Sheffield Wednesday's proposed takeover by Hafiz Mammadov has fallen flat, as confirmed by current Chairman Milan Mandaric in a statement today on the clubs official website, www.swfc.co.uk.
Earlier in the summer it was reported the Azerbaijani businessman Mr. Mammadov had agreed a deal to purchase the Owls for a figure stated to be in the region of £40M. Statements were made by the interested parties and this seemed to be a genuine deal with Mr. Mammadov having previously invested in other clubs including RC Lens and to a lesser extent Atletico Madrid.
However, doubts were raised when RC Lens fell foul of the French football authorities due to doubts about their financial input following promotion to the top flight and the finger was pointed in the direction of Mr. Mammadov due to a delay in planned funding being made available.
Some remained positive that this issue would have no bearing on the Wednesday takeover but a large proportion of the supporters began to grow doubtful that the deal would be sealed having previously seen so many false dawns in the past decade or so.
As time went on there was little news of any definitive progress on what had initially seemed like a done deal and with supporters becoming increasingly anxious for news of developments, last month Mr. Mandaric released a statement explaining that although some of Mr. Mammadov's other business interests had taken priority for a period of time, he was still hopeful that a deal would be finalised.
In today's statement Mr. Mandaric outlined the fact that Mr. Mammadov has been unable to meet the obligations for the purchase of the shares as set out in the contractual agreement. Mandaric also stated the the vision outlined in the proposed move and the optimism of the fans perhaps affected his judgement in allowing Mammadov more time to complete the deal.
Mr. Mandaric reiterated his obligation to do what is best for the club and maintained that off-field issues should not detract from the positive start to the season that Stuart Gray and his team have made.
The statement released today also suggests terms and conditions of the sponsorship deal that the club has with Azerbaijan-Land of Fire, of whom Hafiz Mammadov is a prominent figure, have not been met to date.