THE controversial former chairman of Sheffield Wednesday is set to inject around £4m into Chesterfield Football Club - but still retain a substantial financial interest in the Owls, the Yorkshire Post can reveal.
Dave Allen wants to cut his financial ties with Wednesday and had been expected to remove most or even all of his financial foothold at Hillsborough - a move which might have smoothed Wednesday's own protracted takeover plans.
But in the absence of investment to buy him out he is now planning to retain the bulk of his shares and all his outstanding loans in the Owls as well as investing heavily in Chesterfield.
It had been thought that Allen's shares and loans provided Wednesday with a potentially powerful bargaining chip in persuading the former Hillsborough supremo to agree to investment proposals put forward by new chairman Lee Strafford.
However, Allen appears to have plotted a path to comply with Football League rules on holding financial interests in two clubs at the same time.
He has transferred around 275,000 of his five million shares in Wednesday to Ashley Carson, a former director at Hillsborough, who was eased out by the new regime earlier this year. The transfer takes his overall shareholding down to around 9.9 per cent of the total - the cut off figure according to League rules.
Allen still has to gain formal approval from the League to retain his outstanding loans at Hillsborough - which total over £2m - but it is understood that initial soundings have been positive.
He declined to discuss his proposed investment at Chesterfield in detail last night though it is understood to be around £4m and likely to include the development of conference or banqueting facilities at the club's proposed new £13m stadium. Chesterfield's announcement on Monday that shares were formally set aside for an investor to inject £4m into the club suggested confidence that the League would be satisfied that Allen had his Hillsborough affairs in order.
Allen did confirm that he had transferred shares to Carson and said the issue of his loans has been raised with the Football League. The League confirmed the matter is now under consideration but it is not known if a decision will be made at the next League board meeting on Tuesday.
Carson said: "I can confirm I have now increased my shareholding in Sheffield Wednesday taking my holding to around 360,000 shares."
He declined to confirm whether the shares - given a nominal value of 5p each - had been gifted or paid for.
Wednesday had pointed the finger at Allen's refusal to take a cut of around a third in the amount he is owed when a proposed investment scheme publicly collapsed three weeks ago.
The club said it had persuaded all key creditors to take similar cuts and proposed investment could not go ahead unless everyone agreed.
Allen retorted by saying he did not believe there were any investors lined up and accused the new regime of being "all spin without any substance".
Negotiations with the former chairman had been based around a belief that Allen would want - and possibly need - to remove himself from the financial picture at Hillsborough to invest in Chesterfield but it now seems the thorny issue of placating him will remain for the forseeable future.
Dave Allen wants to cut his financial ties with Wednesday and had been expected to remove most or even all of his financial foothold at Hillsborough - a move which might have smoothed Wednesday's own protracted takeover plans.
But in the absence of investment to buy him out he is now planning to retain the bulk of his shares and all his outstanding loans in the Owls as well as investing heavily in Chesterfield.
It had been thought that Allen's shares and loans provided Wednesday with a potentially powerful bargaining chip in persuading the former Hillsborough supremo to agree to investment proposals put forward by new chairman Lee Strafford.
However, Allen appears to have plotted a path to comply with Football League rules on holding financial interests in two clubs at the same time.
He has transferred around 275,000 of his five million shares in Wednesday to Ashley Carson, a former director at Hillsborough, who was eased out by the new regime earlier this year. The transfer takes his overall shareholding down to around 9.9 per cent of the total - the cut off figure according to League rules.
Allen still has to gain formal approval from the League to retain his outstanding loans at Hillsborough - which total over £2m - but it is understood that initial soundings have been positive.
He declined to discuss his proposed investment at Chesterfield in detail last night though it is understood to be around £4m and likely to include the development of conference or banqueting facilities at the club's proposed new £13m stadium. Chesterfield's announcement on Monday that shares were formally set aside for an investor to inject £4m into the club suggested confidence that the League would be satisfied that Allen had his Hillsborough affairs in order.
Allen did confirm that he had transferred shares to Carson and said the issue of his loans has been raised with the Football League. The League confirmed the matter is now under consideration but it is not known if a decision will be made at the next League board meeting on Tuesday.
Carson said: "I can confirm I have now increased my shareholding in Sheffield Wednesday taking my holding to around 360,000 shares."
He declined to confirm whether the shares - given a nominal value of 5p each - had been gifted or paid for.
Wednesday had pointed the finger at Allen's refusal to take a cut of around a third in the amount he is owed when a proposed investment scheme publicly collapsed three weeks ago.
The club said it had persuaded all key creditors to take similar cuts and proposed investment could not go ahead unless everyone agreed.
Allen retorted by saying he did not believe there were any investors lined up and accused the new regime of being "all spin without any substance".
Negotiations with the former chairman had been based around a belief that Allen would want - and possibly need - to remove himself from the financial picture at Hillsborough to invest in Chesterfield but it now seems the thorny issue of placating him will remain for the forseeable future.