Sheffield Wednesday owner slammed after ordering fans to send him millions to 'save Championship club'

Sheffield Wednesday owner Dejphon Chansiri has been criticised after calling on fans to raise £2 million to 'save the club'.

Wednesday have had a horror start to the Championship season after promotion from League One last term, picking up just one win from their 14 games and sitting bottom of the table.

That victory came in the 2-0 win over Yorkshire rivals Rotherham, who are also in the relegation zone, on Sunday.

The Owls have had three managers since beating Barnsley in the League One play-off final, with Darren Moore replaced by Xisco Munoz before the season got underway.

After Xisco's sacking earlier this month, former Bayern Munich assistant Danny Rohl took up his first managerial post at Hillsborough.

But while matters on the pitch are hardly going well for Wednesday, things are even worse off the pitch.

Chansiri, who led a consortium that took over the Owls in 2015, has come under increasing criticism from Wednesday fans since the club was relegated from the Championship in 2021.

They were relegated as a result of a six-point deduction for breaching rules surrounding the sale of Hillsborough, though did almost pull off a thrilling final-day win over Derby which would have kept them up.

In a statement last month, Chansiri confirmed that he would no longer invest in the club after abuse aimed at him by supporters.

And now, Chansiri has made another extraordinary statement in an interview with the Sheffield Star.

Last week, the Owls were put under a registration embargo by the EFL due to money owed to HMRC, meaning that they can't register players without the league's consent.

And Chansiri has called on fans to raise around £2 million needed to pay off the tax bill and wages, and to avoid the club receiving a longer embargo.

The club are eight days into a 'persistent default', and as per The Star, if they cannot pay wages alongside the HMRC default, it would count as double towards a limit of 30 days of persistent default in a 12-month period, by which time the club would be liable to a three-window embargo.

He explained: "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 10th if they don't want to pass the 30 days, but that means that there can be no next time.

"It'd need to be before to make it safe - if it was on the 5th, then there would be 10 days left... If we were to hit 30 days then we'll get a ban for three windows."

Getty)

Chansiri invited 'supporters who describe themselves as owners' to come forward to the club - and added that anyone who does invest would be paid back with interest.

The Thai said that he is awaiting late payments for deals in his business dealings, and explained: "Money has not come in time, you have to understand that businessmen invest and do not keep cash in hand, we never keep money in the bank. We spend and invest.

"Of course we need to get money back. If the cash flow is bad then we have a problem. I am not broke, the problem is cash flow."

Chansiri added that he was not blaming the fans over Wednesday's current situation, and expanded: "The more positive [fans], who backs me up? Then show me, back me up. We don't have money.

"The first thing you need to do is save the club. If we don't pay in 30 days, we have a big issue.

"If you want to save your club, this is your chance. Do not protest, save your club. If not, we will get a transfer ban over three windows, there's a possibility we will go to League Two or the National League.

"If you don't want to save your club, then don't call yourselves the owners and me the custodian. If you save your club, then you have the right to ask me to leave.

"There is no need to make it complicated. I could leave no issue. That is the easy way.

"I have tried my best for almost nine years. I try everything even in the Covid situation with no revenue. If I wanted to make it bad, I would have already left. I don't need to be here."

In a statement, the Sheffield Wednesday Supporters' Trust wrote: "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.

"We have contacted the FSA (Football Supporters' Association) and the EFL to alert them and seek guidance on this unprecedented announcement."

SPORTbible are on WhatsApp! We've launched a dedicated news channel to send you the latest news, features and plenty more directly on WhatsApp and all you need to do to sign up is click through to our one-way broadcast channel here for 'SPORTbible News' to appear in the 'Updates' tab on your WhatsApp.