Chester City, Bury, Macclesfield Town, Hereford United, Scarborough Athletic and so on. There were all proud English clubs that, for one reason or another, went bust and ceased to exist in their original form. Of course, they have all bounced back as a phoenix club, but in some cases had to start at the bottom of the English football pyramid under a new identity.
None of that quartet mentioned can quite match the success of Sheffield Wednesday, whose long and illustrious history includes four First Division titles and three FA Cups. They were also an inaugural member of the Premier League in 1992/93. But the Owls have fallen on hard times… to the point that their mere existence is under threat.
It looks like they will start the 2025/26 season with just 16 senior players in their squad, after a number of their former stars – including 2024/25 top goalscorer Josh Windass – walked away from the club after not being paid their wages. A transfer embargo prevents Wednesday from signing any replacements, while their pre-season preparations were rocked yet further when beloved head coach Danny Rohl also decided to resign – he, quite simply, had had enough of the chaos.
The cherry on a rather poisonous cake was provided by Sheffield City Council, who have prohibited the club from opening the North Stand at Hillsborough until safety measures have been implemented – ‘engineering specialists can no longer confirm that the North Stand is safe for spectator use’ being the damning verdict of an inspection. One man appears to be ultimately culpable for the dire situation at the Owls: owner Dejphon Chansiri, whose woeful mismanagement has left an institution of English football battling for its mere existence.
Dire Straits
An empty away end until five minutes in. A day of protest on the opening weekend from Sheffield Wednesday supporters. They have only one message: Dejphon Chansiri must sell the club pic.twitter.com/jE7Vv8rPM0
— Daniel Storey (@danielstorey85) August 10, 2025
It hasn’t always been this way. In the 2015/16 Championship season, Sheffield Wednesday finished sixth, before reaching the play-off final. They lost to Hull City at Wembley Stadium, but who knows what a sliding doors moment that could have been for the club had they ascended to the Premier League.
It’s somewhat ironic that the team that the Owls beat in the play-off semi final that season, Brighton, has since gone on to become a mainstay in the top-half of the Premier League. Their owner, Tony Bloom, is a shrewd operator… the same cannot be said for Chansiri.
Debts & Delayed Payments
The debts began to mount after that failed promotion bid, with the Thai businessman seemingly to invest less and less into the club – his other interests, reportedly, harmed by the pandemic. Since the 2022/23 season, Wednesday’s cumulative transfer spend has been £5.2 million, but in that timeframe more than 20 players have been allowed to leave on free transfers – a talent drain that has seen the Owls slip down the Championship table.
Then payments to staff dried up. In May, June and July of 2025, players, coaches and other employees at the club had to wait to receive their wages – so much so that one pre-season friendly against Burnley was cancelled when Wednesday players simply refused to turn up.
When players aren’t paid in successive months, they are legally entitled to effectively hand in their notice and break their contract. That was the mechanism used by Josh Windass and Matt Smith to leave as free agents in the summer of 2025, with others likely to follow suit in the future if the financial situation doesn’t improve.
Chansiri Rejects Offers to Sell
To make matters all the more frustrating for Wednesday fans, it has been reported that Chansiri has received two offers to buy the club in the summer of 2025 – thought to be in the region of £30-40 million. Nothing came from them, with the suggestion that the Thai is asking for a higher price before he relinquishes control. Whether anybody meets his valuation, given Wednesday’s rapidly swindling assets, is doubtful.
The EFL has released a statement sharing their concern at the situation, but ultimately there is very little they can do if Chansiri is unwilling to sell. The statement reads,
The League wants to see a strong, stable and competitive Sheffield Wednesday, and for that to happen we are clear that the current owner needs either to fund the club to meet its obligations or make good on his commitment to sell to a well-funded party, for fair market value.
We continue to pursue options available to us to resolve the current challenges, and to that end the League is currently in advanced discussions with Mr Chansiri’s legal advisors on formalising a process around divestment of his shareholding in the club.
But will the owner want to play ball?
A Fit and Proper Person
It would perhaps be short-sighted to blame the EFL for Wednesday’s woes when considering their ‘fit and proper person’ test for prospective club owners. Chansiri and his family are successful in business in their native Thailand, which allowed him to fork out £30 million to buy the Sheffield side in the first place back in 2015.
In fairness to Chansiri, he wasn’t shy in investing in the club in those early years – ultimately missing out on the Premier League by one defeat in 2016. The other issue is that the fit and proper persons’ test is designed to complete due diligence on a prospective buyer at the time of the purchase – it does not have a crystal ball to predict how the future will play out.
But there could be a light at the end of the tunnel for football club’s blighted by owners that are unwilling or unable to fund them – the proposed Independent Football Regulator (IFR). The scope of the IFR will include turfing out ‘bad actors’ from owning English football clubs. The regulator’s fact sheet reads,
Incumbent owners and directors will not automatically be tested, but the IFR will have powers to test and remove incumbents should they be found to be unsuitable.
This allows the IFR to tackle concerns about unsuitable owners and directors responsible for the financial mismanagement of clubs.
That may ultimately prevent other clubs from facing the same fate as Sheffield Wednesday. But whether it comes soon enough for the Owls remains to be seen.
