Begbies Traynor, Sheffield Wednesday’s joint administrators, are looking for a second preferred bidder at Hillsborough after the James Bord-led consortium pulled out of the purchase process last week.

The Owls have been in administration since late October, having seen Dejphon Chansiri’s extraordinarily dramatic and tumultuous 10-year tenure in the boardroom come to an end, and it was hoped that a solution in the form of new investment would be found sooner rather than later.

Given the importance of the Championship’s crisis club, it wasn’t surprising to see several high-profile names linked with a takeover in S6, but Bord appeared to be the man who would go on to become Wednesday’s latest custodian after being granted preferred bidder status on Christmas Eve.

However, weeks after it was revealed that the English Football League had expressed initial concerns about the source of his funds that would be injected into the Owls’ coffers due to Bord’s connections in the gambling and crypto-gambling sectors, it was confirmed that his consortium and the joint-administrators had reached a major impasse, with their £47.8 million takeover bid off the table.

Begbies Traynor confirmed in a subsequent statement that the takeover process would not be restarted from scratch, and the Storch family, ex-Newcastle United chairman Mike Ashley, and local businessman Ryan Howsam have all been linked with a takeover, respectively.

However, in a recent set of developments in the first week of March, it was revealed that the aforementioned trio may face more competition.

Charlie Methven, ex-Sunderland manager, is planning a takeover of Sheffield Wednesday despite time constraints.

Shortly after the Bord-led proposal collapsed, Alan Nixon stated that the administrators hoped to see new bids submitted by the end of this week.

Ashley, who had a £20 million proposal rejected down on November 26th, has apparently been attempting a deal with the EFL to remove a 15-point deduction at the beginning of the 2026/27 League. One season, and the cash could be worth £100 million, while David Storch recently indicated optimism in making a successful application this time around.

In a surprising development, the Sheffield Star reports that ex-Sunderland co-owner and Charlton Athletic CEO Charlie Methven is forming a potential ownership group to compete with the names indicated above.

However, it has been stated that time may not be on his side, owing to the fact that, unlike Ashley and Storch, Methven and his consortium were not involved in the latter stages of the initial process, which resulted in Bord being selected the preferred bidder over two months earlier.

As a result, it has been suggested that adequate due diligence on the consortium may not occur due to new facts that must be examined.

After leaving Charlton in March 2025, Methven invested in RAEC Mons, which competes in the third-tier Belgian Division 1 and is managed by George Boateng, an ex-Middlesbrough and Hull City midfielder.

Charlie Methven has already been spotted at Hillsborough this season.

If prior reactions are any indication, Wednesdayites will be divided on whether Methven is the appropriate guy to lead the club forward.

His appearance in the Hillsborough crowd for Wednesday’s 1-1 draw against Norwich City on November 5th elicited significantly varied reactions, with Sunderland fans encouraging the Steel City club to avoid his ownership.

The 49-year-old served on the Black Cats board for just over a year before joining League One, where he rose to prominence for his role in the Netflix docuseries Sunderland ‘Til I Die.