Sheffield Wednesday on the brink as owner orders fans to pay £2m to save club
Sheffield Wednesday's owner has told supporters they must raise £2million to save their beloved club.
In the latest in a series of astonishing statements, Thai businessman Dejphon Chansiri has once again attacked the club's long-suffering fans for being "negative" - and told them now is their chance to make a difference.
Wednesday were placed under a registration embargo for non-payment to HMRC last week before going on to win their first game of the season under new boss Danny Rohl against Rotherham at Hillsborough on Sunday.
It is understood that Rohl, his players and the club's staff have been paid in full, reducing the risk of even more imminent sanctions. However, Chansiri still claims he has not been paid debts owed to him in his personal business life, and therefore has no money to pump into the Owls.
Wednesday are nine days into a 'persistent default' over their non-payment to HMRC; if they accrue 30 days, they would be liable to a three-window transfer embargo. Non-payment of wages would mean each day effectively counts double, with that immediate threat reportedly quashed.
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Chansiri has been the subject of protests from Owls fans who want him to sell up and leave the club, but he says only if supporters stump up the £2m would they then have the right to ask him to go.
He told the Sheffield Star: "With HMRC, if we don’t pay until, say, the fifth of November, then that means it’s been 14 days, but if we don’t pay wages as well then that’s five days - that means a total of 19 days. Each issue counts separately.
“If 20,000 people gave £100 then it’s £2m, and it’d be clear - so we can finish it. That would cover everything, HMRC and the wages. That would need to be done before November 10th 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 10 days left… if we were to hit 30 days then we’ll get a ban for three windows.”
Chansiri has once again taken aim at Wednesday's long-suffering supporters (Phil Duncan/REX/Shutterstock)Chansiri recently threatened to withdraw all 'additional funding' into the club, but insists that is not the motive behind this latest crisis. He also says fans who stump up the cash to save the club would be paid back, with interest.
"Why would I need to play a game? If I don’t pay my staff and they get mad with me then my club is going to be worse," he added. "If the staff don’t get money, they don’t do their job and the club is worse off. Why would I take the risk to make problems for my people?
"That is my last choice to do. I always try to protect my people as much as I can, but if I try my best and cannot do it, then my people must understand. If they don’t understand then I cannot help that. I can create trouble since Covid if I want to, I did not do it. You do not understand how important this club is to me and my family. I have been here nine years and it is a part of my life.”
Chansiri blames the delay in funding on numerous factors, including 'Covid, Russia and Israel', citing a domino effect on debts owed to him and subsequent issues at Hillsborough. He also took aim at fans' "negativity" on social media putting off potential sponsors from investing into the club.
He went on: "Those who say it is their club, when it was clear we had an issue with HMRC, people came out and said ‘Chairman, you need to take responsibility to pay’, that if we don’t pay we have to sell ‘our club’ - why do they say ‘our club’? I never heard any fan say ‘we need to prepare to save our club’, they just say I have to leave. It’s funny, they say they are owners and I am a custodian.
“We try to generate money for the club as best as we can. We need to try to get money but the negative fans don’t help. I am not blaming fans. I am not blaming, I am explaining they don’t help. People (potential sponsors) don’t know us, they just see us on social media, so why are they going to sponsor us when they just see rubbish all the time? We need fans in bad times as well as good.
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"The first thing you need to do is save the club. If we don’t pay in 30 days we have a big issue. If you want to save your club, this is your chance. Do not protest, save your club. If not, we will get a transfer ban over three windows, there’s a possibility we will go to League Two or the National League.
"Maybe the negative fans would be happy, they wouldn’t be able to moan that things are too expensive. So now you have the right. If the positive fans want me to stay, then this is their chance to save their club.
“If you don’t want to save your club, then don’t call yourselves the owners and me the custodian. If you save your club, then you have the right to ask me to leave. There is no need to make it complicated. I could leave no issue. That is the easy way.
"I have tried my best for almost nine years, I try everything even in the Covid situation with no revenue. If I wanted to make it bad, I would have already left. I don’t need to be here.”
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