🔗 Share this article

Sheffield Wednesday's persistent issues constitute a "major concern" and the football regulator is looking to gain the ability to examine team situations in comparable cases, the recently named head the regulator has declared.

In a wide-ranging interview, Kogan, who was recently selected, voiced concern towards Wednesday's fanbase.

The regulator engaged with four supporters' associations representing the Championship side recently.

The football club have been facing challenges both on and off the pitch in 2025, with the club failing to pay players on time on several different times, including in September.

"Evidently Wednesday represents a serious issue for football authorities and a substantial concern for English football," the regulator explained.

"The club represents one of the iconic names for English football and recently we have met Sheffield Wednesday supporters' groups.

"We're now looking to get powers... which will enable us to take Sheffield Wednesday - and other clubs brought to our attention if they require examination and acted upon."

Economic Challenges and Ownership Situation

The club's controversial proprietor Dejphon Chansiri indicated in the summer he would be open to selling the club at Hillsborough, but he has been unable to finalize an agreement with interested parties.

Missed wage deadlines on time in earlier this year led to sanctions by the English Football League (EFL) in June, preventing the club from carrying out any recruitment activities for the following recruitment periods, although that restriction was lifted in late summer.

Regulator's Perspective

Kogan said: "The job [of the regulator] is there for the supporters of Wednesday, teams facing challenges where people are committed to a local institution that has represented their community in many cases.

"I fully appreciate the club's situation, as I do for all the clubs that in modern times have encountered failure, or approached financial ruin, for factors unrelated to the fans themselves."

When asked if the oversight body could require an owner to sell a club if they are judged inappropriate, Kogan said: "When asking whether 'would we intervene in the final instance?', the answer is once we gather the evidence and know what's going on, we will."

But Kogan stressed that requiring chairmen to relinquish clubs would be considered the final option and the oversight body would choose to collaborate with owners.

"The final option we would consider is commence engagement with an particular organization, an specific proprietor, without being able to work with that chairman to fix the issues that the club's facing and the proprietor's dealing with," Kogan said.

"But the truth is, when you review the record of football, over the recent generations there have been some owners, a small minority, but particular people who have shown negligence in the approach they have taken toward their teams and eventually don't wish to take responsibility for the long-term prospects."

'If we get it wrong, extraordinary progress vanishes'

The regulator engaged representatives from 110 clubs to explain the responsibilities of the authority recently and stated it constituted a "proactive meeting" with a "substantial involvement" from the lower divisions to the top flight.

"This position carries substantial significance, because if errors are made, if the world of football gets it wrong, the significant advances achieved could disappear incredibly quickly," the regulator warned.

"Such an outcome is universally undesirable in the realm of domestic football is a substantial accomplishment - we've got to keep it going.

"There's an enormous amount of money entering the sport and has been channeled for the recent generations, because there are no assurances it will keep flowing into the sport, which is one of the reasons why I think we have to take a really clear view on challenges and obviously, of the immediate future."

Elite Division Worries

The Premier League opposed the creation of a regulator because of fears of a negative impact on the Premier League's sporting equality, but the regulator stated: "I fully support the success and growth as an financial organization of the elite league.

"Being fully aware of the worry about compromising the Premier League as a premium product of the nation. But concurrently, if you talk to the Premier League after today's meeting, they would have had a high level of reassurance -and, in fact, they have been advising us privately they have a high level of reassurance."

Ideological Links

The chairman continues to confront a "thorough examination" by the official appointments authority after he revealed he contributed money to the political party in 2020.

The 68-year-old provided financial support for Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport the minister's leadership bid, along with that of the now Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer.

"I have been entirely transparent regarding my former ideological connection [with Labour], and that ideological connection terminated the day the parliamentary committee confirmed my selection," the regulator explained.

"I am presently disconnected from any type of partisan engagement."