Sheffield Wednesday file notice to appoint administrator

Sheffield Wednesday have filed a notice to appoint an administrator, court records show.

The club filed the notice at 10.01am on Friday morning at a specialist companies court.

Reports have well-documented the club’s financial issues under current owner Dejphon Chansiri, including an imminent winding-up order from HMRC.

Now, Wednesday has filed a notice to appoint an administrator at the Insolvency and Companies Court, a specialist court within the High Court.

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Penalty

Wednesday have not commented immediately but plan to release a statement in due course.

Under EFL rules, the club would face a 12-point penalty for entering administration.

Fans have held protests calling on Chansiri to sell throughout the season, including during Wednesday night’s Carabao Cup tie against Middlesbrough at Hillsborough.

Supporters boycotted the game in their thousands in a bid to force Chansiri out.

Wednesday remain under multiple embargoes for tax debts after failing to pay players and staff on time five times this year, including in September.

Responsibility

Even the Government has joined calls for Chansiri to sell up, with Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy telling a select committee on September 10: “The Government’s view is very strongly that football club owners are custodians of those clubs, and they have a responsibility to hand them on in better shape to the next owner and to the next generation of fans.

“In Sheffield Wednesday’s case, I am really extremely concerned about the current ownership and the lack of willingness to sell the club and invest in the club, something I’ve been discussing very closely with local MPs.

“The Government is keeping a very close eye on it and our message to those owners is that change is coming.”

Football’s new independent regulator will have powers to force an owner to divest in extreme circumstances once it is fully up and running.

The Sheffield Wednesday Supporters’ Trust described it as “one of the most bittersweet days in our club’s proud 158-year history”.

“Entering administration was the inevitable outcome of years of financial mismanagement, a lack of accountability and repeated failures to engage credible buyers,” the Trust statement continued.

“Administration is not to be celebrated. It needn’t have ended this way. But we are overjoyed to have Dejphon Chansiri out of our club for good.”

READ MORE: Pressure piles on Sheffield Wednesday chief as HMRC prepare winding-up petition