Simon Jordan urges Saudi billionaire buy Sheffield Wednesday from Dejphon Chansiri | OneFootball

The former Crystal Palace owner sees big potential at Hillsborough if they have the right owner.

Simon Jordan has encouraged Saudi Arabian billionaire Turki Alalshikh to buy Sheffield Wednesday, amid rumours that the former Crystal Palace owner was himself interested in the Owls.

The off-pitch catastrophe that has been the last month or so at Hillsborough has put a giant dampener on what should have been a season that represented a step forward, and in many ways still does.

Danny Rohl has elevated this squad from being in the relegation battle to, at one point, fringe play-off contenders. But the fiasco that surrounded the club earlier in April with players not being paid on time has seemingly started a chain reaction that could cause the club to take a major step backwards this summer.

Rohl's future is uncertain, as is the case for many of his players after he said a lot of the squad aren't good enough to play the way that he would like to.

This big grey cloud that hangs over Hillsborough doesn't look like it's going to shift any time soon, but it could if a new regime were to come in.

Saudi billionaire encouraged to cast an eye over Sheffield Wednesday

The current owner of Wednesday, Dejphon Chansiri, stated just under a fortnight ago that he had no intentions of selling the club, but that he would if the right deal came along, as per the Yorkshire Evening Post.

Days ago, Alan Nixon reported that a Moroccan billionaire named Ana Sefrioui is interested in becoming involved in English football and that the Owls were "in his sights." Jordan's name also appeared on the Wednesday rumour mill, but he thinks he knows someone that might be a great option to bring the sleeping giants back to life.

"No, but it’s a club that I always speak about because I look at it and wonder why it’s languishing," said the ex-Crystal Palace boss on whether he was looking into a deal for the Championship side on talkSPORT.

"I don’t have any burning ambition. I didn’t have fun the first time round with a club I loved but what I do have is a huge amount of knowledge about failure and success.

"I had the same conversation, without being too indiscreet, with Turki Alalshikh, because they are looking around at other things to do.

"Whilst I would prefer English clubs to be owned by English people because I’ve got a great pride in my own country, that ship has sailed, that horse has bolted.

"So when I’m asked by these guys ‘what English football club would you advocate for us to buy?’ I said if you’re not going to buy one of the legacy clubs of which there’s three in this country – Liverpool, Arsenal and Manchester United – the next one down the rank is Tottenham, see if you can get a deal out of Daniel [Levy] for that because that’s a spaceship that needs a new captain.

"If I was buying a football club and I was really motivated and had your kind of dough, I would buy Sheffield Wednesday."

Turki Alalshikh would be a brilliant owner for Sheffield Wednesday

Alalshikh is already well-embedded in the world of sports. He is the chairman of the General Entertainment Authority in Saudi Arabia, which has helped to bring boxing, UFC, Formula 1 and LIV Golf to the Middle Eastern country, plus he has a reported net worth of £2.14 billion, as per talkSPORT.

He has already developed an established reputation across the sporting landscape for putting his money where his mouth is in order to get things done. That is particularly the case in the world of boxing, where he has facilitated the making of many of the biggest fights over the past couple of years.