Sheffield Wednesday’s owner Dejphon Chansiri has asked the club’s fans to raise £2 million in the coming days to pay off debt and wages.
The millionaire Thai businessman said he had a problem with “cash flow” and has asked for supporters to bail them out of their mess — promising to pay them back with interest.
The EFL placed the club, who are bottom of the Sky Bet Championship, under a registration embargo — meaning they cannot register any new players without prior written consent — over money owed to HM Revenue & Customs, and Chansiri revealed that if those debts are not paid in the coming days then the club faces a three-window transfer ban.
Chansiri also said that players and staff might not be paid this month and has called on supporters to try to help the club get out of the mess.
In an interview with the Sheffield Star, he said: “If 20,000 people gave £100 then it’s £2 million, and it’d be clear — so we can finish it.
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“That would cover everything, HMRC and the wages. That would need to be done before November 10 if they don’t want to pass the 30 days, but that means that there can be no next time.
“It’d need to be before to make it safe — if it was on the fifth then there would be ten days left. If we were to hit 30 days then we’ll get a ban for three windows.”
Chansiri, who has owned the club since 2015, has asked for the money now because of what he calls “cash flow problems” and claims supporters would be paid back “with interest” if they were to give him the money he wants.
Earlier this season, the Wednesday owner threatened not to invest any more money into the club because he believed he was being treated unfairly by the supporters. They have made their worst ever start to a season — despite finally winning at the 14th time of asking against Rotherham on Sunday — and fans protested against his ownership by throwing tennis balls onto the pitch during a 1-1 draw with Middlesbrough.
Stewards clear the pitch of tennis balls thrown by fans in protest during the match against Middlesbrough at Hillsborough in September
MATT WEST/SHUTTERSTOCK/REX FEATURES
However, Chansiri’s response to the fans’ concerns has merely been to ask them — rather than him — to take financial responsibility.
“I will not inject any more money into the club if I am being treated unfairly,” he wrote in an open letter to supporters in September. “Those fans who create trouble to the club and myself and believe that they are the real owner of the club need to be responsible for the financial matters of the club from now on.
“If they can take such financial responsibility to save the club and they believe that I am not the right owner, they may propose any buyer who I believe can operate the club for the benefit of all stakeholders going forward.”
Gill Furniss, the MP for Sheffield Brightside and Hillsborough, said the development was “very concerning” and stressed it is the responsibility of the owners to fix their financial situation and not the fans.
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Wednesday are nine days into a “persistent default” under EFL regulations having failed to pay their HMRC debt and if they fail to pay players’ wages, which Chansiri said is a possibility, they would have another default against their name. If clubs accrue 30 days of breaches between July 1 and June 30 they are liable to be banned from registering new players for three transfer windows.
Sheffield Wednesday Supporters’ Trust posted a statement on X (formerly Twitter) which read: “Regarding the chairman’s interview . . . we are astounded by the request for fans to pay a £2m HMRC bill. A fit and proper owner would not ask fans to do this.”
