The Sheffield Wednesday takeover crisis continues, with no end in sight.

Begbies Traynor said on Christmas Eve that a preferred bidder had been chosen barely two months into the administration process, with Stanmore-born entrepreneur and poker player James Bord quickly identified as the driving force behind the effort to preserve the South Yorkshire firm.

Two months have gone, yet the procedure is still proceeding. Bord and his financial associates, Felix Roemer and Alsharif Faisal Bin Jamil, have yet to be approved by the EFL, and there appears to be no urgency to complete a takeover until the authorities are happy that the trio is fit and proper.

Mike Ashley provides an update on Sheffield Wednesday’s takeover stance

There is no guarantee that Bord will become Wednesday’s new owner, despite the fact that he placed the biggest bid on the table with a non-refundable deposit, and one name remains on the radar in case his efforts to purchase the Owls fail.

That figure is Mike Ashley, who left football in 2021 after selling Newcastle United to Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund.

Prior to Bord becoming the preferred bidder, reports stated that Ashley’s offer, if accepted, would have resulted in Wednesday being penalized 15 points next season for failing to meet the club’s £30 million debt commitments – only for Bord’s offer to exceed it.

In a recent update, talkSPORT’s Alex Crook stated that Walsall-born businessman Ashley is ‘waiting in the wings’ to launch a renewed bid for the club if Bord’s efforts fail.

Ashley’s most recent football venture was the purchase of the CBS Arena complex in November 2022, which put Coventry City’s future in the stadium in jeopardy for a brief amount of time.

A new rent agreement was reached, and in August 2025, the Sky Blues purchased the property from Ashley, who profited by £33.8 million, but his subsequent bid for Sheffield Wednesday was insufficient to make him the preferred bidder.

If James Bord’s takeover does not happen, Mike Ashley is hardly the worst alternative for Sheffield Wednesday.

There are still many unknowns about the Bord takeover effort; there appears to be trust that it will be completed eventually, but considering that the EFL has yet to approve him and a former business partner is suing him, there must be some skepticism.

It’s clear that Bord has put his money down in the form of a non-refundable deposit and is helping to fund the Owls’ future while maintaining his lack of control, but the clubs he’s been involved with, such as Dunfermline Athletic and Cordoba, are minor in comparison to what Ashley has been involved in at Newcastle.

Despite being a childhood Newcastle supporter, there isn’t much to argue about Ashley’s business credentials, especially outside of football – if there are no other credible options, the 61-year-old would be a sensible choice, even if the club could lose 15 points next season.