Extra-time but Owls hoping to avoid penalties

From the green, green grass of Hillsborough, where tears have been shed in the wake of relegations, the scene has now shifted to the High Court in London where today, at 11.30am, the Owls will plead for extra time.

Not to score a goal but in a bid to secure new investment and avoid administration.

Whether the plea falls on deaf ears remains to be seen; Her Majesty's Customs and Revenue are owed 600,000 and have lodged a winding-up petition over the delay in payment. Chief executive Nick Parker and the club's lawyers plan to stress that four potential new owners are now waiting in the wings. Two more weeks should be enough to wrap things up.

If the deal cannot be done before December 1, the club's major creditors, the Co-operative Bank, will seek to put the club in administration. Such a move will have massive consequences both on and off the field as other clubs in the region, including Leeds United, Bradford City and Barnsley, have discovered in the last 10 years.

Under Football League rules, there will be an immediate deduction of 10 points which will plunge Alan Irvine's team into the League One relegation zone. Fortunately, there are still 30 games of the season left to play – providing enough opportunities to pull out of danger and even get back in the promotion hunt – but, significantly, the administrator will seek to raise cash through the sale of assets which would necessitate the departure of top players including Marcus Tudgay, Clinton Morrison and Mark Beevers during the January transfer window.

Behind the scenes, there would need to be job losses, putting scores of families in financial trouble. Local businesses, who have carried out work or provided services for the club and are still waiting to be paid, will only receive a fraction of what they are owed.

The administrator may also seek to sell off major assets including the club's historic Hillsborough stadium and the training ground at Middlewood Road. Former chairman Dave Allen wanted to sell Middlewood Road for 10m during his reign but that plan was wrecked by Sheffield Council's refusal to grant planning permission for development on the site. The stadium is not an ideal location for retail park development but could be sold to a prospective new landlord who would then charge the club an annual rent, possibly into seven figures.

Things had looked completely different just over a month ago when chairman Howard Wilkinson, being interviewed live on the BBC's Football Focus programme, announced that the Owls had secured an investment deal which would make 2m of funding available 'immediately.'

The deal involved Certified Oilfield Rentals, a Dubai-based group which had been introduced to the board by former manager Chris Turner. The money, however, failed to materialise and the deal collapsed when the compay's managing director Kevin Mundie pulled out citing 'personal reasons'.

The Owls have been seeking new owners for a decade after the club's finances spiralled out of control in the wake of relegation from the Premier League in 2000.

The rot started under Dave Richards, now 'Sir Dave' and chairman of the Premier League. His decision to sack manager Trevor Francis when the club had 'only' finished seventh in the Premier League just gets worse and worse with every passing year. And this is the man who also looks after the England team as chairman of the Football Association's international committee!

Both Howard Culley and Geoff Hulley had brief stints in charge of the Owls after Richards moved on and the club took the decision to keep spending beyond its means in a desperate bid to secure its return to the top-flight. The collapse of ITV Digital in 2002 was a major kick in the teeth as the Owls, like many clubs, had begun spending the promised money.

The arrival of leisure tycoon Dave Allen as director (then chairman) gave new energy to the board and Allen did his best to save a sinking ship, even dipping into his own pocket to buy players.

His record was better than others but a stormy relationship with the club's supporters preceeded his decision to step out of the firing line four years ago.

After Allen's departure, the position of Owls chairman was eventually offered to Lee Strafford, a lifelong supporter of the club who had impressed in his role as founder of the club's shirt sponsors PlusNet.

Strafford improved the club's PR and mended broken bridges with supporters but his plans were based on far bigger gates than the club was able to attract. Having injected no money of his own, Strafford was always suspectible to criticism and fell out with finance director Bob Grierson.

When a proposed takeover deal involving the Chicago-based sports firm Club 9 Sports hit the rocks at the end of last season, Strafford resigned.

"Wednesday Forward", a consortium involving Rotherham businessman Spencer Fearn and Sheffield accountant John Roddison have offered to inject 5m, but may only want to start paying off the club's debt once the team has won promotion back to the Championship. Leicester City chairman Milan Mandaric entered the fray last week having sold his stake in the Championship club to a Thai group for a reported 40m.

Mandaric has agreed a deal worth 7m with the Co-Operative but has yet to win over the other major creditors, including Allen who branded a 250,000 offer for his 2.4m loan notes 'derisory.'

Mandaric says he hopes the Owls have a 'Plan B' and that may yet emerge in the shape of former director Mick Wright who is among the potential investors.

Owls supporters everywhere are now biting their fingernails.