Chansiri urges Sheffield Wednesday fans to save club with £2m donation for HMRC and wages

Owner Dejphon Chansiri urges the fans of Sheffield Wednesday to help save their club with a £2m donation for HMRC and wages.

Chansiri has asked the struggling Championship side’s supporters who ‘call themselves owners’ to come up with £2m within the next few days to save them from a multi-window transfer embargo.

He went on to admit in the interview with Sheffield Star that players and club staff might not be paid this month amid major cash flow issues.

As of Mon, club eight days into ‘persistent default’ due to HMRC debt – clubs can only accrue 30 days total in 12 months or face three-window embargo. If player wages left unpaid too – DC claims likely – means two defaults, so each day counts double. Club on the clock.#SWFC🦉

— Alex Miller (@AlexMiller91) October 31, 2023

Suspended points deduction for non-payment of players not an immediate concern. Ended last year.

As per suspicion, asked multiple times if this was gameplay / a warning / show of strength to protesting fans. DC denied that to be the case.

Lots more detail in the story.#SWFC🦉

— Alex Miller (@AlexMiller91) October 31, 2023

Chansiri said in the interview: “With HMRC, if we don’t pay until, say, the fifth of November, then that means it’s been 14 days, but if we don’t pay wages as well then that’s five days – that means a total of 19 days. Each issue counts separately.

“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 fifth then there would be 10 days left… If we were to hit 30 days then we’ll get a ban for three windows.”

When questioned on how he intends to gather funds from the club’s fan base to cover the shortfall, Chansiri calls on ‘supporters who describe themselves as owners’ to come forward and invest in however way they choose – and adds the those who donated would get paid back with interest.

He denies deliberately withholding funds, and in doing so effectively playing a game to stress his financial importance to the club.

He goes on: “Why would I need to play a game? If I don’t pay my staff and they get mad with me then my club is going to be worse. If the staff don’t get money, they don’t do their job and the club is worse off. Why would I take the risk to make problems for my people? That is my last choice to do. I always try to protect my people as much as I can, but if I try my best and cannot do it, then my people must understand. If they don’t understand then I cannot help that. I can create trouble since Covid if I want to, I did not do it. You do not understand how important this club is to me and my family. I have been here nine years and it is a part of my life.”

Amid cash flow issues he faces, Chansiri states he’s waiting late payments for deals in his business life away from Wednesday.

He said to The Star: “We have a problem with cash flow. 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.

“If I had money in the bank, why wouldn’t I pay? There is no cash flow, money is not in the bank, how am I going to pay? I need to wait until money comes in. I did it last month, if I did not inject money I would have already done it. There was no need to wait until this month.

“All over the world there is a shortage of cash flow because of the economy, of Covid, of Russia, Israel. This is normal in business now and I need to accept that because the club relies on my money. The people who owe me money in business have not paid on time because they are short of cash flow too. It is a domino, it will affect more people. What can I do? We prepare but the money has not come. If they do not do that, what can I do? This situation is happening all over the world.

“Those who say it is their club, when it was clear we had an issue with HMRC, people came out and said ‘Chairman, you need to take responsibility to pay’, that if we don’t pay we have to sell ‘our club’ – why do they say ‘our club’? I never heard any fan say ‘we need to prepare to save our club’, they just say I have to leave. It’s funny, they say they are owners and I am custodian.

“We try to generate money for the club as best as we can. We need to try to get money but the negative fans don’t help. I am not blaming fans. I am not blaming, I am explaining they don’t help. People (potential sponsors) don’t know us, they just see us on social media, so why are they going to sponsor us when they just see rubbish all the time? We need fans in bad times as well as good.”

Sheffield Wednesday were placed under a registration embargo for non-payment to HMRC last week.

Chansiri says wages for part-time, casual and lower-paid staff, along with any other ‘small payments’ would be paid on time, including local businesses owed money by the club and adds that current cash flow issues have no bearing on the charge taken out on the stadium, with the payment already paid off for this year with no immediate concern over the club’s short-term Profit & Sustainability commitments.

“We have a problem with cash flow,” he said. “It means I am waiting for funds to come to me so that I can transfer to the club. If I don’t pay players or staff, it doesn’t mean I am playing a game, it means I am waiting for money. I want to know what ‘those fans’ are going to do to protect your club? Negative ones say they are the majority now. If you call yourselves the owner this is your chance to save the club. I am confused – are the negative the majority or is it the positive that are the majority? We try to generate money but negative fans do not help. We don’t want to fight inside and outside, it is tiring. If they do not want to save their club, that’s fine, but do not create trouble.

“We will talk about negative ones first. The 1867 or whoever they are, it’s funny. People just follow them and they don’t know who they are. They want to protest and for me to leave, but nobody comes to save the club. The more positive ones, 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. Maybe the negative fans would be happy, they wouldn’t be able to moan that things are too expensive. So now you have the right. If the positive fans want me to stay, then this is their chance to save their club.”

Chansiri also said in the interview that he would try his best to get Hillsborough’s non-playing staff paid on time, but says they is a concern some may not if cash flow issues aren’t resolved.

“I always think about my people, and I’ll do my best, but what I can tell them is that whatever I owe them, even if nobody pays me, I will pay them (eventually),” he said. “I’m not cheating. If there are issues then that is my responsibility and I need to solve it… Whoever really needs something, we will pay them. But maybe not all of it, we’ll try to divide it to help out people. If there are people with problems who cannot wait then we’ll make sure we don’t create problems for them.

“We don’t want to create trouble for them, especially for the ones who are on minimum wage or part-time – for them we’ll try and pay them everything. It’s only the ones who have the higher salaries that may have to wait… But if some people say that they need it all now, even if they don’t need it, then I can’t help – because of the cash flow problem. But this could change very quickly

“I try. I try very hard to get money here. It’s difficult, they (those with debts owed to him) promise me but nothing comes. I still love this club. I don’t want anything to happen to this club. I ask the ‘owners’ to save your club because I have done my best. If we’re lucky and money comes tomorrow or another day then no issue. But I am trying many times. I should let the fans know and I ask them to save and love their club. This is your best chance, especially the negative ones.

“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.”

This is what Twitter users had to say as Chansiri urges Sheffield Wednesday fans to save the club with a £2m donation for HMRC and wages…

@RickyKeogh: Chansiri out. Can’t afford to run the club and asking the fans for a £2m loan is beyond ridiculous. The football league should make him put the club up for sale. @EFL intervene now. #SWFC #ChansiriOut

@IChambers82: Best playoff comeback ever, winning at wembley, for promotion fans on a high destroyed by one man in a matter of weeks, finally appoints best management team we’ve had in ages, win our first game optimism returns, again destroyed by one man in days #swfc

@WTID87: I would quite happily put in £100 to fund this on the pretence that he fucks off and keeps fucking off!!!! #swfc

@Owlstalk: The way to save the club is not to hand over £100 each to keep this person in place. The way to save the club is to do everything in our power to get him OUT of it #swfc

@LewisSouthy: If you want to respond to Chansiri’s threat and deliver the man bags of money, that’s your call. What I’d ask you is ‘if the money (that we as supporters have already paid) didn’t make it’s way to HMRC last time, what makes you think it will make its way there this time?’ #swfc

@tommyuto: Why could he just not have told us earlier? He’s such a prick taking the high road blaming all of us but never told us we were in trouble. Fans need to be prepared for the restart outside the EFL. #swfc

@RocketRawson: Jesus wept! We seemingly can’t go a Month without the little man getting his bout of Egotistical, megalomaniac syndrome! #swfc

@BonkinBobby: Wednesday fans have provided consistent 20-25k+ attendances watching some dreadful football at times, record breaking shirt sales, and purchased official #SWFC tape measures and hole punches for inflated prices for a long time now. We’ve done our bit. He can fuck off.

@_owlornothing_: My heart hurts. So many people give up so much time to make our club a better place. Staff. Volunteers. Fans. Thrown back in our faces along with a bizarre ransom demand to save the face of one man, who never cared about the time we gave up – that didn’t pay the bills. #swfc

@Bereyt0114: Even after the none payment to HMRC news came out I still went to the game Saturday and said I just want to block out the circus and just concentrate on the football 11 vs 11. We won and I felt positive but yet again Chansiri comes out with something ridiculous! I’m done! #swfc

@WTIDPOD: Administration is quickly becoming a reality.

@ROldfieldDesign: Been calling DC out for a good five years and got nothing but abuse for it of those defending him. He’s finished #swfc

@nattasswfc: Sell the club you petulant, arrogant, argumentative, fan hating, self loving, positivity zapping crook. You are incapable of successfully running Sheffield Wednesday. You have failed and the time has come for you to swallow your pride and SELL THE CLUB. #swfc #ChansiriOut

@TomJubb1867:
Dejphon chansiri: I’m the one who saved the club
Also Chansiri: lend me £2 million please 😂😂😂😂😂 #swfc