is a raft of challenges. It’s a League One football club. It probably needs £100million to give it a chance to get into the Premier League.”

Jordan feels that paying Chansiri a quarter of the £60million he is owed by the club is wrong.  “I disagree with that because I think fundamentally the money served staying in football is better than being paid to someone else who’s going out of football, having made a mess of something,” Jordan added.

“I don’t believe it’s an EFL rule. I believe it’s guidance, which means that the EFL have a degree of subjectivity about how they wish to deploy that.”

Other parties have pulled out over fears a bidding war could raise the price to £40million.

 

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