🔗 Share this article

Sheffield Wednesday's ongoing struggles constitute a "major concern" and the independent regulator is aiming to acquire authority to investigate clubs in comparable cases, the newly appointed chairman the regulator has announced.

Through a comprehensive talk, Kogan, who was appointed on Monday, expressed "sympathy" towards supporters of the Owls.

The regulator engaged with four fan organizations connected to the South Yorkshire club recently.

The Championship side have been facing challenges both on and off the pitch in 2025, with the club failing to pay players on time on five separate occasions, including in the autumn.

"Evidently Wednesday represents a major concern for the league and a major challenge for the sport," Kogan told.

"Sheffield Wednesday is one of the great brands for football in England and recently we have met fan representatives.

"We are seeking authority... which will permit us to bring Wednesday and comparable cases referred to us if they need to be investigated and acted upon."

Economic Challenges and Ownership Situation

The team's struggling chairman the Thai businessman suggested earlier this year he would be prepared to relinquish control at the stadium, but he has been unable to finalize an agreement with prospective buyers.

Failure to pay player wages on time in earlier this year caused limitations by the English Football League (EFL) in summer, blocking the team from conducting any recruitment activities for the subsequent signing windows, although the ban was rescinded in late summer.

Regulator's Perspective

Kogan said: "Our role exists to serve the Owls followers, teams facing challenges where fans are dedicated to a local institution that has existed throughout their lifetimes in many cases.

"I have absolute sympathy for the team's plight, as I do for all the clubs that since 1992 have gone to the wall, or approached financial ruin, for factors unrelated to the supporters."

Inquired if the authority might compel an proprietor to divest a club if they are judged inappropriate, the chairman responded: "If your question is 'would we intervene in the final instance?', the response would be once we assemble the facts and know what's going on, we will."

But the chairman emphasized that compelling proprietors to divest clubs would be considered the final option and the regulator would prefer to work with them.

"The final option we would consider is start getting involved with an specific team, an individual owner, without having the opportunity to collaborate with that chairman to fix the issues that the club's facing and the chairman's encountering," Kogan said.

"But the truth is, when you examine the past of the sport, over the past few decades there have been particular chairmen, not many, but particular people who have shown negligence in the manner they have operated their clubs and ultimately decline to assume obligation for the coming years."

'If we get it wrong, extraordinary progress vanishes'

The regulator engaged representatives from 110 clubs to explain the responsibilities of the oversight body this week and stated it constituted a "forward-thinking discussion" with a "substantial involvement" from the grassroots to elite level.

"The role holds considerable importance, because if errors are made, if the football community fails, the remarkable development accomplished could disappear incredibly quickly," the chairman stated.

"This represents everyone's worst fear in the terms of English football is a substantial accomplishment - we need to continue the progress.

"Substantial financial resources coming into football and has come into football for the past two decades, because there's no guarantee it will persist in entering the game, which is one of the reasons why I think we have to maintain a focused outlook on challenges and obviously, of the immediate future."

Elite Division Worries

Elite division representatives objected to the establishment of an oversight body because of fears of a negative impact on the Premier League's sporting equality, but the regulator stated: "I fully support the prosperity and expansion as an economic entity of the top division.

"I of all people understand the worry about compromising the top flight as an elite competition of this country. But simultaneously, if you consult with top flight officials after the recent gathering, they would have had a substantial amount of confidence -and, indeed, they have been advising us privately they have a high level of reassurance."

Ideological Links

Kogan is still facing a "thorough examination" by the public appointments commissioner after he disclosed making donations to the opposition group in 2020.

The 68-year-old donated money to government minister the minister's leadership bid, along with that of the current Prime Minister.

"I have been entirely transparent regarding my former ideological connection [with Labour], and that party membership ceased the day the official body endorsed my nomination," the chairman stated.

"I am no longer involved in any sort of politics."