{"id":641531,"date":"2025-12-19T04:10:32","date_gmt":"2025-12-19T04:10:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/641531\/"},"modified":"2025-12-19T04:10:32","modified_gmt":"2025-12-19T04:10:32","slug":"fight-for-troubled-sheffield-wednesday-shaping-into-two-horse-race-with-ex-newcastle-owner-mike-ashley-in-the-running","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/641531\/","title":{"rendered":"Fight for troubled Sheffield Wednesday shaping into two-horse race – with ex-Newcastle owner Mike Ashley in the running"},"content":{"rendered":"

By MIKE KEEGAN, CHIEF SPORTS REPORTER<\/a> <\/p>\n

Published: 07:58 EST, 18 December 2025 | Updated: 11:44 EST, 18 December 2025 <\/p>\n

The battle for Sheffield Wednesday is shaping into a two-horse race, with a preferred bidder expected to be selected in the near future.<\/p>\n

Daily Mail Sport previously reported that three parties were in for the troubled Championship club<\/a>.<\/p>\n

However, it is understood that there are concerns over the funding involved with one of the groups \u2013 which includes a former poker player whose consultancy firm list Sheffield United<\/a> among its clients \u2013\u00a0and a view that their offer could potentially struggle to satisfy the demands of the EFL\u2019s Owners and Directors Test.<\/p>\n

Should that prove to be the case, it would leave former Newcastle United<\/a> owner Mike Ashley and a consortium made up of Americans John McEvoy and the Storch family in the running to take over at Hillsborough.<\/p>\n

And, according to those with knowledge of the situation, one of those two could be selected to enter a period of exclusivity in the coming days with Friday afternoon highlighted as a potential cut-off point, although Monday could be more realistic.<\/p>\n

It is thought that the highest bid, understood to be north of \u00a330m, was made by a group led by James Bord, whose AI<\/a> and data company has advised the Blades and who also owns Scottish side Dunfermline Athletic.<\/p>\n

\"Former <\/p>\n

Former Newcastle owner Mike Ashley (left), pictured back in 2020 alongside then managing director of the Magpies Lee Charnley, is in the running to own Sheffield Wednesday<\/p>\n

However, a fear that, with time precious, such an offer could well face hurdles at the EFL, is thought to be playing a role in the process which is being led by the administrators Begbies Traynor.<\/p>\n

McEvoy, who has a number of stakes in various sports franchises, and the Chicago-based Storch family are also in the frame and theirs is thought to be the second-highest bid.<\/p>\n

While Ashley\u2019s offer is currently thought to be the lowest, he has proven wealth and a clear source of funding. It is highly unlikely that in the event the Sports Direct tycoon is chosen any red flags would be raised by the league.<\/p>\n

According to this year\u2019s Sunday Times Rich List, Ashley is worth \u00a33.12bn and has increased his share in Hugo Boss to close to 20 per cent.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Ashley has also lifted his stake in online outfit Boohoo, while his Frasers Group owns high-street chains including Flannels and House of Fraser.<\/p>\n

A meeting with McEvoy is scheduled for today. Wednesday went into administration in October following the disastrous reign of Thai businessman Dejphon Chansiri.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The historic club had struggled to pay wages on time on several occasions and have been the subject of various EFL sanctions.\u00a0<\/p>\n

After a summer of cost-cutting in which the manager left and the squad was decimated, they currently find themselves certainties for relegation to League One, on minus nine points following 18 points-worth of deductions.<\/p>\n

Given the size of fanbase and vast potential, with many viewing the Owls as the biggest club outside the Premier League, the level of current interest may come as a surprise to some.<\/p>\n

Share or comment on this article:
\n Fight for troubled Sheffield Wednesday shaping into two-horse race – with ex-Newcastle owner Mike Ashley in the running<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By MIKE KEEGAN, CHIEF SPORTS REPORTER Published: 07:58 EST, 18 December 2025 | Updated: 11:44 EST, 18 December…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":641532,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8817],"tags":[748,92,393,94,4884,3047,1620,93,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-641531","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sheffield","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-dailymail","10":"tag-england","11":"tag-football","12":"tag-great-britain","13":"tag-newcastle-united","14":"tag-sheffield","15":"tag-sport","16":"tag-uk","17":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/641531","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=641531"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/641531\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/641532"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=641531"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=641531"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=641531"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}