'Pretty excited' - Kris Wigfield shares Arise verdict and hints at their Sheffield Wednesday plans
Sheffield Wednesday are looking forward to hopefully enjoying a bright and prosperous future under the control of David Storch and Arise Capital Partners LLC.
Joint administrator Kris Wigfield has said Sheffield Wednesday’s supporters “can be pretty excited” about the club’s future under the governance of Arise Capital Partners LLC, confirming the new ownership group is planning more additions at executive level.
Arise, led by David Storch, completed their purchase of the Owls last Friday, finally bringing an end to months of chaos and uncertainty for everyone connected with the club.
Storch, alongside his son, Michael, and Tom Costin, who are also key members of the Arise consortium, delivered his maiden speech as Wednesday chairman on the pitch prior to last Saturday’s 2-1 win over West Bromwich Albion at Hillsborough.
Taking the opportunity to thank some of the key figures involved in the process, as well as introducing new chief executive David Bruce, Storch vowed to “return the club to the fans” and outlined his plans to implement improvements at Hillsborough this summer.
The size and scale of the challenge facing Arise is, of course, humungous amid the state the club was left in by former owner Dejphon Chansiri. Among Storch’s first missions is to install hot water, highlighting the depths Wednesday had plundered to under Chansiri.
Although Arise have a very long road ahead, they have wasted in no time in bringing in a chief executive, and Wigfield expects more headline additions to be made.
Asked what he makes of Storch and his team, Wigfield told BBC Radio Sheffield: “Highly professional. Obviously, he has got a track record of being in charge of big businesses in a different industry, in the aviation sector.
“He does things properly, he is clearly going to get the right professionals in at the right levels; we have already seen David Bruce announced as the CEO. I know they will bring in other people at executive level... a football director and probably other key positions as well, so they will definitely do everything properly.
“They are definitely going to invest in the infrastructure, the stadium and the training ground. I think Wednesday fans can be pretty excited about what they are going to do in the next few years.”