Sheffield

Sheffield Wednesday will be handed a 15-point deduction for next season in League One if a deal with their new preferred bidder goes through.

Administrators have begun an exclusive period of negotiation with American private equity company Arise Capital Partners.

However, Arise’s offer would not meet the EFL’s requirement to repay creditors 25p in the pound, which would mean the Owls starting life back in League One with a significant handicap.

Dejphon Chansiri, their main creditor, is understood to have loaned the club £60m in more than a decade as owner, and must be paid back £15m of that if the Owls are to avoid a points loss.

International commitments over the winter months have interrupted pre-season preparations and that was a common message from coaches as some teams coped better than others on the big stage.

In front of packed stands at one of the UK’s largest indoor arenas, Birmingham Panthers and Manchester Thunder both lost three from three.

“It’s been a tough day,” said Thunder coach Karen Greig, whose side lost their three games heavily to make an early exit.

Thunder will face NSL champions Pulse in the league’s opening match, with more than 5,000 tickets sold for that Copper Box encounter.

Greig has brought England goal shooter El Cardwell back to England after a successful stint in Australia while Thunder also have fellow Roses star Nat Metcalf back after she missed last season when pregnant and looking after baby son Miller.

But it was to no avail at the Super Cup.

“Today was about us understanding where we were actually at,” Greig said.

“The performances and the connections on the court definitely highlighted that.

“The quality that we’ve got in our group is undeniable and it’s about us now making sure we get everyone on the same page and connected.”

There was no such problem for Lightning while Pulse took consolation from being a whisker away from another major title.

As Pulse coach Sam Bird said: “I’m not too worried. I’m disappointed because I like winning everything available but I think we take a lot of positives from the day. It’s a nice rivalry to continue with.”

Sheffield United boss Chris Wilder has said the prospect of relegating their cross-city rivals is “not in his thought process at all”.

The Blades fan, who is unbeaten in his seven games against the Owls, said he disagreed with the notion that his side, who are 15th in the table, should cruise to a win.

“We’ll have done more preparation on this game than we have on any game this season and all the games other than the play-off final last season,” he told BBC Radio Sheffield.

“I’ve got complete respect for Henrik and a group of players… there’s talk of it being a mismatch or a gimme, whether it’s bookies’ odds or the narrative in the city… football just doesn’t work like that.

“The players have to play with a discipline and a control to win a game of football, to win a local derby.”

Wilder added: “We put a slide up about Macclesfield v Crystal Palace and Bodo/Glimt v Manchester City. There are all sorts of examples recently, let alone [in] the 100 years plus of football, the game isn’t decided on team sheets.

“We understand it’s basically their season on the line, we’re not daft. But we’ve got our fight, and ours has to be bigger than theirs.”