Sheffield Wednesday’s precarious financial situation has escalated further, with multiple Members of Parliament now calling on the EFL to intervene directly against controversial owner Dejphon Chansiri.
The Championship side are facing a summer of uncertainty, having been placed under a three-window transfer embargo due to unpaid fees, with reports suggesting staff and players have gone unpaid for two months. Now, prominent Sheffield MPs Louise Haigh and Clive Betts have added their voices to growing calls for accountability.
In a joint statement issued this week, Haigh and Betts criticised the EFL’s continued punishment of fans and demanded urgent enforcement measures to hold Chansiri to account. Their intervention comes just as the Football Governance Bill passes its final stages in Parliament, paving the way for an independent regulator to address ownership failures across the football pyramid.
“Louise Haigh MP and Clive Betts MP have today called for the EFL to hold the owner of Sheffield Wednesday Football Club to account and stop punishing the fans for the owner’s mismanagement,” read the statement. “The irresponsible actions of Mr Chansiri… are not putting the club or the fans first.”
Haigh, who represents Sheffield Heeley, added that supporters have been let down by the ongoing crisis, with morale at an all-time low and trust in the club’s hierarchy “completely eroded.” She stressed the urgent need for change and reaffirmed her support for local fans: “We will continue to do all we can to ensure that Sheffield Wednesday is back in the hands of a responsible owner.”
Chansiri, who has owned the club since 2015, is facing renewed scrutiny not only from fans but also from within the political sphere. Despite overseeing the club’s return to the Championship in 2023, he is now at the centre of a crisis that could derail preparations for the upcoming season.
On the pitch, things are no better. Manager Danny Röhl is reportedly in talks to depart, multiple players have handed in their notices, and the club captain is training without a contract. The Owls are currently at St. George’s Park for their pre-season camp, but with the backdrop of financial instability and administrative chaos, questions continue to mount about their viability heading into 2025/26.
Writer’s View
The sense of disorder at Hillsborough is now impossible to ignore. Chansiri’s tenure, already strained by previous missteps, is verging on untenable. The loss of player and staff trust, combined with a lack of transparency and financial prudence, points to an ownership regime unfit for purpose.
With government now stepping in and an independent regulator on the horizon, the tide may finally be turning. But for the fans—many of whom have stuck by the club through years of hardship—real change cannot come soon enough.
