'We will play a key role in football's future' - independent football regulator David Kogan
Sheffield Wednesday's ongoing struggles constitute a "significant problem" and the new football authority is aiming to acquire authority to examine team situations in similar circumstances, its new chair the regulator has stated.
Through a comprehensive talk, Kogan, who was named to the position this week, expressed "sympathy" towards supporters of the Owls.
Kogan met with four supporter groups connected to the football team recently.
The team have been experiencing difficulties in multiple areas 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 major challenge for the sport," the chairman stated.
"Wednesday stands as 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 referred to us if they warrant scrutiny and addressed."
Financial Struggles and Ownership Situation
The club's controversial proprietor Dejphon Chansiri indicated in the summer he would be willing to sell up at the stadium, but he has been unable to finalize an agreement with interested parties.
Delayed salary payments on time in spring months resulted in restrictions being imposed by the league officials in mid-year, preventing the club from carrying out any recruitment activities for the next three transfer windows, although that restriction was lifted in the end of the transfer window.
Authority's Position
The chairman stated: "The position was created for the Owls followers, teams facing challenges where fans are dedicated to a regional establishment that has represented their community in numerous instances.
"I completely understand the club's situation, as I do for every team that over recent decades have faced collapse, or approached financial ruin, for reasons that have nothing to do with the followers."
Questioned about whether the authority might compel an proprietor to divest a club if they are considered unfit, the regulator answered: "If your question is 'would we intervene in the final instance?', the reply 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 authority would rather to work with them.
"The final option we would consider is start getting involved with an individual club, an specific proprietor, without being in a position to cooperate with that owner to try and resolve the issues that the club's facing and the proprietor's dealing with," the regulator explained.
"In actuality, when you look back over the history of the sport, over the past few decades there have been certain proprietors, a small minority, but particular people who have shown negligence in the approach they have taken toward their teams and eventually decline to assume obligation for the long-term prospects."
Owls fans have been demonstrating against owner Dejphon Chansiri during the current campaign
'Mistakes could erase significant advances'
Kogan met with representatives from 110 clubs to lay out the remit of the regulator on Wednesday and insisted it was a "forward-thinking discussion" with a "substantial involvement" from the grassroots to elite level.
"This position carries substantial significance, because if we get it wrong, if the sport makes errors, the remarkable development accomplished could disappear swiftly," the chairman stated.
"And that's what nobody wants in the terms of English football is a substantial accomplishment - we've got to keep it going.
"Considerable investment flowing into the game and has come into football for the last 20 or 25 years, because there's no guarantee it will persist in entering the game, which is among the factors explaining I think we have to maintain a focused outlook on risk and of course, of the coming seasons."
Premier League Concerns
Elite division representatives objected to the creation of a regulator because of fears of a negative impact on the top-flight's competitiveness, but Kogan said: "I'm absolutely committed to the prosperity and expansion as an commercial operation of the top division.
"As someone who appreciates the apprehension regarding damaging the top flight as an elite competition of the nation. But simultaneously, if you engage with division representatives after the recent gathering, they would have had a high level of reassurance -and, in fact, they have been advising us privately they have a considerable comfort."
Partisan Associations
Kogan is still facing a "full inquiry" by the official appointments authority after he acknowledged providing funds to the opposition group in recent years.
The chairman provided financial support for Culture Secretary the politician's campaign, along with that of the now Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer.
"I've been completely open about my previous political affiliation [with Labour], and that ideological connection terminated the day the official body endorsed my nomination," the regulator explained.
"I am presently disconnected from any sort of politics."
