'We will play a key role in football's future' - football oversight chief the new chairman
The Championship club's current difficulties constitute a "major concern" and the football regulator is seeking powers to examine team situations in similar circumstances, the newly appointed chairman David Kogan has announced.
Through a comprehensive talk, the regulator, who was named to the position this week, expressed "sympathy" towards the club's followers.
The chairman convened with four supporters' associations representing the Championship side recently.
The team have been facing challenges both on and off the pitch in 2025, with the club missing wage payments on several different times, including in last month.
"Clearly Sheffield Wednesday has been a serious issue for football authorities and a substantial concern for English football," the regulator explained.
"Sheffield Wednesday is one of the iconic names for football in England and this week we have met Sheffield Wednesday supporters' groups.
"We're now looking to get powers... which will enable us to take Wednesday and comparable cases submitted for our review if they warrant scrutiny and dealt with."
Monetary Issues and Leadership Concerns
The team's struggling chairman the current owner stated during the off-season he would be willing to sell up at Hillsborough, but he has been unable to finalize an agreement with interested parties.
Failure to pay player wages on time in March and May resulted in restrictions being imposed by the football authorities in June, blocking the team from conducting any transfers or loans for the next three transfer windows, although the ban was rescinded in August.
Authority's Position
Kogan said: "The job [of the regulator] is there for the supporters of Wednesday, Bury or any football club where people are committed to a local institution that has existed throughout their lifetimes in many cases.
"I have absolute sympathy for Sheffield Wednesday, as I do for each organization that in modern times have encountered failure, or been close to going to the wall, for causes separate from the supporters."
When asked if the authority might compel an proprietor to divest a club if they are judged inappropriate, Kogan said: "If your question is 'would we intervene in the final instance?', the answer is once we assemble the facts and understand the situation, we will."
But Kogan stressed that requiring chairmen to relinquish clubs would be viewed as the ultimate measure and the authority would rather to cooperate with proprietors.
"The last thing what we want to do is start getting involved with an particular organization, an individual owner, without being able to work with that proprietor to address the problems affecting the organization and the owner's facing," the chairman stated.
"But the truth is, when you look back over the history of the sport, over the last 20 or 30 years there have been some owners, few in number, but particular people who have shown negligence in the way which they've been managing their teams and eventually decline to assume obligation for the coming years."
Owls fans have been voicing opposition to owner Dejphon Chansiri this season
'Errors may undo substantial development'
The chairman convened with officials from numerous teams to detail the scope of the regulator on Wednesday and insisted it was a "forward-thinking discussion" with a "substantial involvement" from the lower divisions to the top flight.
"It's a job that's actually really important, because if errors are made, if the football community fails, the extraordinary progress that's been made might evaporate rapidly," Kogan said.
"Such an outcome is universally undesirable in the context of the English game is a substantial accomplishment - we must maintain momentum.
"There's an enormous amount of money entering the sport and has been invested for the last 20 or 25 years, because there's no guarantee it will keep flowing into the sport, which is one of the reasons why I think we have to take a really clear view on risk and of course, of the next two or three years."
Elite Division Worries
Elite division representatives objected to the establishment of an oversight body because of concerns about detrimental effects on the top-flight's competitiveness, but Kogan said: "I completely endorse the achievement and development as an financial organization of the elite league.
"I of all people understand the apprehension regarding damaging the top flight as an elite competition of this country. But at the same time, if you talk to the Premier League after this week's discussion, they would have had a significant degree of comfort -and, actually, they have been informing us confidentially they have a considerable comfort."
Partisan Associations
Kogan is still facing a "thorough examination" by the public appointments commissioner after he disclosed making donations to the Labour Party in 2020.
The chairman provided financial support for government minister the politician's campaign, along with that of the now Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer.
"I have been entirely transparent regarding my previous political affiliation [with Labour], and that political affiliation came to an end the day the select committee approved my appointment," the regulator explained.
"I currently have no participation in any form of political activity."
