Number of potential buyers for Sheffield Wednesday "into double figures" but patience urged
Any sale can only be completed once a prospective owner has passed the English Football League's 'fit and proper persons' test
The numbers of bidders for Sheffield Wednesday are "well into the double figures" but joint administrator Kris Wigfield urged "patience" in the effort to find a new buyer for the club.
Wednesday's well-established financial issues culminated in them being placed into administration last month, which led to a 12-point deduction and left them rooted to the foot of the Sky Bet Championship.
A flexible deadline of next Friday has been set for offers for the Owls, four weeks after they went into administration, and Wigfield has been encouraged by the number of suitors for the club.
Any sale can only be completed once a prospective owner has passed the English Football League's fit and proper persons' test, and Wigfield insisted finding feasible applicants will take time.
Wigfield, co-administrator with insolvency firm Begbies Traynor, said in a statement: "Many will have been closely watching the ongoing discussion in the media around names and numbers of potential buyers.
"This discussion is to be expected for such a big club and as we quickly approach the end of the EFL's compulsory marketing deadline it is likely to intensify.
"However, we will hope to see concrete offers made soon as enquiries - which have been well into the double figures from across the globe - are thinned down into serious and viable bidders that can secure the long-term future of Sheffield Wednesday.
"It is during this period that even more patience will be required."
Until Wigfield, a Wednesday season ticket holder since 1984, came in, players' wages had been delayed for five of the previous seven months.
While they are 13 points adrift of safety on minus four, supporters have ended a boycott of the club - that was put in place in protest against former owner Dejphon Chansiri.
Wigfield added: "On a shorter-term basis, the efforts of the fans have not only meant that employees can be paid this month, but that November and December wages can be paid on time and ahead of Christmas.
"This puts the club on a sounder footing going forward and comes at a time when serious bidders will be examining the finances and analysing the potential of this historic club - we all think it is very important that the fans know what a huge difference they are making.
"Until a sale is complete, we will continue to work hard to do the best for the club, the employees and the fans."