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Chel$ki exile Ken Bates has bid to put some of the £18m he made from the sale of the club into ailing giant Sheffield Wednesday. But the current board are having none of it. As the Financial Times put it, 'Dave Allen, the football club's pigeon-racing chairman, did not emerge from his dovecote.' Indeed, Allen, who is as blunt a speaker as cuddly Ken, described the claim made by Bates that the club was 'insolvent' as 'tripe'. He also expressed his disgust at the fact that the Wednesday Trust, a supporter-run organisation that controls 9.6 per cent of the shareholding, had backed Bates. He and two other directors gave the trust the shares when they bought out venture capitalists Charterhouse three years ago. Allen and his fellow directors control around 30 per cent of the shares. Bates offered to invest £10m in the club stating 'At 72, I have got one more challenge left in me and I would like to take that on here.'
Sheffield Wednesday have the largest wage bill in the Second Division where they are likely to remain next year. They are expected to declare a total debt of £25m while plans to sell their training ground to Asda in an attempt to raise £10m have been blocked by the city council. Nevertheless, they still attract an average gate of 22,238, one thousand more than Sheffield United who are Premiership promotion hopefuls.
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