Administrators handling Sheffield Wednesday’s sale say they received an extraordinary enquiry from the owners of Sheffield United about a potential merger of the two clubs.
Wednesday was placed into administration last month by former owner Dejphon Chansiri, triggering an automatic 12-point Championship deduction. The club is understood to be for sale for more than £30m. Begbies Traynor, the firm overseeing the sale, is currently working with five prospective buyers — none of whom are COH Sports.
Sky Sports News has been told an email was sent to the administrators purporting to come from COH Sports, the US group that owns United. The message asked about Wednesday’s asking price and sought detailed information on Hillsborough’s finances and assets. It is possible the enquiry was a spoof; COH Sports had not provided clarification to Sky Sports when contacted.
COH Sports is led by co-chairmen Steven Rosen and Helmy Eltoukhy — Rosen is founder and chairman of Resilience Capital Partners and Eltoukhy chairs biotech firm Guardant Health. The suggestion that the two Sheffield clubs might be combined would upset fans on both sides of a rivalry stretching more than 130 years.
Both the English Football League and the new Football Regulator have indicated such a merger would not be permitted.
COH Sports completed full control of Sheffield United’s men’s and women’s teams in December, arriving with public ambitions to return the club to the Premier League. United were three points clear at the top of the Championship when the consortium took over; they now sit third-bottom and in relegation places. United beat Wednesday 3-0 in the Steel City Derby, broadcast live on Sky Sports, on Sunday.
In a statement posted on United’s official website, Rosen and Eltoukhy said they remain ‘committed to the badge’, described the derby win as a boost, and expressed disappointment at the club’s start to the season. They added they were confident that with supporter backing and targeted signings they could climb the table, and reiterated their aim of bringing regular Premier League football to Sheffield as they work to modernise the club to compete.