A number of the six bidders for Sheffield Wednesday are considering joining forces as competition to buy the Championship club hots up.
Administrator Begbies Traynor has set an initial deadline of this Friday to begin exclusive negotiations with a preferred bidder, but with a number of credible offers on the table that timeline is likely to slip into next week.
Sources with knowledge of some of the bids have indicated that there is no clear favourite at this stage.
Such is the level of interest that a potential merger of two or more of the bids has emerged as a genuine possibility, which may help the administrators realise their asking price of over £30m.
Among those known to have bid are American businessman John McEvoy and former Newcastle United owner Mike Ashley.
Wednesday were this week hit with a further six-point penalty for breaches of EFL financial rules earlier this year, while former owner Dejphon Chansiri received a three-year ban.
UAE increases presence in SailGP
The United Arab Emirates plans to increase its investment in SailGP after Abu Dhabi staged this year’s final for the first time last weekend.
Abu Dhabi’s sovereign wealth fund Mubadala is title sponsor of the Brazilian team who joined the competition this year. Another new entrant, Artemis Racing representing Sweden, is due to join in 2026.
The UAE’s growing influence is shown by the fact that the country will stage the final two races of SailGP next season in Dubai and Abu Dhabi, while there have been suggestions they could ultimately launch their own team.
In addition to the newly-formed Mubadala Brazil team, airline Emirates is title sponsor of the Great Britain outfit who took the championship following a thrilling three-way fight with New Zealand and Australia.
SailGP has grown rapidly in five years with backing from sovereign wealth funds, private equity and sports stars including Kylian Mbappe, Sebastian Vettel and Ben Ainslie, but there is currently no team based in Asia or the Middle East following the withdrawals of China and Japan.
US investors make offer to Middlesex
Middlesex County Cricket Club have received an offer of investment in a new ground from 3SX, a special purpose vehicle based in the United States.
The proposal is understood to centre on creating a joint venture with the club to fund a new home in Uxbridge, which would be used alongside their continuing tenancy at Lord’s.
Middlesex have yet to accept the offer or put it to their members, and are continuing to evaluate a series of different proposals.
West Ham’s World Cup snub
West Ham’s bid to have the London Stadium included among the venues in the UK’s tender for the 2035 Women’s World Cup was rejected by the FA last week, with the fact that they have not hosted a women’s game at the ground since 2019 unlikely to have helped their cause.
West Ham Women play their home games at Dagenham and Redbridge’s Chigwell Construction Stadium, with the club blaming their long-term absence on the London Stadium’s management company E20 for “excessive charges” they have been quoted to play at the ground.
With West Ham overlooked, Stamford Bridge and Selhurst Park joined Wembley, the Emirates and Tottenham Hotspur Stadium as the London venues in the FA bid book, despite the fact that both grounds will need considerable redevelopment over the next 10 years and Chelsea are also exploring a possible new stadium at Earls Court.
Anfield was another notable omission from the FA’s bid book, but Liverpool did not even ask to be included as their pitch does not meet Fifa or Uefa’s criteria for hosting international games, as it is four metres too short at 101m by 68m.
TNT brings Cheese to Ashes
“The Big Cheese” Matt Prior has been called up by TNT Sports to add some flavour to their Ashes coverage following widespread criticism of the rather vanilla nature of their reportage from England’s crushing first-Test defeat in Perth.
The former England wicketkeeper and his Australian opposite number, Brad Haddin, have been added to TNT’s punditry roster in Brisbane this week to provide more depth to a line-up led by Alastair Cook and Steven Finn.
Prior was given his “Big Cheese” moniker by Kevin Pietersen in his remarkable 2014 autobiography, in which he accused his former England team-mate of being a backstabber, a bully and bad for the team environment.
Brands cool on Nations Championship
The Six Nations and Sanzaar unions are struggling to sell sponsorship and commercial deals for the new Nations Championship, which was finally launched last month.
While a title sponsorship for the final series to be staged in London has been agreed with Qatar Airways, securing other packages is proving more problematic, as many of the unions already have pre-existing deals in place.
The Nations Championship is essentially a rebrand of the Six Nations summer tours and the Autumn Internationals, and an attempt to give the existing structures greater meaning and narrative, but many of those games already have commercial partners so it will take some time for the new competition to realise its full value.