Strafford says administration is not an option

Sheffield Wednesday chairman Lee Strafford has ruled out the possibility of the Owls going into administration.

Strafford told BBC Radio Sheffield's Football Heaven that administration would not be an option for solving the club's debt problems.

"The Co-op bank won't drop us into administration," he said.

"They would lose money in that arrangement versus the club being run properly, being progressive and a good owner coming in."

Strafford also clarified that potential Chicago-based investors Club 9 Sports are continuing to show interest in the club.

"Club 9 are in the middle of negotiations with the Co-op bank," he added.

"There's meetings happening in the next week or so and they might even be at the game on Saturday.

"They're going to be taking the air or seeing what Sheffield Wednesday is all about.

"Between now and when they get a deal done, we've got to drive this football club forward.

"We've got to demonstrate to these people that they need to leave the US and come and put their mental and emotional efforts into us and their cash into us because we deserve that support."

Meanwhile, Strafford says the club needs average attendances of at least 24,000 to break even, irrespective of what division they are in next season.

The Owls chairman is relying on the fans to show their support to make the club competitive.

"What we need is to consistently run at £6-7 million in football wages and to do that we need 24,000 people," he said.

"It's not unrealistic. We've done 25,000 in League One.

"The lowest we've had this year is 19,000 and the lowest we had last year was 14,000. It is happening, it's just not happening fast enough and we can do those numbers."

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