Former owner Milan Mandaric says he will attempt to buy back troubled Sheffield Wednesday in order to save the club from being “destroyed” under current chairman Dejphon Chansiri.
Mandaric, an 86-year-old Serbian-American, owned the Owls between November 2010 and January 2015 before selling the club to Chansiri. He told a BBC Radio Sheffield Football Heaven Special he intends to put together a “rescue” package.
Mandaric will fly into the UK next week, hoping for talks with Chansiri as he seeks to launch a viable takeover bid for the financially-stricken Championship outfit.
On Wednesday, the EFL informed the club it would face spending restrictions over the next three transfer windows because of failures to pay wages on time.
“It needs a big rescue now – all of us who love football and love Sheffield [Wednesday] have no doubt about that,” Mandaric said.
The ex-Owls owner said he would be consulting former Wednesday chief executive Paul Aldridge and ex-finance director John Redgate – who both worked at the club under Mandaric – about the “possibility” of a takeover.
“I am going to definitely try to see him [Chansiri] with my people and be very straight in telling him that he is going to destroy the club unless he lets new people like me get involved,” Mandaric added.
Mandaric has had three spells as an owner in England – at Portsmouth for seven years from May 1999 and Leicester City between February 2007 and the summer of 2010 before taking over at Hillsborough.
