The Sheffield Wednesday owner Dejphon Chansiri has asked the struggling club’s fans to chip in with £2m to pay a tax bill and the wages of players and staff.
The Thai businessman who said last month that he would stop putting more money into the Championship club while he was being “treated unfairly” by supporters, said he had cash-flow issues from his other companies.
Wednesday, who were placed under a player registration embargo last week, owe money to HM Revenue and Customs and are at risk of being put under a transfer embargo.
Chansiri urged fans to raise funds, telling the Sheffield Star: “If 20,000 people gave £100 then it’s £2m, and it’d be clear — so we can finish it.
“That would cover everything, HMRC and the wages. That would need to be done before November 10 if they don’t want to pass the 30 days, but that means that there can be no next time — if we were to hit 30 days then we’ll get a ban for three windows. If you don’t want to save your club, then don’t call yourselves the owners and me the custodian.”
If clubs go for 30 days between July 1 and June 30 either without paying players’ wages or a debt to HMRC, they incur a three-window transfer embargo.
The Sheffield Wednesday Supporters’ Trust said on X: “We are astounded by the request for fans to pay a £2m HMRC bill. A fit and proper owner would not ask fans to do this.”
Wednesday, who recorded their first league win of the season by beating Rotherham on Sunday, are bottom of the Championship.
They were promoted from League One last season but Chansiri then sacked manager Darren Moore before in turn sacking his replacement Xisco Munoz after a winless start to the campaign.
