'Basically out' - Sheffield Wednesday takeover insight provided by ex-Manchester City adviser Stefan Borson
Stefan Borson, a former adviser to Manchester City, believes any party who face vetting issues are “basically out” of the running to buy Sheffield Wednesday.
Following the withdrawal of the James Bord-led consortium from the takeover process, the Owls are back on the hunt for new ownership.
The League One-bound club have been in administration since October, when Dejphon Chansiri’s controversy-ridden ownership was brought to an end.
Borson, who worked with a group that were looking at Wednesday earlier in the process, believes there is now “very little leeway” for prospective owners who run into vetting issues.
Stefan Borson on Sheffield Wednesday ‘urgency’
He told Football Insider: “There’s an urgency. I mean, the administrators have said publicly that they’ve got enough money to get to the end of the season.
“Of course, the implicit statement there is that beyond the end of season, they don’t have enough money, and that’s the challenge, so the clock is ticking.
“We are in March. Even the quickest deal is going to take let’s say four weeks, so you’re going to at least the beginning of April, even the quickest.
“There’s very little leeway for an elongated process. I think what’s going to happen now is that any bidder who has got any kind of issue getting through an owners’ and directors’ test is basically out.
“I don’t think the administrator could take any risk now of going through with another party, no matter how much they were putting on the table frankly, that was then going to be rejected.”
Money injected
While the withdrawal of the Bord-led consortium was a blow for those hoping for an end to the process, they did inject some of their own money to keep the club ticking over amid talks.
Borson said: “It’s a strange way to spend £4m-plus, but they’ve done that and that’s to the benefit of Sheffield Wednesday and the administrator because it’s an enormous amount of money. It’s paid the bills.”