More allegations over Wednesday takeover

James Bord, who led the consortium that won the race to buy Sheffield Wednesday, is being sued by a former friend and business partner over his investment in Córdoba, the second-tier Spanish football club.

The Times has discovered that Bord is at the centre of an extraordinary legal dispute with Jonathan Cohen, the Canadian poker player, primarily over an investment that Cohen made in Córdoba, who are part-owned by Bord, who is also a director at the club.

Cohen’s legal representatives, Holland & Hart LLP, lodged a complaint on his behalf with the district court in Clark County, Nevada, on Tuesday.

In the documents, seen by The Times, Cohen alleges that Bord:

• “Wilfully” deceived Cohen into thinking that Córdoba were debt-free when he agreed to invest in the second-division club in 2024 when they were actually “around $23million in debt”, which amounts to about £16.9million at the present exchange rate.
• “Took hostage” a bitcoin account owned by Cohen, which was worth roughly $6million (about £4.4million today).
• Initially ignored numerous attempts by Cohen to formally acknowledge his investment in Córdoba by coming up with a written contract.
• Offered Cohen a “coupon” in exchange for a stake in Córdoba.

The administrators claimed that they had more than 80 declarations of interest in buying Wednesday — who were established in 1867 and are therefore one of the oldest clubs in the world — but Bord’s bid of £32.5million was said to be substantially higher than the others.

“The last thing Sheffield Wednesday fans want is a long, drawn-out process which further destabilises the club,” the Independent Football Reguator said in a statement issued on Monday.

In response, a spokesman for the bid told The Times: “The consortium continues to focus on working professionally, constructively and transparently with the EFL and IFR to provide them with the details they need to satisfy their tests.”

As well as having a minority stake in Córdoba and the Bulgarian club Septemvri Sofia, Bord also owns the Scottish Championship club Dunfermline Athletic.

As the takeover continues to drag on, Wednesday fans and the club itself continue to suffer. Deducted 18 total points for going into administration in October and then for failing to pay staff on time last year under their former owner, Dejphon Chansiri, they are bottom of the Sky Bet Championship on -7 points, with only one win to their name.

After being named preferred bidder by the administrators, Bord’s consortium made a non-refundable payment of £2.5million to keep Wednesday afloat and are paying further fortnightly instalments to further boost their finances.

Despite this, the three administrators in charge of the club have sold a number of players, including the Wednesday legend and captain Barry Bannan, to pump more money into Hillsborough in case the bid falls through, although Bord and his backers are confident they will pass all the tests.

The Sheffield Wednesday Supporters’ Trust this week held a meeting with representatives from the EFL and IFR, the administrators and local MPs amid concerns over the bid.

In the meeting the administrators confirmed that Wednesday are losing roughly £1million per month “due to the seasonal nature of football revenues” and that other bidders who expressed interest in buying the club are waiting in the wings should Bord’s deal fall through.

“BT [Begbies Traynor, the administrators] confirmed that bidders previously involved in the process would likely come back into the fold if the preferred bidder fell away,” the minutes from the meeting read.

The Times reported this month that one of the administrators, Kris Wigfied, discussed Bord’s bid, and that of another interested party, the former Newcastle United owner Mike Ashley, in a leaked WhatsApp conversation with friends.

Wigfield said in response: “I am aware of an image circulating online which is said to represent a private message. I have no way of knowing whether it is complete, altered, selectively cropped, or accurately reflects the context in which it was supposedly sent.”

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The Political Economy of Football V2

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