Sheffield The administrators, Begbies Traynor, are currently in charge of Wednesday’s future. Paul Stanley, Julian Pitts, and Kris Wigfield are deciding who will take over the club in the upcoming weeks.
When controversial former owner Dejphon Chansiri put the Owls into administration amid fears of a winding-up petition, primarily because the Thai businessman was unable to pay off a £1 million tax bill owed to His Majesty’s Revenue and Customs, the aforementioned trio was appointed at Hillsborough on October 24.
John Textor and Mike Ashley, who haven’t exactly been far from scandal themselves when it comes to football ownership, were among the well-known names that had already been connected to a possible takeover in S6.
After his multi-club involvement saw last season’s FA Cup winners demoted to the UEFA Europa Conference League, Textor sold his shares at Selhurst Park to Woody Johnson, the chairman of the New York Jets, making him a very unpopular figure in the eyes of Crystal Palace and Lyon supporters.
Following his £134 million buyout in 2007, Ashley made himself unpopular with Newcastle United’s supporters through a string of incidents until selling to the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund 14 years later.
Eleven parties, including Frasers Group’s owner, are reportedly interested in purchasing the club. This list will be whittled down by December 5th, when the administrators expect to have given their preferred bidder exclusive rights.
In order to guarantee the Championship team’s stability for the upcoming years, at least £50 million in proof of funds has to be presented.
But since Ashley and the previously mentioned Textor were frequently in the news, FLW questioned ChatGPT about who would be a better owner.
According to AI, John Textor would be a more capable chairman of Sheffield Wednesday than Mike Ashley.
AI believes that Textor is a better choice for Wednesday at this time, notwithstanding his recent controversies in South London and France.
Evidently, and similar to Ashley, the primary cause of this is that the American has publicly expressed his desire to assume control and has extensive experience participating in profitable ownership consortiums.
This is best exemplified by Botafogo, who were one of five clubs nominated for the Ballon D’Or ‘Men’s Club of the Year’ following their participation in the FIFA Club World Cup in the summer.
With Wednesday recently hamstrung on this department, AI also thinks the 60-year-old would be willing to get things going right away and invest in a spending spree. However, the EFL recently gave them permission to sign two free agents, the first of whom was confirmed to be former Leeds United captain Liam Cooper.
However, AI thinks Ashley would need to work on his relationship-building skills because he has never had the best supporters in the North East. In 2022, Coventry City supporters thought Ashley was unpopular after he attempted to evict him from the CBS Arena.
However, AI has also pointed out problems with Textor’s possible ownership, including the fact that he would have to adopt yet another local culture and had no prior ties to Sheffield. The main issue is his multi-club scandal.
Supporters of Sheffield Wednesday will hope that any new owner offers stability over the long run.
As long as Hillsborough sees long-term stability and a winning ambition after years of uncertainty, Wednesday supporters might not be that concerned about who will be their next chairman.
However, given that Charlie Methven, the former CEO of Charlton Athletic and Sunderland, had similar convictions prior to his name being struck out, it must be acknowledged that some people are inevitably distrustful of Ashley and/or Textor for their prior acts.
However, Wednesday’s attraction has been exposed in recent weeks. Following Chansiri’s departure, Hillsborough is crowded; hundreds of thousands of pounds have been donated through ticket and item sales, and at the beginning of the week, an anonymous fan gave the team a £1 million interest-free loan.
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