Wednesdayite
Logo of Wednesdayite
|
|
| Formation | 2014 |
|---|---|
| Legal status | Registered as a Private Company Limited by Guarantee |
| Headquarters | Sheffield |
|
Membership
|
721 (as at November 2014) |
|
Acting Chair
|
Paul Holmes |
| Affiliations | Football Supporters' Federation |
| Website | http://www.wednesdayite.com |
Wednesdayite, is the largest independent supporters group for Sheffield Wednesday fans.
"Wednesdayite" is the trading name of Wednesdayite Limited, an independent football supporters group.
Wednesdayite operate a number of services with the aim of benefiting Wednesdayite members, Sheffield Wednesday fans and the wider community, including free football coaching schemes for local schools, the Wednesdayite Lounge matchday bar, the Wednesdayite Away Coach, the Wednesdayite Car Park, regular social events and the SMILE Tickets scheme - enabling people to attend football matches at Hillsborough that would not normally be able to attend.
Wednesdayite as an organisation are members of the Football Supporters' Federation.
Previous to 'Wednesdayite', the Sheffield Wednesday Supporters' Society functioned under the name of 'The Owls Trust' which was originally set up in 2001. At the time, Sheffield Wednesday club directors Dave Allen, Keith Addy and Geoff Hulley bought an amount of shares in the club equal to 36.7% of the total share capital of Sheffield Wednesday PLC, from investment company Charterhouse.
The purchase of more than 29.9% of any company triggers a mandatory bid for the remaining shares in company law, however to avoid making such a bid, a portion of those shares equal to 9.46% of Sheffield Wednesday PLC were donated to the fledgeling fans' trust.
The organisation angered the then chairman of Sheffield Wednesday, Dave Allen, as well as many Wednesday fans, by being perceived to support a takeover bid by Ken Bates. However, the organisation - in particular its chief executive John Hemmingham and chairman Jim Harrison - maintained that it was not supporting a takeover, but was supporting the principle of allowing potential investors, including Ken Bates, access to relevant documents in order to formulate an educated bid for the company. This feud resulted in the trust being evicted from their offices in Hillsborough.
Hemmingham eventually quit in March 2005 when Bates took control of Yorkshire rivals Leeds and offered him a job as "Head of Membership Development". The move reportedly saw Hemmingham receive death threats, and many fans believe that Hemmingham's actions vindicated Allen.
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