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EFL charges Sheffield Wednesday over payment delays; consortium leader speaks in interview

The EFL charges Sheffield Wednesday over payment delays; and John Flanagan, a US-based consortium leader, speaks in an interview.

Sheffield Wednesday and owner Dejphon Chansiri face charges from the English Football League for breaching payment regulations, specifically for failing to pay players’ wages in full and on time in March and May.

Chansiri is also charged for not meeting his commitment to fund the club’s cash needs. They have 14 days to respond to the charges.

Meanwhile, John Flanagan, representing a US-based consortium, discussed their attempts to purchase Sheffield Wednesday in an interview.

The consortium made two offers: one in April, which was quickly rejected, and an improved offer about ten days prior, also rejected without a counteroffer from the club’s chairman, Dejphon Chansiri.

Flanagan believes their offer, structured with upfront money and performance-based incentives, reflects a fair market value based on the club’s current state.

The consortium, composed of businessmen, former and current athletes, and sports franchise owners, is financially equipped to drive the club forward.

Their interest in Sheffield Wednesday stems from its rich history, passionate fanbase, and untapped potential, with a vision to rebuild the club’s foundation, including its academy and facilities, to aim for Premier League promotion and long-term competitiveness.

They admire models like Brighton and Brentford for sustainable success and see significant commercial potential in the club, citing examples like Wrexham’s business-driven approach.

Infrastructure investment, fan experience, and ticket pricing are priorities, with a focus on transparency and communication with supporters.

Flanagan expressed interest in retaining manager Danny Rohl and building a robust executive team, including roles like sporting director and CEO.

Negotiations with Chansiri have been challenging, described as “unique,” with cultural differences possibly affecting communication.

Despite setbacks, Flanagan remains hopeful but acknowledges the deal depends on Chansiri’s willingness to sell at a mutually agreeable valuation.

EFL STATEMENT:

Sheffield Wednesday Football Club has been charged with multiple breaches of EFL Regulations relating to payment obligations.

The owner of Sheffield Wednesday, Dejphon Chansiri, has also been charged with causing the Club to be in breach of EFL Regulations despite his commitment to fund the cash requirements of the Club.

All charges relate to both the Ultimate Beneficial Owner and the Club failing to meet their obligations to pay players’ wages on time and in full in March and May 2025.

The Club and Mr Chansiri have 14 days to respond to the charges.

SHEFFIELD WEDNESDAY STATEMENT:

Sheffield Wednesday acknowledge the statement issued by the EFL on Tuesday afternoon.

The club continue to seek a resolution regarding outstanding salaries due for the month of May at the earliest possible opportunity.

Mr Chansiri sincerely apologises to all players, coaches and staff affected and everyone connected with the club.

We will make no further comment at this time.

INTERVIEW WITH JOHN IN FULL:

Rob: John, it has been reported that two offers have been made to buy Sheffield Wednesday. What is the latest news, and have both of those bids been rejected?

John: Yeah. Thanks, Rob. So, yeah, we originally approached the team with an offer back in April. That offer was promptly rejected. After a couple weeks of kinda seeing some new developments with the club, we went back with an improved offer, I’d say, about a week and a half ago. That offer was was also rejected. Rejected also with no counteroffer, just we were told that the club would not be selling for for the value that we offered them.

Rob: How serious is the consortium’s offer? Is it a fair market value offer based on your understanding of the value of the club?

John: Yeah. Absolutely. The fair market value of any offer is relative to how anyone views the state of an asset. Right? And the club right now is is considered an asset. When we looked at it, you know, we looked at it and said, how is the best way to structure an offer for this? So we actually structured an offer with certain incentives, based on performance so that, you know, we believe if we’re able to implement our our strategy, that we’ll be able to drive a club into places that it hasn’t seen for for years. And that’s kinda why we built the team here in the first place. So our offer, we thought, was a fair offer with upfront money, but also some pretty significant we’ll call them kickers on the back end should, should the club be able to, you know, achieve certain successes.

Rob: Why are you interested in buying Sheffield Wednesday?

John: It’s a good question. I think any Wednesday fan would would know why anybody would be interested in in buying Sheffield Wednesday. Right? The history, first and foremost. There’s really not much more to be said. You you can’t you can’t just build history overnight. It’s something that Wednesday and and Wednesday fans and supporters have done for well well over a century. And, frankly, with that history comes a certain responsibility of ownership. Right? Ownership in theory doesn’t actually own the team. The fans and the supporters do. It’s ownership’s job to make sure that they put the right individuals in place to achieve the level of success that a club deserves. So when it came to why we decided on Wednesday and, frankly, why we’ve stuck here, you know, for the last couple months instead of going and looking elsewhere is the opportunity. Right? The opportunity that Wednesday prevent presents with the support that it has, with the history that it has is, frankly, second to none, with any club at this level. And, really, that’s kinda why we decided to kinda stick to Wednesday. And then, additionally, having someone like Adam, who’s a lifelong Wednesday fan, supporter, someone that had some great insight into the club, into its opportunity, and, you know, just gave us a real strong foundation of of why we should stay here and and look to purchase this club.

Rob: What can you tell us about the members of the consortium and who are these individuals?

John: So I’ll be pretty high level with that answer, because we do have a fair amount of members that are, publicly known individuals and and don’t want their their names thrown out there at this point in time. What I can say is that we have built a group of businessmen, of former and current professional athletes, individuals that may own sports franchises at the current moment who have seen success in both ownership. So we built out a team that not only is financially sound to push the club forward, but a team of individuals that I think will strategically help with insight to help grow the opportunity here, you know, at the club.

Rob: Are there sufficient funds available within the consortium to drive the club forwards?

John: Yes. Absolutely. Absolutely. It’s the access to capital, that you really have to focus on when you build out the consortium. Right? And at the end of the day, it’s not just the individuals, but the connections those individuals have to access that capital. So we are very, very well capitalised and have the opportunity to sink as, you know, as much capital in in an efficient way, right, that that we need to to push the club forward.

Rob: Let’s imagine a scenario where you do buy Sheffield Wednesday. What is the vision for the future? What are the ambitions of this consortium?

John: I mean, the ambitions are the same thing that everyone’s ambitions would be. Right? Get into the Premier League. Try and get into the top five. Try and be a perennial competitor in the Premier League. But it would be naive of anyone to sit here and say that that’s something that’s around the corner. You know, the goals is to really kinda rebuild the foundation of Sheffield Wednesday. Right? When we look at it as outsiders, the academy needs to be brought back to a level that’s competitive within English football. The grounds, both the training grounds and Hillsborough, whether it’s Hillsborough or or potentially even building a new stadium, You have to get that back to a level that players want to come to. So I think we really have to start at the beginning. Right? You’re gonna get any owner can walk in here or potential owner or group consortium or individual and say, oh, yeah. We wanna get to the Premier League, and we wanna we wanna be playing in the, you know, the Champions League final in twenty years. Okay. That’s great. But, you know, that doesn’t happen overnight, and it doesn’t happen without really building a strong foundation with it.

Rob: Have you looked at models used by other successful football clubs? You know, people can look at the Brightons, the Brentfords in the Premier League, top franchises in the United States that you could use for inspiration as well. Have you looked at models that have worked to other teams?

John: Yeah. I think English football or or specifically European football in general is it’s a different animal. You know, being from The United States and growing up a fan of of, you know, sports teams over here, it’s a bit of a different model, right, just depending on the league. Football and English football, specifically with the pyramid. Right? It it creates a completely different dynamic. So you do have to look at at clubs overseas that have had success and how they’ve had success. Right? And to your point, you know, certain clubs that aren’t just throwing money at every problem. Not everyone can do what Man City has done because they don’t have the Qatari government behind them. Right? And not everyone can do what, you know, other clubs have done because you can just throw a bunch of money at any problem. That’s not the way our consortium plans are working, and it’s it’s not a feasible scenario for really any group that’s not a, you know, the Sultan of Brunei or a private invest or a public investment fund. So, yes, to answer your question, absolutely. And that’s something that that we’re, you know, not only currently and formally have looked at, but we’ll continue to look at moving forward to see where the opportunities for those successes are.

Rob: What do you make of the commercial potential at Sheffield Wednesday and within English football in general?

John: The the commercial potential is huge. I mean, just look at the media rights and how significantly those have increased just in the last decade to fifteen years. One thing that we noticed from the outside is that the opportunity commercially for Sheffield Wednesday hasn’t really even dipped its toe in the water. Right? Look at the sponsors or lack thereof. You know, look at where things have gone over the last couple years when it comes to capitalising on certain commercial opportunities. You know? Look at a Wrexham, which may be a poor example, but look at how they’ve taken a small team from Wales and the commercial opportunity that they’ve created with their United Airlines deal and so forth. It creates such an, it’s such a necessary aspect to current sports, whether it’s English football or the MLB and Major League Baseball. You have to commercialise. And if you don’t do it successfully, then it it makes it nearly impossible for you to compete. And I think I use Wrexham as the example is the reason Wrexham is able to compete outside of the celebrity aspect and so forth is they run it like a good business. You know? They’ve taken a club and gotten back to back to back promotions because it’s been run like a good business. And, frankly, they’ve given it back, you know, to the fans and and allowed the fans to really take that roller coaster ride up with them. So I think the opportunity at Wednesday is is massive.

Rob: You’ve already talked about building the club up and the academy being a focal point of that. So is it safe to assume that investment in infrastructure and the facilities at the club will be a big part of your plan?

John: No question. It’s one of the top things, when it comes to the plan. Building the infrastructure of the club is extremely important. Right? And and it goes back to what I was saying before. If you can’t entice individuals to come play for you, and that’s, you know, that’s multifaceted. That’s the training staff. That’s the training facilities. That’s the academy. That’s, you know, everything that goes into any sports franchise across the world. If you don’t have premier facilities, then you’re not gonna attract the type of talent that you need to compete on the level you wanna compete at. So infrastructure is extremely important. And, you know, I think there’s there’s obviously a lot of aspects to that, but I think it goes a long way to to make, you know, significant investments in infrastructure.

Rob: Ticket prices have been a big talking point for Sheffield Wednesday fans for a long time as is sort of the the overall fan experience. As a consortium, if you were to take control of the football club, is this something that you would look at?

John: Yeah. No question. What I would say in regards to that is I think you you can separate that and say the fan experience and ticket prices, but I would say they go hand in hand. Right? Because an individual has no problem paying for tickets if the experience is good, if they can go to the stadium and have a great experience, if they’re getting the good product on the field that they’re showing up to see. And that’s not saying that that Wednesday doesn’t have a good product currently, but there’s a reason why people pay more to go watch Arsenal than they do to go watch a lower level League One team. Right? So, yeah, it’s absolutely something we’re looking at. I think when it comes down to it, the experience for the fans is really all encompassing. It’s gonna come down to what value do they see the second that they purchase anything, whether that’s a kit in the club store, whether that’s a ticket to walk through the doors, whether it’s going to the concession stand and making sure that it’s well enough filled so that if if they they they want a beer or they want a hot dog or they want anything from the concession stand, it’s there for them. That the stadium is clean. That, you know, everything is kinda run-in a way that makes their lives easier because they’re spending their hard earned money to come and support the club. If you’re not putting that money back into the club to support these fans, then you’re missing the mark.

Rob: In terms of the footballing side of things, would you appoint a full staff that includes things like a sporting director, a chief executive, or a COO? Are are these the kind of roles that you would bring to the club that are currently not there?

John: Without a question. And we’ve already had some preliminary conversations with individuals just to see if there would be interest if there was ever a chance that that we were able to take over the club. Again, I’m not sure I I hold my breath on that because we haven’t even received the counteroffer. But I think to build a club, you need the right executives in place. You have to hire the right individuals, put them in the right positions, and give them the opportunity for success. And so that is absolutely part of our plan.

Rob: Have you contacted the manager Danny Rohl, and would he be part of your plans?

John: Yeah, Rob. So I have not personally spoken to Danny, but I will say that, he is our number one target. I think that, you know, what we have seen, is he has, you know, shown that he is the right manager for Sheffield Wednesday. And whatever his own personal reasoning is or the situation that he’s found himself in to be in the position he is now, I, you know, I can’t really speak on. But, if he is available and we have the opportunity to take over the team, he would absolutely be our number one target because, you know, frankly, we do believe that he is, the individual that that can really bring this team back to the the places that it has been in the past. It just is gonna come down to, as you had mentioned in your previous question, you know, building out an executive team with a sporting director and and a CEO and so forth. I think the manager is just as important as the players. Right? If you do not have the right manager in place that can able that can squeeze the most out of their players, And I think, you know, if the opportunity is there, Danny is definitely our number one, and, you know, we would we would love to have him as a manager if if that was possible.

Rob: If there was a breakthrough in conversations between the consortium and the and the current existing chairman, how quickly could you put your plans in place if the deal was agreed?

John: I will say that’s that’s a bit of a of a loaded question, to a certain extent. You know, obviously, this is not a a process that’s fast per se. We can move fast. Don’t get me wrong. But even if the chairman were to come back to us, and accept an offer, that we both agreed upon, you know, there clearly would be a period of due diligence, and stuff that we would have to go through. We would try and do that as fast as possible. That’s the reason we approached the club back in April is to give us as much time as possible, and and, you know, it it just kinda leaves everyone in a bit of a precarious situation. So I will say that we can move fast. How fast, I can’t give you an exact timing on that because, you know, there is a lot of details that would need to be worked out even after an offer would have been, you know, agreed upon, know, by both sides. So, I’ll just kinda leave it at that.

Rob: Are you confident you can reach an agreement in the near future? And can you talk to us a bit about how talks have gone and the challenge of trying to buy Sheffield Wednesday and what your experience has been?

John: I will say to say it in the most respectful way possible, Mr Chansiri owns the team. It is his team and his club to sell at whatever price he decides that that he wants to sell them at. So to answer your question, I don’t know. I’d love to think that there there would be a way to get an agreement in place. I really do think that our group could be extremely beneficial to the club moving forward. But it’s been a unique situation, I will say from the beginning. Even going off of the initial approach, I mean, we were we were very simple with our initial approach. It came via email. We sent them an email. We said, hey. We’d like to put a potential offer in to purchase the club, and we got a quick response that was, for all intents and purposes, no. And based on other conversations we’ve had over following couple weeks, did a similar thing. After having a meeting, with the chairman himself, we clearly are not lining up on what the valuation of the club is. And, you know, with with some of the, say, newer things that have come out and about the club in recent times, I mean, we’ll say the value isn’t going up. So, I would love to say that there’s an opportunity and that we would be able to take it over, but it’s going to come down to whether or not the chairman decides that he wants to sell and that we’re the individuals or group that he wants to sell to.

Rob: What kind of a relationship do you want to have with the Sheffield Wednesday supporters?

John: Any ownership group would wanna have a transparent and communicative relationship with the fans, with the supporters. Right? At the end of the day, as I said a little bit earlier in the interview, the real owners of the club are the supporters. The ownership group is just a conduit between making sure that things run a certain way and the supporters getting to enjoy their club. Right? And and that’s really what I think our group brings to the table is is that full understanding. There’s no egos here. Right? We don’t need to be sitting in some fancy box with our suits on and saying, you know, we own the club. No. It’s not the case. And I think it’s become pretty clear in the scenario now that you can see the way the supporters have voiced opposition to what is currently going on, and they wanna see their club thrive. They wanna see their club get back to a level that it has been to in the past. And that starts with communication, and it starts with transparency, and it starts with showing a plan in place to bring that club forward. And, frankly, at the end of the day, I’m not the person running the club. Adam’s not the person running the club. Any other member of our consortium might be the person running the club. You hire the right people that are in the right positions to take advantage of the opportunities that lie ahead.

Rob: How have you found dealing with Chansiri?

John: It’s with all due respect to to the current chairman, I’m obviously not speaking for him, but our on our side and in our communications, it’s been a bit surprising. I’ve done a lot of business, had a lot of negotiations, throughout my career, and this has been the most unique, to say the least. I know he’s a very prideful individual, an individual who has, you know, shown that that he loves the club by sinking a lot of money into it. So I understand, where some of his frustrations may come from when it was talked about our offer. Right? I’m sure everyone saw that that our offer was termed as derisory when it first came out, which as American, I actually had to look up that word and see, exactly what it meant. So it’s been very unique dealing with it. And I’m not sure it may be a a cultural thing that that I’m not understanding. You know, I know every country is a little bit different in into how they do business negotiations, but I was a bit surprised that even on the second offer, we were basically told, if this is what you’re willing to spend, then go buy a League One or League Two club.

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