Championship football club Sheffield Wednesday has turned down a lucrative sponsorship deal from a payday lender.

The club, which narrowly avoided relegation this season, was approached by a payday lender – which it refuses to name – offering around 25 per cent more than the rate the club would expect to get for its sponsorship next season.

Club chairman Milan Mandaric told The Independent: “We felt the business model the company operates was not one with which we were comfortable to support as our main partner. In addition, we take great pride in our standing as a community focused football club and believe this partnership would not have been welcomed by the majority of our supporters.”

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