Sheffield United’s former owner United World has warned current owners Helmy Eltoukhy and Steven Rosen that they will lose control of the team if they fail to pay the £35million ($47million) it is claimed they still owe for the Championship club. United World also claimed there is also a “real prospect” of a points deduction for Sheffield United this season.
The warning comes in a statement issued on Monday, two days
before United World’s petition to wind up COH Sports Bidco Ltd (CSBL) — the
company Eltoukhy and Rosen set up in 2024 to buy Sheffield United — is heard in
a London business court on Wednesday.
United World, owned by Saudi royal Prince Abdullah Bin
Mosaad bin Abdulaziz bin Al Saud, filed the winding-up petition in early July,
two weeks after a “board update” appeared on the club website that said the
South Yorkshire-based team had a new “parent company”, 1919 Partners LLC.
The club announcement continued by saying the Delaware-based
1919 Partners “sits at the centre of the ownership structure and enables the
club to attract additional investment over time”, before adding that “this
development” had no impact on the club’s day-to-day running or financial
stability.
The move came as a shock to United World, which sold
Sheffield United and its property assets to the American duo in December 2024
for just over £100million ($135million), as it had been chasing them for
missing takeover instalments.
United World, which has hired leading sports lawyer Nick De
Marco to front its case, also claims that Rosen, the club’s co-chair with
Eltoukhy, was a director at an American firm called Invacare that filed for
bankruptcy in May 2023. Under EFL/IFR rules, individuals who have been involved
in two insolvencies within a 10-year period cannot serve as directors of an
English club or exercise any control over one.
United World, which expects the winding-up petition to be
granted, also notes that “once investigations are completed, there is a real
prospect the EFL may have to impose a 12-point deduction” on United, as per
league rules on clubs that suffer insolvency events.
“As the former owners of SUFC, United World does not want to
see SUFC facing months of uncertainty that will follow the winding-up order
being granted on 19 August, but in the absence of Eltoukhy and Rosen, both
billionaires, agreeing to pay what they owe, we have no alternative but to take
all legal steps to protect our interests,” it added.
Eltoukhy and Rosen have not challenged the claim that United
World is owed money but have issued a response to Monday’s warning.
“We are disappointed Prince Abdullah is trying to hurt the
club and its supporters with publicity stunts,” a spokesperson for the owner
group told The Athletic.
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