Sheffield Wednesday to ask for 14-day adjournment on winding up order

Sheffield Wednesday will tomorrow apply for a 14-day adjournment to the high court petition for the club to be wound up. Her Majesty's Revenue & Customs is calling for insolvency proceedings to begin at Hillsborough over an outstanding £600,000 employee-tax debt. But the club will argue that this debt will not rise until taxes are levied again next month and will therefore request an adjournment on the case until 1 December. It emerged that the deputy prime minister, Nick Clegg – in whose constituency Wednesday reside – spoke to the boards of the club and their principal creditor, the Co-operative Bank, today to offer his assistance. That may involve pressing the case for HMRC to accept the adjournment application. Otherwise, Wednesday's position is bleak. Milan Mandaric's offer to buy the club, which would have paid off the £600,000 bill required to satisfy HMRC's claim, was supported by the Co-operative Bank. However, minor debt-holders, led by the former chairman Dave Allen, rejected it as "derisory" and Mandaric has indicated he will no longer pursue his approach. Although several other interested parties remain in negotiations, the board's last option to avoid administration is the adjournment. That is because no other bidder has yet demonstrated their capacity to pay off the tax debt. The Hillsborough chairman, Howard Wilkinson, refused to comment when approached by the Guardian tonight. Although the Co-op would be willing to accept a major loss on its loans, it is refusing to extend its current £23m exposure to Wednesday by paying off the HMRC debt. That has created what Wilkinson has described as "a line in the sand" for the 143-year-old club, and if tomorrow's hearing goes against them, a 10-point insolvency sanction from the Football League would be inevitable. The case is scheduled for 11am.