🔗 Share this article Sheffield Wednesday Faces Serious Challenges, States Football Regulator 'Our role is integral to football's future' - football oversight chief the regulator's chair The Championship club's ongoing struggles constitute a "major concern" and the new football authority is seeking powers to examine team situations in such situations, the newly appointed chairman David Kogan has declared. In a wide-ranging interview, Kogan, who was recently selected, showed understanding towards supporters of the Owls. The regulator engaged with four supporter groups representing the South Yorkshire club recently. The football club have been experiencing difficulties in multiple areas in 2025, with the club failing to pay players on time on five separate occasions, including in the autumn. "Obviously the club has become a significant problem for EFL and a major challenge for the sport," Kogan told. "Sheffield Wednesday is one of the iconic names for English football and in recent days we have met fan representatives. "We are seeking authority... which will permit us to bring Sheffield Wednesday - and other clubs brought to our attention if they need to be investigated and addressed." Financial Struggles and Leadership Concerns The team's struggling chairman Dejphon Chansiri suggested earlier this year he would be open to selling the club at the stadium, but he has been unable to finalize an agreement with prospective buyers. Missed wage deadlines on time in earlier this year led to sanctions by the league officials in summer, preventing the club from carrying out any transfers or loans for the following recruitment periods, although those limitations were removed in August. Official's Viewpoint The chairman stated: "Our role exists to serve the supporters of Wednesday, Bury or any football club where people are committed to a community organization that has represented their community in many cases. "I have absolute sympathy for the team's plight, as I do for all the clubs that in modern times have encountered failure, or been close to going to the wall, for factors unrelated to the supporters." When asked if the authority might compel an owner to sell a club if they are deemed unsuitable, Kogan said: "When asking whether 'would we intervene in the final instance?', the response would be once we assemble the facts and comprehend the circumstances, we will." But the chairman emphasized that compelling proprietors to divest clubs would be viewed as the ultimate measure and the authority would rather to cooperate with proprietors. "Our least desirable course of action is commence engagement with an particular organization, an particular chairman, without being able to work with that owner to try and resolve the problems affecting the organization and the owner's facing," Kogan said. "However, realistically, when you examine the past of football, over the past few decades 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 future." Sheffield Wednesday supporters have been demonstrating against owner Dejphon Chansiri during the current campaign 'If we get it wrong, extraordinary progress vanishes' Kogan met with representatives from 110 clubs to detail the scope of the regulator on Wednesday and stated it constituted a "forward-thinking discussion" with a "significant participation" from the grassroots to elite level. "The role holds considerable importance, because if we get it wrong, if the football community fails, the extraordinary progress that's been made might evaporate swiftly," the chairman stated. "This represents everyone's worst fear in the realm of domestic football is a huge success story - we've got to keep it going. "Substantial financial resources flowing into the game and has been channeled for the last 20 or 25 years, because certainty is lacking it will persist in entering the game, which is among the factors explaining I think we have to maintain a focused outlook on risk and of course, of the next two or three years." Top Flight Apprehensions Elite division representatives objected to the creation of a regulator because of fears of a negative impact on the elite division's competitive balance, but the chairman responded: "I completely endorse the success and growth as an economic entity of the elite league. "Being fully aware of the worry about compromising the top flight as an elite competition of this country. But simultaneously, if you engage with division representatives after this week's discussion, they would have had a high level of reassurance -and, indeed, they have been advising us privately they have a high level of reassurance." Political Connections Kogan is still facing a "thorough examination" by the public appointments commissioner after he acknowledged providing funds to the Labour Party in recent years. The official donated money to Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy's leadership campaign, along with that of the government leader. "I have fully disclosed my previous political affiliation [with Labour], and that political affiliation came to an end the day the parliamentary committee confirmed my selection," Kogan said. "I currently have no participation in any form of political activity."