Sheffield Wednesday in Crisis: A Club Too Rich in History for Financial Ruin
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Sheffield Wednesday in Crisis: A Club Too Rich in History for Financial Ruin

Sheffield Wednesday in Crisis: A Club Too Rich in History for Financial Ruin

While football is generally seen as a money-spinning sport of enormous proportions, the game poses an utterly different challenge for sides who sit outside of their respective top flight.

In recent weeks, it has become clear that even the most historic of English teams is not immune to the trials of financial woe - Sheffield Wednesday, formed in 1867, and four time champions of the English First Division (now Premier League), have been hit with a transfer embargo for the next three transfer windows, after struggling to pay the wages of both staff and players.

The club known as “The Owls”, owned by Thai businessman Dejphon Chansiri, has been stuck in limbo between League One and the Championship for the last 25 years, and the lack of trophies and overall progress has seen their finances slowly drained.

As of the time of writing, some players and staff have not been paid their wages for the months of May and June, and while Chansiri has said he is willing to sell the club in an attempt to rectify this, multiple offers have been turned down by the owner due to “incorrect numbers.

So what exactly is the situation at Sheffield Wednesday? How do one of the original founders of the First Division recover when their manager and countless players are linked with moves away from the club? And will Chansiri sell the club despite his apparent lack of motivation to do so?

How Did Sheffield Wednesday Get Here?

All of Wednesday’s problems started to manifest in May, as it emerged that Chansiri was unable to pay the majority of both playing and none-playing figures at the club. While it has been suggested that some did receive payment, it is public knowledge that many did not, and to make matters worse, these problems continued into June.

Compounding their suffering, FIFA has a written rule that players can terminate their own contracts by giving written notice if they fail to recieve their monthly wage for two successive months - as a result, the Owls are looking at a mass walkout right in the face.

And while it is only now that the club faces very real punishments for their actions, these have arisen from many years of mismanagement, and not just under the stewardship of Chansiri.

While the owner values the club at around £75 million, it is clear from the ageing infrastructure at Hillsborough and their other facilities that they are worth considerably less. The club has received very little investment for improvement over the last couple of decades, and as a result, have not been able to generate increased fees which the modern age requires of clubs.

The English Football League (EFL) has contingencies in place for just such a scenario, and as a result, the Owls have been slapped with a transfer embargo for the next three transfer windows, meaning they will not be allowed to bring in new signings until January 2027.

This is a sensible punishment - if a club cannot afford to pay the wages of key personnel, then they have no chance of bringing in a player who would likely cost millions - the transfer embargo is simply there to ensure the club is not making purchases that will deepen their financial crisis.

However, the punishment is two-fold - with no new blood arriving at the club, existing players and staff are now looking to jump ship in an attempt to save themselves from the seemingly inevitable relegations and financial restrictions that the club is heading towards.

While these departures would generate decent income, and thus positively impact their financial situation, they would also leave the side severely weakened, and much less capable of competing with other Championship sides.

So how do Chansiri and Sheffield Wednesday turn the situation in their favour?

Chansiri Must Sell - But Will He?

While Chansiri is listed as a businessman, very few actually know where he gets his money from, and recent rumours have indicated that the Thai tycoon is becoming desperate, perhaps in part due to a lack of income on his end.

This desperation stems from takeover negotiations with an American consortium, an offer which Chansiri eventually rejected. The rumours of the takeover had been going on for months, and the Owls owner generally seemed in favour of selling the club.

However, after a member of this consortium gave an interview which cited incorrect figures concerning the deal, Chansiri pulled out of talks. Valuing the club at £75 million, the first two offers fell way short according to the owner, and the reported figures offered were a long way off what was truthfully on the table during negotiations.

In a statement released last week, Chansiri said: “The first offer was submitted in US Dollars, and the second offer in UK Pounds. The first offer was $40 million plus future limited payments based upon promotion to the Premier League - not $65 million that was mentioned in the forum.”

“The second offer was £40 million plus limited future Premier League promotion payments - far from a guaranteed $75 million which was reported in the second media interview.”

It seems that Chansiri is a stubborn negotiator, which in some ways can be seen as a positive trait - but in other ways, this trait also makes getting a deal over the line that much more difficult.

To make matters worse, he was also involved in another set of failed talks with an interested consortium from the UK. Despite being in talks for considerable time, their presence alone was not enough for the owner - he wanted proof of funds to ensure the consortium could get the deal over the line.

However, the consortium could not provide the deposit of £5 million, resulting in the termination of negotiations. While it is obviously not Chansiri’s fault that the interested party could not provide funds, his willingness to start talks with everybody and anybody indicates more desperation than anything else.

It also depicts him as a naive negotiator - who would initiate talks with someone who has no intentions of purchasing the club for a fair price in the first place?

So What Happens Now?

Until Chansiri accepts a takeover bid, the club will have to cope with all restrictions placed on them. The transfer embargo in particular will tear the club apart. Unable to bring in new signings, Wednesday will be forced to sell their best players in order to generate funds to pay wages.

This means forcing the departures of players such as Nathaniel Chalobah, Barry Bannan, Josh Windass and Stuart Armstrong - and with no signings to replace them, the Owls will have to turn to their youth squads in order to fill out the rest of the team.

It will effectively be a mirror image of Chelsea’s transfer ban in 2019 - unable to purchase players, youth talent such as Mason Mount, Tammy Abraham and Reece James were called up to the first team in order to fill the gaps. However, unlike Chelsea, Sheffield do not boast a World Class youth development program, in part due to the lack of investment. Calling up youth players will effectively see them relegated.

And it isn’t just players who will leave the club. Talented manager Danny Rohl, who guided them to a 12th placed finish despite a small budget and lack of investment, is actively looking for another club, with Leicester City reportedly interested.

Rohl is arguably their biggest asset - to lose such a talented young manager, who no doubt will be a fixture in the top tier in years to come, would be a huge blow to the club, and due to their transfer embargo, they would be unable to sign a replacement from another club.

Instead, they would either have to promote one of their youth coaches to become first team coach, or sign a currently unemployed manager, with his wage the only cost the club would need to pay.

Given the nature of their situation, the latter would likely result in a cheap or low quality manager who would be unable to keep them in the Championship, let alone see them promoted, even without a transfer embargo.

In summary, things look bleak at Sheffield Wednesday. With no financial solution visible on the horizon, Owls’ fans need to get used to their harsh new reality quickly. Should Chansiri remain owner throughout the summer and into the new season, one side of Sheffield will quickly become a depressing place to be.

However, there is one clear solution on the horizon - Chansiri must sell the club. Only when he is out of office will the sun possibly shine again on the club. It is simply a matter of how well he negotiates, and even then, if he has second thoughts on selling the club.

Strap yourselves in Sheffield Wednesday fans - you’re in for a bumpy ride.

Benji Kosartiyer
Journalist
Harry Pascoe

Lead Writer

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