As the competition to become Sheffield Wednesday’s new owner heats up, Sheffield United advisor James Bord has emerged as one of the candidates to take over at Hillsborough.
Sheffield Wednesday have been on the market since former owner Dejphon Chansiri placed the club and the company that owned the stadium into administration in October, and despite the club’s impending relegation to League One, there has been plenty of interest.
The Owls’ administrators had hoped to select a preferred bidder by December 5th, but the process has been postponed since they have yet to receive a satisfactory offer that allows them to provide exclusivity to one company.
However, as the list of candidates narrows, only three parties are believed to be in the running to buy the club: US billionaire John McEvoy and the Storch family, who have teamed up to submit a joint bid, former Newcastle United owner Mike Ashley, and a Bord-led group.
Bord, who is leading the bid, has been reported to become Wednesday chairman if the offer is successful, but there are numerous other figures involved in the group, including former Celtic, Hearts, and Sunderland star John Colquhoun, as well as individuals based in Europe and across the Atlantic.
Bord, who runs Short Circuit Science, an AI-led football analytics company, currently owns stakes in Scottish club Dunfermline Athletic, Spanish club Cordoba, and Bulgarian outfit Septemvri Sofia. He is no stranger to English football, having advised Sheffield United on recruitment in recent months, but his transfer dealings at Bramall Lane were certainly mixed.
James Bord’s problematic Sheffield United past comes amid Sheffield Wednesday takeover talks.
Sheffield United, the team on the other side of the Steel City, was recently taken over by COH Sports, who paid £110 million for the Blades in December.
United’s purchase was led by Steve Rosen and Helmy Eltoukhy, but the group also includes Joe Russo, who quickly brought Bord on board as a consultant.
The first signings made using Bord’s AI model came in the January transfer window, when wingers Jefferson Cacares and Christian Nwachukwu arrived at Bramall Lane, but those deals did not work out, with the former leaving for Dunfermline in the summer and the latter failing to make a single appearance for the club.
However, the Blades’ board remained steadfast in their approach, and tensions between the hierarchy and Chris Wilder contributed to the 58-year-old’s sensational resignation in June, just weeks after his club was defeated by Sunderland in last season’s play-off final.
As Bord continued to use his connections in Bulgaria, United bought defender Mihail Polendakov and winger Ehije Ukaki in the summer, but the pair, like Cacares and Nwachukwu, have struggled to make an impact in South Yorkshire, appearing in only one EFL Cup match this season.
While those were the most obvious examples of data-driven signings, it is possible that the AI model was used to help inform the additions of other younger players, such as defender Nils Zatterstrom, who signed from Malmo for €3.3 million (£2.9 million), and midfielder Alex Matos, both of whom were not particularly successful deals.
After a disastrous start to the season under Ruben Selles, it appears the Blades have decided to abandon their new transfer policy in favor of bringing in more experienced players such as Japhet Tanganga, Ben Mee, Tahith Chong, and Danny Ings, as well as the recent free agent signings of Jairo Riedewald and Patrick Bamford.
How Sheffield Wednesday’s transfer policy could look if James Bord signs a takeover deal.
It is unclear how much involvement Bord still has with Sheffield United, but his interest in Sheffield Wednesday and recent reports that he was considering a move to another Championship club, Derby County, indicate that his consultancy role at Bramall Lane may have ended, or at least been significantly reduced from what it once was.
Bord would not have been able to fully apply his AI model because he was merely an advisor to the Blades’ board, not an actual co-owner, and it would be unfair for Owls supporters to write him out totally as a result of his actions with the other part of the Steel City.
However, given that few of Bord’s signings for United have been considered successful, and many have scarcely played for the club, Wednesday fans will understandably be concerned about his blueprint being employed at Hillsborough.
Given that the Owls had no recruitment team in place throughout much of the Chansiri era, there is no doubt that Hillsborough requires a more modern, forward-thinking approach to transfers, rather than relying on managers to do much of the work in selecting targets.
Brentford and Brighton & Hove Albion have made excellent use of data-driven recruitment models in the past, but their transfer policies have proven extremely difficult to replicate, and Bord’s questionable signings at Sheffield United suggest that he has not yet perfected it.
Wednesday would obviously be taking a risk by implementing such a tactic in League One, where experience and physicality are typically vital, but if Bord gets it right, the club may be in for some exciting days.
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