Sheffield Wednesday V Rochdale: Irvine told Owls side will avoid 10-point penalty

The Owls have only four days left to secure the funding needed to fight off a winding-up petition lodged by Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs in the High Court.

Leicester City chairman Milan Mandaric last night dismissed reports suggesting he was looking to invest at Hillsborough but Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg has offered political assistance to chairman Howard Wilkinson.

The consortium involving former manager Chris Turner remains in the frame.

The Owls will be docked 10 points by the Football League if they enter administration – which could plunge the club to the bottom of the League One table.

However, speaking ahead of today's home game with Rochdale, Irvine revealed that he had been given assurances from Wilkinson and chief executive Nick Parker that administration will be avoided.

"I have been told, all the way along, that we won't go into administration so I am hoping that proves to be the case," he said. "At no point have I been told 'this is looking like we are going to go administration'. It has always been a case of 'we don't think we will'.

"The threat of administration has been hanging over us for sometime now," he added, "We all know the implications and, if it happens, we can only get on with our work and deal with whatever situation we have to face. But it's been a good week so far and, hopefully, we will get a good result against Rochdale to make it a fantastic week."

Clegg, a Sheffield MP for five years, is keen to help the Owls because of its importance to the city's community and economy.

"I am in regular contact with Howard Wilkinson on this issue and I will continue to help where I can in my role as a Sheffield MP," he said. "All Owls fans will be hoping that there's a successful long-term solution to the club's financial problems."

The Owls, who have debts approaching 30m, need to find 600,000 before Wednesday to settle an unpaid PAYE bill but are also due back in the High Court in early December to settle VAT arrears of 300,000.

It now looks likely that the club's major creditors, the Co-Operative Bank, will make a decision on Tuesday as to whether to accept one of the investment packages on the table.

In the meantime, the Owls can generate good news on the field by winning today's Roses clash – albeit against one of Lancashire's smaller clubs.

The fact that the two sides have never previously met in the Football League tells its own story. The Owls have fallen from the dizzy heights of European combat in the early-Nineties and Dale have finally put an end to 36 unbroken years in the bottom tier by winning promotion. There have been two League Cup encounters, in 2002 and 2009, and both have resulted in home wins for the Owls.

Confidence in the Wednesday dressing room has undoubtedly been buoyed this week by back-to-back victories over Southport and Hartlepool United in Cup competitions. Strikers Clinton Morrison and Neil Mellor have also been finding the net which bodes well.

But it is success in the league that matters most and the play-off pack are now three points clear of Wednesday who have dropped eight points in the last three games.

Dale, meanwhile, have suffered five defeats in their last six games and were on the wrong end of an FA Cup giant-killing last weekend when beaten by non-league neighbours FC United in the first round.

Manager Keith Hill said: "The players feel they let themselves down and it was not acceptable by the standards we have set. But our main priority is League One security and safety and I don't think we could get a game with any less pressure on us than this. We have nothing to lose."