The Political Economy of Football V2

A consortium led by U.S. businessman David Storch has completed a takeover of Sheffield Wednesday, who are now out of administration and will start next season in League One without a 15-point deduction. The new owners were confirmed ahead of Wednesday hosting West Bromwich Albion on the final day of the Championship season at a sold-out Hillsborough. The hosts won the game 2-1, just their second league victory of the season, to take them back to zero points after two separate deductions totalling 18 points. According to the English Football League (EFL)’s insolvency rules, clubs that fail to exit administration without paying all creditors at least 25 per cent of what they are owed, usually receive a 15-point penalty. The EFL’s board, however, has the power to waive this sanction, and the Storch consortium made it very clear to the league that it would not proceed with the takeover unless the board agreed to exercise this discretion. So, the deduction has been suspended, subje...

  A group led by American businessman David Storch has been named as the preferred bidder for Sheffield Wednesday, who will start the 2026-27 season in League One with a 15-point deduction. ,The winning bid is not high enough to ensure that all of the club’s unsecured creditors receive at least 25 per cent of what they are owed, hence the points deduction. The Storch group’s bid of just under £20million beat rival offers for the south Yorkshire-based club from English retail tycoon and ex-Newcastle United owner Mike Ashley, a group led by former Charlton Athletic and Sunderland executive Charlie Methven and two undisclosed U.S. syndicates that made late bids.   Ashley was seen as the favourite at one stage but did not bid high enough. Storch, 73, retired as chief executive of aircraft maintenance firm AAR Corp in 2018, before spending another five years as the chairman of the multinational’s board of directors. He is now managing partner of Illinois-based investment firm ...

Mke Ashley is one of several bidders who have submitted an offer to buy Sheffield Wednesday.   The exact number of bidders is not known, but American businessman David Storch is to have made an offer. Charlie Methevn, formerly involved at Sunderland and Charlton, is thought to be fronting a consortium (which seems to be his role in life). Administrators Begbies Traynor will announce their decision next Wednesday.   Around £18m is thought to be a suitable price, but any new owner would need to pump in cash to get them promoted from League One next season.  They will be helped by a large and strong fan base. Ashley is thought to be front runner as he should pass the EFL test for owners and directors and he can take over quickly.  He is worth over £3 billion according to the Sunday Times rich list. He wasn't popular at Newcastle, but may want to rebuild his football reputation.

The withdrawal of the preferred bidders for Sheffield Wednesday is not a great surprise as rumours about  the crisis ridden historic club had been circulating for weeks.   There were doubts about where their money was coming from. T he shock is that the group has walked away claiming that it has only just discovered that a League One club with very few players under contract, a dilapidated stadium and a threadbare academy is not worth the £40 million it bid for Sheffield Wednesday two months ago. The good news is that Sheffield Wednesday are still one of the biggest and most famous clubs in the land. Investors will still want to take on the huge and very expensive challenge of turning the club’s fortunes around. They just will not want to do it having paid more than maybe £15m to buy the stadium and settle the tax and football creditor bills. That, of course, will mean Chansiri and any other unsecured creditor is not getting 25 per cent of what they are owed. The Thai bus...

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...

One hundred and two days after Chansiri departed, Sheffield Wednesday are still in administration and serious questions are being asked about the conduct of the chief administrator, Kris Wigfield, and the suitability of the consortium chosen to take over, which features the former professional gambler James Bord. A fire sale of players, including the popular captain, Barry Bannan, plus a run of 25 matches without victory has further demoralised fans, many of whom have stopped attending games. The administrators believed that they could get more than £30 million for Wednesday, which caused many prospective buyers who valued the club at around £20mt to back out, but Bord’s bid — believed to be worth about £32.5 million — blew everyone else out of the water and crucially, it was high enough to pay off the club’s creditors (namely Chansiri, who is set to receive £15 million from the sale if it goes through) and guarantee that the team will not start next season on minus-15 points. That is ...

A consortium led by James Bord, owner of Scottish club Dunfermline Athletic, has been named as the preferred bidder to purchase Championship club Sheffield Wednesday.  Bord, 44, was selected over a group led by the Chicago-based Storch family and former Newcastle United owner Mike Ashley who were seen as the front runners. Joint administrator Paul Stanley said: “From a financial perspective, the proposed financial offer from the preferred bidder provides certainty for the club. The consortium we intend to progress with has submitted the strongest overall proposal for the club. “This includes: A fully funded offer, clear financial assurances to support the club’s trading requirements, a structure that allows all creditor obligations to be dealt with in accordance with EFL rules, meaning no further sporting sanctions are anticipated as part of the transaction.” Bord is a former professional poker player who founded his own consultancy called Short Circuit Science in 2016, which...

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 th...

The final battle to secure ownership of Championship club Sheffield Wednesday is set to feature six bidders, as administrators prepare to name their preferred option in the next two weeks. Wednesday have been in administration since October 24, when former owner Dejphon Chansiri, a Thai businessman, marked the end of a 10-year reign with an ignominious exit from Hillsborough. Five formal bids have now been tabled in the last week, with the expectation of another still to come.   Among those still in the running are U.S. businessman John McEvoy and former Newcastle United owner Mike Ashley. The latter’s opening bid, in the region of £20million, has not met the administrators’ desired threshold of £30m, but at least two of those other suitors’ bids have. Multiple sources, granted anonymity by the New York Times to protect working relations, do not currently consider there to be a clear frontrunner in a process that is now likely to go beyond the initial target date of next Frid...

Following the club going into administration, the Sheffield Wednesday Supporters’ Trust described the situation as “bittersweet”, adding that it was “overjoyed to have Dejphon Chansiri out of our club for good”. It also said that, should a “suitable sale” not be forthcoming, the trust has been working on a fan-led takeover proposal to avoid the club being liquidated.  A Trust spokesman outlined this proposal on Radio 4 this morning, but it is difficult to see how fans could underwrite the club's losses. The greater concerns of Wednesday fans will now be over the club’s long-term future.   The club’s accounts indicate that in the region of £115m is owed to Chansiri in the form of loans but a sale process led by his legal team since the end of last season has failed to bring new ownership. The administration process and search for Chansiri’s replacement will be overseen by Manchester-based firm Begbies Traynor, which was previously appointed as administrators of Wigan Athlet...

HM Revenue and Customs has filed a winding-up petition against Sheffield Wednesday for an unpaid tax bill estimated at £750,000 to £1 million, related to PAYE and VAT obligations. The Championship club, owned by Dejphon Chansiri since 2015, could enter administration, incurring a 12-point deduction from the English Football League and threatening their 20th-place standing, two points above relegation.  This development follows repeated transfer embargoes, wage delays, and unsuccessful sale attempts amid ongoing financial difficulties.

The Sheffield Wednesday chairman Dejphon Chansiri has come in for fresh criticism after some staff and players were told once again that they would not be paid in full on their scheduled payday on Tuesday. Employees were told in an email on Monday that, for the fifth time in the past seven months, they would not receive their full salaries on time. The Times understands that the majority of the first-team squad will not be paid their full monthly wage. Staff on the non-football side of the operation have been told that they will receive about £1,000, while academy players and scholars will be paid in full.   The payment of such a small amount to non-football staff will leave many of them scrambling to pay their bills, which has caused consternation within the club and among fans, many of whom have been protesting against Chansiri’s ownership for some time. Fifa rules state that if a club do not pay a player on time twice, he or she can rip up their contract unless the cl...

The Financial Times previews the Championship season with a special focus on the challenges at Sheffield Wednedsay: 'The English football season is already under way outside the Premier League, with the Championship kicking off last night as upwardly mobile Birmingham City FC hosted recently relegated Ipswich Town. The game ended in a 1-1 draw. Birmingham are part of a new but growing breed in lower league football, one where international capital and celebrity combine. The club is owned by New York hedge fund Knighthead Capital and backed (or fronted?) by retired NFL superstar Tom Brady.  Rivals this season will include Swansea City, whose shareholders now include Snoop Dogg and Luka Modrić, and Wrexham, the Welsh side owned by Hollywood duo Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney. In England’s second tier, competition is always fierce and unpredictable, both at the top and the bottom. This season will be no different, with the three relegated clubs enjoying the financial boost of pa...

The EFL have said that Sheffield Wednesday can start their season on Sunday despite the uncertainty surrounding the club's future.   They are trying to exert pressure on the owner to end the uncertainty:  https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/articles/cqle6w1k3p4o

Sheffield Wednesday’s happiest recent times in the early 1990s, when they were regulars in the upper echelons of the top flight and frequent travellers to Wembley in cup competitions, seem a long time ago. It is 25 years since they were last in the Premier League and Wednesday now resemble a decaying club under the ownership of Dejphon Chansiri, a 57-year-old businessman whose family own the Thai Union Group (TUG), the world’s largest producer of canned tuna. The money has dried up and so, too, has hope. The summer has brought no respite to the anxiety. The majority of Wednesday’s first-team players have gone through June without pay, prompting the English Football League (EFL) to impose a transfer ban that will run until 2027. Another payday came and went on Monday of this week, again with the bulk of staff going unpaid. Last Thursday was supposedly the first day of pre-season for the Wednesday squad, but talented head coach Danny Rohl was not there to greet players: he had sign...

Sheffield Wednesday’s financial crisis is deepening with the club on track to miss monthly wage payments to multiple players and staff today. Wednesday are enduring a turbulent summer under owner Dejphon Chansiri, who faces mounting pressure from fans to sell the club he has owned since 2015. One EFL charge, relating to the late payment of player salaries last season, has already seen Wednesday punished with a transfer window ban for three windows.   The decision has been appealed by the club but, if unsuccessful, will leave the club unable to spend money on either loans or permanent transfers until January 2027. That disciplinary measure came after a number of players went without pay through all of last month but the mounting problems have yet to be resolved. The Athletic  has been told that numerous senior players and staff have so far not been paid their June salaries today, despite Chansiri last week saying he was spending “every minute of every day” attempting to...

Former Sheffield Wednesday owner Milan Mandaric will not try to lead a rescue bid for the crisis-stricken Championship side following talks with his family and UK-based advisors, the 86-year-old Serbian-American businessman has confirmed. Last week, in an interview with BBC Radio Sheffield, Mandaric suggested that he was ready to explore the “possibility” of a takeover, as the South Yorkshire side need a “big rescue”.   But having flown to London from his California base on Monday, the serial club-owner has issued a statement to say he is not in a position to buy the club. Mandaric sold Wednesday to Dejphon Chansiri in 2015 and had hoped to meet the Thai businessman to discuss a way out of the club’s grave financial problems this week, but Chansiri declined the invitation. In truth, Mandaric was never in a position to buy the club back and what he was really proposing was a temporary takeover, with Chansiri’s consent, to stabilise the four-time English champions so they would...

 Sheffield Wednesday should have a 55,000-capacity stadium, one of England’s best academies and be “way bigger than Wrexham”, according to the co-leader of a North American group trying to buy the crisis-hit Championship club. The four-time title winners are the second-oldest professional club in English football, and were founding members of the Premier League in 1992, but they dropped out of the top flight in 2000 and have spent the 25 years since yo-yoing between the second and third tiers. Thai businessman Dejphon Chansiri bought the South Yorkshire side in 2015 — and initially spent heavily on a push for the Premier League — but that financial support has long since dried up and Wednesday are yet to meet all of their wage bill for May, having also been late with April’s payments. Having first said he would sell the club in late 2018, only to place a Premier League-level valuation on the business, Chansiri’s price tag is coming down fast and he is in talks with two U.S.-b...

Sheffield Wednesday players have not been paid for March due to a 'temporary cashflow' issue faced by the club's controversial owner:  https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/articles/c24q31yl0lvo

The relationship between the club’s owner Dejphon Chansiri and the supporters looks to have irretrievably broken down.  Last year, the Thai businessman let rip, “I am the one who needs to pay around £2m on average every month. Some fans need to have more respect for owners of clubs and not be so selfish, thinking of their own benefit without doing anything good to the club.” Unsurprisingly, there have been many protests against the ownership, including a banner at Hillsborough stating, “Dejphon Chansiri. Not fit or proper. Sell the club.” It’s fair to say that matters did not improve at a recent fans’ forum, when club officials including Chansiri were involved in various heated exchanges with supporters.    Indeed, last season Chansiri had announced that he would not invest any more money into the club following protests against the owner, saying, “This is not acceptable and as a result I am not willing to inject more money while I am being treated unfairly by those f...