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Sheffield Wednesday are continuing to pay the price for the disastrous reign of previous owner Dejphon Chansiri and look to be in for another season of struggle next term
Not content with idly standing by while Dejphon Chansiri’s ruinous reign left one of English football’s oldest institutions on the brink, the EFL are now dangerously close to putting the final nail in Sheffield Wednesday’s coffin.
The Owls sit on -6 points at the bottom of the Championship as they bid to reach the hallowed ground zero with nine matches remaining of the worst campaign in English football history.
Wednesday have been deducted 18 points in total for various breaches, the bulk of which came when the club was placed into administration back in October.
That came after Owls supporters mobilised to end Chansiri’s reign of terror, effectively forcing out the despised former owner by withholding any spending.
READ MORE: Sheffield Wednesday ‘to start next season with 15-point penalty’ after takeover twistREAD MORE: Sheffield Wednesday takeover COLLAPSES as potential new owners pull out of deal
Wednesday were left with just a handful of senior pros in their squad of misfits and kids thanks to the gross mismanagement of the Thai tuna magnate.
They have won just once in the Championship all season, a 2-0 victory over Portsmouth at Fratton Park in September. They are still yet to claim three points at Hillsborough.
A consortium led by former professional poker player James Bord were named as preferred bidders at Christmas, but they withdrew their interest last month amid scepticism over whether they would pass the EFL’s owners and directors test.
It was later revealed Bord and co had offered a staggering £47.8million to takeover the broken club, a figure comfortably higher than its true worth.
The official line was that, once they had got their heads under the bonnet, the consortium couldn’t press ahead with such a large fee. In truth, the bid was surrounded by red flags from the outset.
But the administrators had to accept the offer given it was so vast, with their ultimate priority being the club’s creditors, the largest of which is Chansiri.
Bord’s takeover, if successful, would have seen the Owls avoid a 15-point deduction in League One next season, owing to being high enough to ensure creditors were paid 25p in the pound, or a quarter of what they are ultimately owed.
US tycoon David Storch has since become the second party to be given preferred bidder status, albeit having tabled an offer much lower than that of Bord. Storch, along with son Michael and fellow investor Tom Costin, beat former Newcastle owner Mike Ashley in the takeover race.
Storch’s bid will not satisfy the EFL’s creditor rules, meaning Wednesday are almost certain to start next season on -15 points. That the Owls are being punished for not paying the only man responsible for this mess sticks in the throat.
But on top of that, the EFL are now threatening to keep a framework in place to restrict Wednesday’s wage bill in what looks like being a battle to prevent relegation to the fourth tier for the first time in the club’s 159-year history.
Even if Storch’s bid passes the EFL’s fit and proper test, which the group are confident it will, Wednesday are faced with the prospect of only being able to pay players a maximum of £7,000-a-week and an annual salary cap of £7million. The club are already banned from spending money on transfer fees for indiscretions under the previous owner.
The Sheffield Wednesday Supporters’ Trust, in a series of posts on social media on Friday night, revealed extracts from the EFL’s insolvency policy which is not a document made readily available to the public.
Excerpts from the document show it provides only ‘guidance’ and that ‘the EFL reserves the right to review and amend the procedures for each individual case’.
It continues: “The EFL retains absolute discretion as to how to deal with any club which takes or suffers an insolvency event.” The question is, if discretion is not going to be applied in the case of Sheffield Wednesday, when is it?
This is a fanbase and a community that has suffered enough. No-one wants handouts, no-one wants special treatment. All that is wanted is a chance to compete on a level playing field and to begin a recovery that will take years to complete.
“To potentially force Sheffield Wednesday into a second successive relegation as a result of additional punitive measures would not punish those responsible for the club’s decline,” the Supporters’ Trust said in a lengthy statement.
“It would punish supporters, employees, players and any new ownership group attempting to rescue one of English football’s historic institutions.”
Storch has made all the right noises since becoming preferred bidder. He has told the fans how it is they who own the club, and how he and his colleagues would be mere custodians.
He has spoken of fan engagement being at the heart of his ethos, his plans to improve an aging stadium and training ground as well as investing in the playing squad.
Storch appears to be going into what is a desperate situation with his eyes wide and open and seems genuinely passionate about his attempts to restore Wednesday to their former glories.
But the fear supporters now have is that the EFL’s latest measures will see him and his party walk away, leaving the club back to square one and their future hanging by the most precarious of threads.
Wednesday cannot stay in administration forever. And if no potential new owner is willing to comply with the EFL’s draconian regulations, they could disappear altogether.
EFL Chief Operating Officer Nick Craig said: “The League want to see Sheffield Wednesday continue as a member of the EFL, but ultimately we have to also apply the terms of the League’s Insolvency Policy.
“The policy, of which has been agreed with Clubs and is there to act as guidance for all Clubs and insolvency practitioners, seeks to balance the interests, not only of Sheffield Wednesday, but also of the other 71 Clubs in the EFL.
“We remain open to continuing the conversations with the preferred bidders and the Administrators to try and find a solution that can see Sheffield Wednesday continue as a member of the League.”
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