In April 1991, John Sheridan scored the winner for Sheffield Wednesday against Manchester United in the League Cup final, and that 1-0 victory was an even bigger shock than you might think: to this day it’s the last time a club playing outside the top division of English football won a major trophy.
Wednesday, who finished third in the second tier to gain promotion, beat a United side who finished sixth in the old First Division. And while the club have enjoyed some remarkable stories in recent years — including pulling off the greatest comeback in EFL playoff history, and avoiding relegation from a seemingly impossible position two seasons ago — it’s that day at Wembley that remains etched in history.
Today, with the club in desperate financial trouble, such heights seem further away than ever. Such is the dire situation at Hillsborough that there’s no certainty they will take to the field for their season opener against Leicester City on Sunday. And if they do, a supporters’ protest is planned against controversial owner Dejphon Chansiri.
So, why are Wednesday in trouble, how bad is it, and why does it matter?
– Wednesday captain rules out strike for opener
– Wednesday fans to protest in opening Championship game
– Röhl leaves Sheffield Wednesday 12 days before season
Why is Sheffield Wednesday’s plight such a big story?
With Wednesday formed in 1867, only four league clubs — Notts County, Stoke City, Wrexham and Nottingham Forest — have been around for longer.
Wednesday, nicknamed the Owls, have been out of the Premier League for 25 years, so it would be no surprise if their name doesn’t resonate globally — other than for the odd quirk of being named after the day the founding cricket club used to play its games. Yet they were one of the biggest clubs in the early 1900s, and only 12 teams have won more than their 10 major trophies in the history of English football. It’s just that the 1991 League Cup is the only silverware they’ve won since 1935.
Even though the club have been outside of the top flight for all but a few months of this century, they still rank 15th for total points earned and played in the opening eight seasons of the Premier League.
While many other clubs have come close to going out of business, or actually gone bust, Wednesday are by far the biggest to get to this stage. They were near to administration in 2010 too, but the club was sold to Milan Mandaric for just £1. That kind of deal isn’t remotely on the table this time.
Who is Dejphon Chansiri?
Chansiri is the Thai businessman who is the owner of Sheffield Wednesday, yet next to nothing is known about how he funds the club or his background. He is part of the family that owns Thai Union Group, the world’s largest producer of tuna and seafood, yet he has no role on the board of the company.
TUG branding was present for a brief period when Chansiri bought the club from Mandaric in 2015, but it quickly disappeared.
Wednesday enjoyed two years of success at the start of Chansiri’s reign, coming close to a Premier League return when they lost in the 2016 playoff final to Hull City. But those years also saw huge overspending, and a failure to transfer players on for a profit, which would eventually come back to bite Chansiri hard.
Chansiri’s autocratic style of ownership means he takes every decision — there is no director of football, no chief executive, no one in the U.K. who takes ultimate responsibility for the day-to-day running of the club, which has added to the perception of a rudderless ship.
So what is the problem at Sheffield Wednesday?
How long have you got? There’s a book to be written, and a long one at that, about what has gone on behind the scenes at Hillsborough.
The first sign of real issues came in July 2020 when the club were deducted 12 points for breaching profit and sustainability rules (PSR). The written reasons showed that Chansiri had failed to sign a vital document on time to sanction the sale of Hillsborough, the club’s ground, to another company in his name, and that caused the PSR breach. The deduction was reduced to six points on appeal, but Wednesday were relegated to League One on goal difference.
Since then have been a few times when the club have been late making key payments, but this year it has come to a head and the club’s very existence is now under threat. And this isn’t even the complete list:
– Chansiri has failed to pay players and staff (including those who work in departments like the club shop and the ticket office) on time and in full in March, May, June and July.
– In June, the EFL placed a triple transfer embargo on the club for a failure to pay the players. After this, further embargoes followed after Chansiri was late paying the tax bill, and there remain outstanding transfer fees to other clubs.
– The multiple late wages meant that under FIFA rules key players were able to serve notice to rip up their contracts and leave on a free transfer. Josh Windass, who scored 13 goals in the Championship last season (only four players scored more), walked away to join Wrexham, while Michael Smith, scorer of eight goals, quit for Preston North End.
– Wednesday had to transfer other key players to pay the outstanding bills. This included 21-year-old winger Djeidi Gassama to Rangers for a reported £2.2 million — way below his true transfer value. Gassama scored in his first two appearances for Rangers — both legs of the Champions League qualifier against Panathinaikos.
– Highly rated coach Danny Röhl, who was in dispute with Chansiri throughout 2025, left by “mutual consent” on July 29. The German wanted to move to a new club, but Chansiri reportedly wouldn’t negotiate on the compensation clause in his contract. Most of Röhl’s staff left at the same time — other than assistant Henrik Pedersen, who was named the new coach.
– The club’s North Stand, which holds 9,000 supporters (many of them season-ticket holders who have paid for a seat for every league game) and carries Chansiri’s name, has been closed by the local council. Chansiri had failed to carry out crucial safety work on the roof of the stand, meaning it has been deemed unsafe and cannot be used.
– Wednesday have 16 senior players remaining (only one goalkeeper, with a defender long-term injured). Of the 16, some have reportedly followed the lead of Smith and Windass and served notice to leave after failing to be paid for July.
– Wednesday have no senior coaching staff and have played no preseason friendlies ahead of Sunday’s Championship opener at Leicester.
What is the EFL doing about it?
When Chansiri took charge, there was nothing to suggest the club would be where it is 10 years on; the EFL doesn’t have a crystal ball to predict the future when it approves a takeover. But at the same time, Wednesday fans feel like they have been abandoned by the league as the situation grows ever more serious.
The league has made only one statement, on June 18, when it issued charges against the club and Chansiri for the late payments. Since then, while there has been a meeting with the club’s supporters’ group there has been no official comment to suggest action is being taken.
The EFL has no ability to take control of the club or force Chansiri to sell it, but it can put pressure on to expedite a sale — often by threatening expulsion from the league. It’s the route that finally saw Chinese businessman Dai Yongge sell Reading in May. However, the EFL has no power to make Chansiri sell, and he could just allow the club to fold.
This will change when the new independent regulator for English football begins to operate, but that could be too late for Wednesday.
But could Wednesday really go out of existence?
This is the big question, and a lot will depend on Chansiri’s ability to fund the club for the whole season. That he hasn’t managed to pay players or staff for three consecutive months points either to serious cashflow issues, or that he has simply removed his funding. The latter would be more concerning, as it would suggest he has no need to sell the club below his reported personal valuation of £100 million — a figure he has no realistic chance of achieving.
The EFL knows how bad it will look if a club the size of Wednesday go under, so it seems unlikely drastic action will be taken which would see them fail to start the season — as was the case with Bury (who eventually went out of business) in 2019.
The situation is perhaps more comparable with another former Premier League club, Bolton Wanderers. Also in 2019, Bolton were allowed to start the campaign and played their opening fixtures with a squad largely made up of young players until a sale of the club went through a few weeks later. At least in Bolton’s case there appeared to be the prospect of a takeover.
Another the key issue is that Chansiri has separated the ground from the club in that botched attempt to avoid PSR charges, and it seems unlikely a deal will be possible unless both are included.
Could the players go on strike?
After the July wages failed to arrive last Thursday, Wednesday’s players refused to play a behind-closed-doors friendly with Premier League club Burnley at the weekend.
Captain Barry Bannan, who signed a new contract last week despite the turmoil, says he expects the troubled club to fulfil their opening Championship fixture away to Leicester.
However, the players issued a joint statement on Monday that said they “stand together in support with all our colleagues” and that action must be taken so that “decisions taken like the one not to play at Burnley are avoided in the future.” Striking for a competitive fixture would be a last resort, but it clearly cannot be ruled out.
What has been the fans’ response?
Understandably, there is despair that every day appears to bring more bad news. Supporters have been protesting against Chansiri’s ownership for several months, but it will now be ramped up as the club lurches close to disaster.
A protest is planned for the Leicester game, which is live on television around the world, when fans won’t take their seats until the fifth minute — leaving an empty away end with an anti-Chansiri banner.
Further protests are planned at home fixtures, when one the biggest stands will remain empty — and facing the television cameras — until Chansiri funds repairs. Fans have also removed their funding of club merchandise to starve Chansiri of that revenue stream.
What happens next at Wednesday?
With Chansiri in Thailand, and failing to engage with players, staff or supporters, there will be an air of inertia until the situation is resolved. The only way out of this appears to be the sale of the club, but that doesn’t seem to be close and will require Chansiri lowering his demands.
With a threadbare squad which has had its attacking quality stripped away, only 11 players over the age of 21 and the possibility of a points deduction for the charges laid in June, there is no hope of staying in the Championship.
Regardless of supporter protests, and EFL sanctions, the club’s future lies in the hands of one man: Chansiri.
If a takeover does happen, the new owners will have to deal with the embargo, which means Wednesday can’t sign players for a transfer fee until 2027. Whatever happens, reaching the Premier League again seems light-years away.
