Bord consortium pull out of Sheff Wed takeover

A consortium led by former professional poker player James Bord has pulled out of a takeover of Sheffield Wednesday.

The consortium of Bord, Felix Romer and Alsharif Faisal Bin Jamil was named as the preferred bidder for the Championship club on 24 December.

“To all the long-suffering fans of this great club, it is with the greatest regret that we have decided not to pursue our bid to become your new custodians,” said a statement released by the consortium on Wednesday.

“The historic mishandling of the club and pattern of catastrophic underinvestment means our sizeable binding bid can no longer be justified.

“We have spent over £4m to help run the club over the last two months and, after much consideration, have decided that we can no longer continue to do so.

“We know this will be a bitter disappointment to many – who hoped the ownership saga would soon be over – and for this we can only apologise wholeheartedly.

The Owls have been in administration since October after 10 years under the ownership of Dejphon Chansiri.

They were relegated from the Championship on Sunday following a 2-1 defeat at city rivals Sheffield United. It was the earliest-ever relegation in English football.

Administrators Begbies Traynor chose the Bord group after it paid a non-refundable deposit of £2.5m.

It has been funding the club’s losses since then to the tune of about £1m a month.

The trio have been going through the owners and directors test with the EFL and the new Independent Football Regulator since then.

A further payment was due this week to extend the preferred bidder status by a further two weeks.

But the group has pulled out because the club’s valuation is now considered to be lower than the £30m originally offered and the consortium are unable to negotiate down, as per the terms of their agreement.

It leaves administrators needing to find another buyer.

On Tuesday, another consortium led by American businessman David Storch stated it was still interested.

“We remain incredibly passionate about the opportunity at Sheffield Wednesday and seeing the club return to its former glory,” the statement read.

“We wish the preferred bidder well through the process but are ready to step in should the opportunity present itself again.