🔗 Share this article Sheffield Wednesday Faces a 'Significant Problem', Declares New Football Authority 'We are going to be a part of football's future' - newly appointed regulator David Kogan The team's ongoing struggles represent a a "major concern" and the new football authority is looking to gain the ability to examine team situations in comparable cases, the newly appointed chairman the official has announced. Through a comprehensive talk, Kogan, who was appointed on Monday, expressed "sympathy" towards the club's followers. The regulator engaged with four supporters' associations representing the football team recently. The team have been struggling on and off the field in 2025, with the club delaying salary disbursements on multiple instances, including in the autumn. "Obviously the club has become a major concern for the league and a substantial concern for English football," the chairman stated. "Sheffield Wednesday is one of the great brands for the English game and this week we have met supporters' organizations. "We're now looking to get powers... which will allow us to have Wednesday and comparable cases submitted for our review if they require examination and dealt with." Economic Challenges and Proprietorship Status Wednesday's embattled owner Dejphon Chansiri suggested earlier this year he would be open to selling the club at Hillsborough, but he has not been able to secure a deal with interested parties. Delayed salary payments on time in earlier this year resulted in restrictions being imposed by the league officials in June, stopping Wednesday from completing any transfers or loans for the following recruitment periods, although that restriction was lifted in August. Regulator's Perspective The chairman stated: "Our role exists to serve the fans of Sheffield Wednesday, other clubs in similar situations where fans are dedicated to a regional establishment that has been part of their lives in multiple situations. "I fully appreciate Sheffield Wednesday, as I do for all the clubs that since 1992 have gone to the wall, or approached financial ruin, for causes separate from the followers." Questioned about whether the oversight body could require an chairman to relinquish a club if they are judged inappropriate, the chairman responded: "If your question is 'would we intervene in the final instance?', the answer is once we collect the information and understand the situation, we will." But the chairman emphasized that requiring chairmen to relinquish clubs would be considered the final option and the regulator would prefer to work with them. "The last thing what we want to do is begin intervening in an specific team, an individual owner, without having the opportunity to collaborate with that owner to try and resolve the issues that the club's facing and the owner's facing," Kogan said. "However, realistically, when you examine the past of the game, over the last 20 or 30 years there have been particular chairmen, few in number, but certain individuals who have acted carelessly in the approach they have taken toward their teams and eventually refuse to accept accountability for the future." Wednesday followers have been protesting against owner Dejphon Chansiri during the current campaign 'Mistakes could erase significant advances' The chairman convened with representatives from 110 clubs to explain the responsibilities of the oversight body this week and maintained it represented a "progressive gathering" with a "substantial involvement" from the grassroots to elite level. "The role holds considerable importance, because if errors are made, if the world of football gets it wrong, the remarkable development accomplished could disappear rapidly," the regulator warned. "This represents everyone's worst fear in the terms of English football is a substantial accomplishment - we must maintain momentum. "There's an enormous amount of money flowing into the game and has been channeled for the recent generations, because certainty is lacking it will continue to come into football, which is part of the rationale behind I think we have to maintain a focused outlook on risk and of course, of the next two or three years." Elite Division Worries The Premier League opposed the establishment of an oversight body because of apprehensions regarding adverse consequences on the Premier League's sporting equality, but Kogan said: "I fully support the success and growth as an commercial operation of the Premier League. "As someone who appreciates the apprehension regarding damaging the division as a high-quality offering of England. But at the same time, if you engage with division representatives after today's meeting, they would have had a significant degree of comfort -and, in fact, they have been informing us confidentially they have a significant confidence." Political Connections The regulator remains subject to a "comprehensive investigation" by the public appointments commissioner after he revealed he contributed money to the opposition group in 2020. The 68-year-old donated money to government minister Lisa Nandy's leadership campaign, along with that of the now Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer. "I have fully disclosed my past party membership [with Labour], and that party membership ceased the day the official body endorsed my nomination," Kogan said. "I am no longer involved in any sort of politics."