{"id":231155,"date":"2025-07-02T05:12:21","date_gmt":"2025-07-02T05:12:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/231155\/"},"modified":"2025-07-02T05:12:21","modified_gmt":"2025-07-02T05:12:21","slug":"how-sheffield-wednesday-descended-into-chaos-under-dejphon-chansiris-ownership","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/231155\/","title":{"rendered":"How Sheffield Wednesday descended into chaos under Dejphon Chansiri\u2019s ownership"},"content":{"rendered":"

It is nine weeks since Sheffield Wednesday last played a home game but the flyposting around Hillsborough helps to illustrate a long summer of rancour.<\/p>\n

\u201cChansiri out\u201d is the simple, scrawled message, set against a collage of cult heroes and trophy lifts.<\/p>\n

Wednesday\u2019s happiest recent times in the early 1990s, when they were regulars in the upper echelons of the top flight and frequent travellers to Wembley in cup competitions, seem a long time ago. It is 25 years since they were last in the Premier League and Wednesday now resemble a decaying club under the ownership of Dejphon Chansiri, a 57-year-old businessman whose family own the Thai Union Group (TUG), the world\u2019s largest producer of canned tuna. The money has dried up and so, too, has hope.<\/p>\n

The summer has brought no respite to the anxiety. The majority of Wednesday\u2019s first-team players have gone through June without pay, prompting the English Football League (EFL) to impose a transfer ban that will run until 2027. Another payday came and went on Monday of this week, again with the bulk of staff going unpaid.<\/p>\n

Last Thursday was supposedly the first day of pre-season for the Wednesday squad, but talented head coach Danny Rohl was not there to greet players: he had signalled his intent to move on as far back as April. Most of his support staff, too, formally saw their contracts expire on June 30.<\/p>\n

No friendly games have been announced, nor any pre-season tour. With the new season beginning in six weeks, it feels unlikely that Wednesday will be in any fit state to tackle it.<\/p>\n

Not with two EFL transfer embargoes now in place. One for the non-payment of players, the other for taxes owed to HM Revenue and Customs. The latter liability, as per the league\u2019s regulations, was self-reported last week and made public on Friday. It promises to make it a summer rebuild with two hands tied.<\/p>\n

This is a club crying out for a fresh start but Chansiri has refused to grant it. A rare public statement, issued last week, reiterated his willingness to sell but negotiations with two consortiums in the last month have failed to reach an agreement at a time when there is no money left to meet the wage obligations.<\/p>\n

Chansiri said one group, led by Sheffield-born businessman Adam Shaw and American real estate investor John Flanagan, had offered \u00a340million ($55m) and \u201climited future Premier League promotion payments\u201d but had deemed that short of his expectations. There were apologies, too, for the financial strain but weary fans no longer wish to hear them.<\/p>\n

\u201cI do think there\u2019s a genuine concern about the future,\u201d says James Silverwood of the Sheffield Wednesday Supporters Trust. \u201cLook at other clubs who have found themselves in similar situations with this type of owner, and it\u2019s not a happy story.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe manager, the lack of preparation, the transfer window bans\u2026 They\u2019re all concerns but they speak to a deeper concern about what the future is going to bring.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Athletic has spoken to numerous members of staff, past and present, as well as agents and associates, to tell the story of Chansiri\u2019s turbulent reign, all on the condition of anonymity to protect working relationships.<\/p>\n

One of English football\u2019s oldest clubs is in distress and nobody can be sure where the suffering might end.<\/p>\n

Wednesday have become the EFL\u2019s greatest headache this summer.<\/p>\n

Dai Yongge\u2019s inglorious and overdue exit from Reading, selling up to U.S. businessman Rob Couhig in May, has shifted focus to Hillsborough, where the reserves have seemingly run dry.<\/p>\n

The EFL\u2019s chief executive Trevor Birch and chief operating officer Nick Craig were among representatives of the governing body to host a meeting with Wednesday fans on June 6, vowing to help \u201cfacilitate a sustainable outcome\u201d.<\/p>\n

\"chansiri-sheffield-wednesday\"<\/p>\n

Chansiri at Hillsborough in 2015 (Matthew Lewis\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n

The late payment of wages has been a common thread of Chansiri\u2019s reign but never to this extent. Salaries for March came late, repeating a scenario from 2021, when the club failed to meet its obligations in four consecutive months to incur another EFL charge. Only the Covid-19 pandemic brought leniency on that occasion and a suspended six-point penalty.<\/p>\n

Wages for May were late across the board and, at the time of writing, were still overdue to the majority of the first team. The Athletic has been told that only a small number of first-team players have at least been paid in full for May, with preference given to those considered assets.<\/p>\n

There would be a good reason for that. FIFA rules stipulate that any player failing to receive two monthly salaries on their due date can serve a 15-day notice to their club for payments to be settled. If the cash is not forthcoming, they are able to leave as a free agent. Those with a reasonable market value seem to have been denied that opportunity but others will be free to do so after another payday was missed for the first-team squad on Monday.<\/p>\n

The Professional Footballers Association has taken a dim view, calling Wednesday\u2019s actions \u201cunacceptable\u201d. Only 16 senior players have contracts running into next season at this stage but the EFL sanction, one that Wednesday have appealed, will not allow fees to be paid for any new permanent or loan signings in the next three transfer windows.<\/p>\n

The non-playing staff eventually got their salaries in full 12 days late into June after being given the option of accessing emergency funds through their line manager or department head. \u201cUnforeseen delays\u201d was the only explanation given to staff in emails sent by the club\u2019s HR department and seen by The Athletic.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe (Chansiri) would want to save face if he possibly could,\u201d says one former staff member. \u201cWe were paid late four or five times and it was never a conversation he would relish someone having to do on his behalf.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe always tried to ensure he looked after the lower earners. They\u2019d be the ones he paid. That\u2019s what has made me think, \u2018There must be a problem here\u2019 now because even those weren\u2019t being paid on time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Some people who have worked with Chansiri call him \u201cwell-intentioned\u201d, but finding advocates of his management is increasingly difficult. \u201cHe doesn\u2019t listen to anyone,\u201d feels one person familiar with Chansiri\u2019s methods. \u201cHe doesn\u2019t want or take advice.\u201d<\/p>\n

Chansiri does not operate a board of directors and is the only shareholder in the club he has owned for over a decade. According to documents filed at the UK\u2019s Companies House, no other figure has held a position of authority at Wednesday since Katrien Meire stepped down as chief executive in February 2019 after a brief spell in the post. Chansiri has effectively sailed this ship alone.<\/p>\n

Few staff members are in direct contact with Chansiri, who has preferred to use Line \u2014 a messaging and social networking app, similar to WhatsApp \u2014 to send and receive messages. UK staff would typically have to download it to speak with him.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe has the final say on everything, not just football,\u201d says one former associate, who believes Amadeu Paixao, the Portuguese agent unofficially employed as a club advisor, was one of the few with the potential to shape Chansiri\u2019s thinking.<\/p>\n

One former employee calls him a \u201ccontrol freak\u201d, someone compelled to involve himself in even the smallest of decisions. They said that Chansiri would want to see evidence of three quotes having been sourced on even basic equipment or supplies, proving the cheapest available option had been sought.<\/p>\n

That image jars with the excess of Chansiri\u2019s opening years in charge. Of the \u00a3167million he is estimated to have invested in Wednesday since 2015, including the purchase price of \u00a337.5m, the bulk was injected during the years where promotion to the Premier League came agonisingly close. Wednesday finished in the play-offs in consecutive seasons in 2016 and 2017 but lost in the final against Hull City and semi-finals to Huddersfield Town, respectively.<\/p>\n

\"Carlos<\/p>\n

Then Wednesday manager Carlos Carvalhal at Wembley in 2016 after the play-off final defeat by Hull (Ian Kington\/AFP via Getty Images)<\/p>\n

With parallels to the recent demises of Derby County and Reading, aiming for the stars resulted in a breach of the EFL\u2019s profit and sustainability rules.<\/p>\n

Chansiri had attempted to circumvent the limitations by selling Hillsborough for \u00a360m to a company he owned \u2014 Sheffield 3 Limited \u2014 but it could not be included in the accounting year that needed profit recorded. An initial 12-point deduction from the EFL was reduced to six in 2020 but proved decisive in their relegation to League One.<\/p>\n

Chansiri\u2019s investment has been minimal since but it has not prevented cash flow issues. A \u00a32m bill owed to His Majesty\u2019s Revenue and Customs brought an EFL registration embargo in 2023; Chansiri said in an interview with the Sheffield Star newspaper that 20,000 fans could solve the problem by each contributing \u00a3100<\/a>. Chansiri paid off that HMRC bill days later but it has been seen as the point his relations with supporters began to plummet.<\/p>\n

Chansiri has gradually built up an unflattering image as being awkward, combustible and intransigent.<\/p>\n

Silverwood, a founding member of the Supporters Trust, met Chansiri three times during the 2021-22 season in the hope of forming stronger relations. The Trust would be left disappointed, with lines of communication now cut. Their latest step, with a \u201cheavy heart\u201d, was to call for an immediate boycott of all official club merchandise and retail yesterday.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Silverwood\u2019s impressions of Chansiri, unsurprisingly, are far from positive. \u201cHe quite obviously holds fans in disdain,\u201d he says. \u201cHe\u2019s someone who\u2019s not used to being challenged and also temperamentally incapable of taking criticism in any form.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s a prickly character. He\u2019s difficult to talk with because you\u2019re not really having a dialogue. The way he likes to converse is that you fire a short question at him and he responds with a monologue. You\u2019re not having a conversation back and forth. You\u2019re being talked at.\u201d<\/p>\n

Chansiri has said little during this turbulent summer but it is not true to say that he has shied away from direct contact with supporters. A fans\u2019 forum held in January spanned five hours, with the owner eager to deliver his messaging in the middle of a transfer window that undermined any hope of gatecrashing the Championship\u2019s top six.<\/p>\n

A working relationship with Rohl unravelled, with January additions failing to meet the head coach\u2019s requirements to secure a play-off position. Wednesday would eventually finish 12th, their highest standing since 2018-19, but Rohl indicated his wish to find a new challenge for 2025-26.<\/p>\n

The last weeks have been emblematic of a chaotic summer. Rohl was informed that he should return to work on June 12, two weeks before his players. This was ignored, with Rohl\u2019s representatives eventually beginning negotiations over his exit last week.<\/p>\n

Chansiri can now look forward to working with his 10th manager since taking over, a turnover rate that has added to the sense of instability.<\/p>\n

Even when Wednesday did generate positive momentum in 2023, when they won promotion back to the Championship after a remarkable play-off campaign which included coming back from 4-0 down against Peterborough United in the semi-finals, manager Darren Moore left 21 days later by mutual consent.<\/p>\n

The replacement, Xisco Munoz, failed to even reach the October international break after failing to win any of Wednesday\u2019s opening 10 Championship games. \u201cChansiri burst the bubble as soon as it was blown up,\u201d says one former member of staff.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Rohl has impressed as Wednesday manager (Stephen Pond\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Those who worked with Chansiri saw that point as a wasted opportunity. A wage bill that climbed as high as \u00a342.4m in 2017-18 had been cut, ensuring the two seasons in League One bucked the dangerous five-year trend of wages exceeding turnover.<\/p>\n

Any time spent in the third tier would be considered ignominious for a club of Wednesday\u2019s size but it had at least acted as a financial reset. The 2023-24 season in the Championship, the most recent for which accounting figures are known, was another season of moderation.<\/p>\n

Chansiri, though, chose to roll the dice again. Ike Ugbo was signed for \u00a32.5m from Troyes last summer in a deal that bucked the trend of frugality. The former Celtic and Southampton midfielder Stuart Armstrong, signed from Vancouver Whitecaps in January, was another to join the club\u2019s highest earners. That short-term deal expired this week and it is thought Armstrong will be among those waiting on overdue wages.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s not stupid but he\u2019s probably a gambler,\u201d says one former staff member. \u201cIt\u2019s that chance to get back into the Premier League, isn\u2019t it? The clever thing to do would\u2019ve been to get back to the Championship and sell it because it had reset. But he can\u2019t let go of it because it\u2019s that chance to get to the Premier League.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hillsborough, Sheffield Wednesday\u2019s home since 1899, has come to symbolise the Chansiri era. Weeds sprout from the top of walls and there are panels missing from the facade of the club\u2019s megastore on Penistone Road. Shirts carrying the name and number of Barry Bannan, who does not have a contract for the coming season but has continued to train in the last week, are displayed opposite the entrance.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

(Phil Buckingham\/The Athletic)<\/p>\n

It will be the largest venue by capacity in the Championship next season, at 34,835, but Hillsborough is tired and, in places, scruffy. The only visible upgrade in the week that pre-season was scheduled to begin was a coat of blue paint being applied to the exit gates of the West Stand, once known as the Leppings Lane End, where 97 Liverpool fans lost their lives in 1989. The Athletic reported last August on the safety concerns raised in the 2023-24 season.<\/p>\n

Wednesday have pointed more proudly to the upgrades on the training facility at nearby Middlewood Road. This summer, they say, has brought \u201csignificant investment\u201d in facilities that had irritated Rohl but even that has come with complications.<\/p>\n

Renovation work is expected to leave training pitches unplayable until the start of next week at the earliest, a point when the first-team squad will begin a week St George\u2019s Park, the training home of the England national teams. Players returned to pre-season testing on Thursday, taking on individual programmes amid the disruption, but this is expected to be a build-up beset by distractions.<\/p>\n

Chansiri\u2019s long statement last week offered no clarity on wage delays, transfer bans or managerial changes, choosing instead to focus on the prospects of a takeover.<\/p>\n

As far back as 2018, when the EFL\u2019s spending limits began to bite, Chansiri says he has been open to a sale but no suitors have come close to ending an increasingly toxic chapter.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

(Phil Buckingham\/The Athletic)<\/p>\n

The North American group, including Flanagan and Shaw, twice tabled bids in the hope of buying out Chansiri. In an interview with The Athletic last month, their stated aims included increasing Hillsborough\u2019s capacity to 55,000.<\/p>\n

Chansiri, though, claims that a failure to proceed with negotiations was not on him. He says a \u00a35m downpayment failed to materialise ahead of advanced talks in Thailand before a pre-arranged Zoom meeting saw Chansiri\u2019s invite go unaccepted.<\/p>\n

Conjecture swirls around where the strained story goes from here. Chansiri\u2019s family wealth is significant (Forbes estimated it at $585m in 2020) but there is little to suggest the club has access to it. A London-based lawyer has been appointed by TUG to engage with any potential bidders.<\/p>\n

Milan Mandaric, who sold Wednesday to Chansiri in 2015 in what he last week described as a \u201chealthy condition\u201d, will not be among them. Mandaric, 86, had raised the prospect of returning to Hillsborough during an interview with BBC Radio Sheffield but has since accepted others must not be hindered if a sale process is to be smooth.<\/p>\n

For now, Chansiri fights on. Analysis of Wednesday\u2019s accounts indicates that in the region of \u00a3115m is now owed to the owner in the form of loans. Administration, should it come to that, would hurt Chansiri more than anyone.<\/p>\n

\u201cI take full responsibility for being unable to fulfil my current obligations,\u201d he said in the statement last week. \u201cBut a further obligation I have is to ensure that if the club is sold, it is sold to the right people with the right credentials who can sustain Sheffield Wednesday and take the club forward.\u201d<\/p>\n

That leaves fans braced for more strife and worry ahead of a season that suggests Wednesday will be among the Championship\u2019s weaker teams.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are two ways it could go,\u201d says Silverwood. \u201cEither the economic realities of the situation \u2014 the fact that he can\u2019t fund the club \u2014 make him realise he has to sell. Or, alternatively, he\u2019s going to somehow be able to cling on and things get potentially even worse.\u201d<\/p>\n

Silverwood is convinced the end is nigh for the Chansiri era. \u201cHis position is unrecoverable,\u201d believes Silverwood. \u201cBut it\u2019s a question of how long it takes and how bad it gets before the end actually comes. That\u2019s the open question at the moment.\u201d<\/p>\n

And the greatest fear.<\/p>\n

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