New IFR chair David Kogan talks the current crisis at Sheffield Wednesday, and sends a powerful warning to other club owners.
David Kogan, newly appointed chair of the Independent Football Regulator (IFR), highlighted Sheffield Wednesday as a “significant problem” in English football due to owner Dejphon Chansiri’s failures, including unpaid taxes (HMRC) and player wages, leading to a sixth transfer embargo.
In BBC interviews, he expressed full sympathy for fans, stressed the importance in protecting historic clubs like Sheffield Wednesday from irresponsible ownership since 1992 (also referencing clubs like Bury).
He met with supporters’ groups, MPs, and EFL, while also aware of political pressure in Sheffield.
IFR powers (including an investigation, intervention) will activate in coming months via consultations and secondary legislation.
They can force unsuitable owners to sell as a “last resort” if evidence shows mismanagement; prefers collaboration but will act decisively.
It won’t dictate club operations (no forcing relegation for sustainability), but ensures financial viability across 116 pyramid clubs.
In terms of timescale, quick evidence is gathering on Sheffield Wednesday, with action to activate if the owner continues to be uncooperative.
There are broader warnings for club owners and the state of football with many clubs operating at losses; with the IFR to assess risks, mitigate unsustainable models assuming endless funding.
David Kogan: “Clearly Sheffield Wednesday has been a significant problem for the EFL and a significant problem of football. Sheffield Wednesday is one of the great brands of English football.
“This week we have met Sheffield Wednesday supporters groups, four of them. We are aware of the political interest in the city of Sheffield on the future of that club.
“We’re now looking to get powers that will accrue to us over the course of the next period, which will allow us then to have Sheffield Wednesday and other clubs refer to us if they need to be investigated in that one.”
Interviewer: “How much sympathy do you have for the fans of Sheffield Wednesday given its history?”
David Kogan: “Here’s the importance of the job. The job, if you, is there for the fans of Sheffield Wednesday, the fans of Bury, it’s the fans of any football club where people are committed to a local institution which has existed throughout their lifetimes in many cases, certainly in the of Sheffield Wednesday and now appears to be under threat.
“I have absolute sympathy for the fans of Sheffield Wednesday as indeed for all the other clubs that since 1992 have gone to the wall or been close to going to the wall for reasons that have nothing to do with the fans themselves.”
Interviewer: “But this watchdog will have teeth will it? You’re prepared to stand up to Premier League clubs?”
David Kogan: “Absolutely. We will have powers to get involved, powers to investigate and ultimately powers to take action.”
Interviewer: “And does that action include forcing an owner to sell?
David Kogan: “It could.”
Interviewer: “How realistic is it that you will actually action that power? Is that something, is that a last resort? You think you mean when you face challenges? Could that actually happen?”
David Kogan: “It’s a last resort because the last thing in world we want to do is start getting involved with an individual club, an individual owner without being able to work with that owner to try and resolve the issues that the club’s facing and the owner’s facing.
“But the truth is when you look back at the history of football over the last 20 or 30 years, there have been some owners, not many, but some, who have been irresponsible in the way which they’ve imagined their clubs and ultimately don’t wish to take responsibility for the future control and ownership of those clubs.
“And if your question is would we intervene in the final instance, the answer is once we gather the evidence, once we know what’s going on, we will.”
“Many clubs are actually operating at a loss. It’s not just a few, it’s actually a substantial number.
“I think the role is critically important. I also think it’s going to be extremely challenging and I also think the world of football now is looking to the future and we as a regulator are going to be part of that.
“What we really need think about is do clubs just continue as they are, assuming that the gushes of money going to continue, or do we have to now get into a position where we’re assessing the real validity of risk within the world of football and as a regulator, try to find ways of mitigating it.
“And that really is the job and I think it’s a job that’s actually really important because if we get it wrong, if the of football gets it wrong, extraordinary progress that’s been made in last 30 years will vanish incredibly quickly and that’s what nobody wants in terms of English football.
“It’s a huge success story, we’ve got to keep it going.”
Interviewer: “The sense from the Premier League certainly was that there were concerns of interference in what they regard as a highly successful export for this country. How hard would it be, do you think, to win them over?”
David Kogan: “I’m absolutely committed to the success and growth as an economic entity of the Premier League. I have been since 1999. So I, of all people, understand the concern of undermining the Premier League as a premium product of this country.
“But at the same time, I think, actually, if you took to the Premier League after today’s meeting, they would have had a high level of reassurance. And indeed they have been telling us in private they have a high level of reassurance.”
New IFR chair speaking on BBC5live this morning regarding SWFC and other club owners.#SWFC #WAWAW pic.twitter.com/tQDgIv2lL3
— The Wednesday Week (@TWWcast) October 9, 2025
The new IFR chair also spoke on BBC Radio 5 Live…
Interviewer: “So as a Sheffield Wednesday supporter, it feels like a question of when rather than if the regulator needs to take drastic action to change what feels like an existential crisis. What are the timescales for change? I mean, basically, can you force an unsuitable owner to sell?”
David Kogan: “Well, let me go into Sheffield Wednesday in some detail. First of all, we’ve been meeting Sheffield Wednesday supporters groups. We’ve been meeting MPs and members of the House of Lords from the area.
“And we’ve also been heavily involved with the EFL and looking very clearly at the position within Sheffield Wednesday and the way in which the owner is failing to pay money to both the HMRC and to its players. And so we are very conscious of the issue.
“Sheffield Wednesday is one of the great brands in English football and is very, very important to English football.
“Our powers will start kicking in over the course of the next few months. We put out a consultation on ownership four weeks ago. We’ve now got the response to that consultation.
“Parliament needs to put through secondary legislation which will again start I think in the course of the next few weeks.
“So we will are working on a timetable now where ultimately we’ll be able to investigate Sheffield Wednesday and get the evidence very very quickly because there’s lots of it around and then we will take whatever action is necessary.
“And my view is not just for Sheffield Wednesday but for any club that is in trouble we need to investigate it, get the evidence and then take a decision.
“But ultimately if we can’t get an owner to agree with us about the next course of action we have the right to force the owner out of the club.”
Interviewer: “Another question here sort of related to that. If the last resort is to force an owner to sell, does this mean you’d support an owner attempting to cut their cloth to reflect revenue and to make a club sustainable even if that means the club will be relegated and become sustainable at a lower level?”
David Kogan: “Well we don’t tell owners how to run their clubs. What we do is to look at 116 football clubs in the pyramid and try and ensure they’ve got a long-term future in terms of their own financial sustainability. Whether an owner chooses to put in more funds, whether they choose to raise more debt, whether they choose to cut their cloth, whether they choose to invest in, it’s a good question, by the way.
“I mean, you it’s really down to the owners of the club. I’m not looking, and we don’t have the power to take over clubs and run them. What we have the power to do is to investigate financial sustainability and see what they’re going to do to meet the tests that we’re going to give them and how they react to that is going to come down to an individual club and an individual owner and they’re all going to be different because as you know in football everything is always different.”
Sheffield Wednesday coach resigns, staff take action, John Textor talks potential takeover
Henry Winter tweeted: “David Kogan appointed as chair of the Independent Football Regulator to encourage/force the game to get a grip of finances, governance and ownership issues, and not before time. Football’s shown it can’t govern itself. It needs someone to help. Much is right about football but plenty wrong. “There are urgent and critical issues that need addressing in football, and I look forward to working with all stakeholders to achieve the right solutions for a more sustainable industry,” Kogan says.
“Clever appointment. Kogan doesn’t suffer fools, incredibly bright (important in a sport increasingly riddled with lawyers) and well-respected by the leagues, PL and EFL, for his work negotiating TV rights deals. He’ll need to be a mix of tough and patient. DCMS says Kogan will be “remunerated at £130,000 per annum for an initial time commitment of three days per week”. He’ll need three days a week just to work on the shambles at Sheffield Wednesday.
“#SWFC today hit with sixth embargo, this time for delayed wages to players. Fans intensify plans to try somehow to get a wretched owner, Dejphon Chansiri, to behave responsibly towards the club and sell up.
“@SWFCTrust calling on fans not to renew season tickets early – “no funding our own decline” – and to boycott the Middlesbrough game on 22 Oct.
“Huge, difficult and painful call to ask long-standing fans to break their season-ticket habit. Some already are not re-applying simply because they don’t want to give any more money to Chansiri. Heart-breaking to stop going and supporting the team they love but needs must, more pressure needed on Chansiri. Kogan’s first challenge (of many). Good luck to him.”
Here’s how fans reacted as the new IFR chair talks the crisis at Sheffield Wednesday crisis, and sends a powerful warning to other club owners…
@Jay_Blogs: David Kogan saying what you’d expect at this stage, speaking broadly. If an owner doesn’t to be forced to sell they have to work with the IFR, if not they have the power to force them. Chansiri does not have the resources to work with them and is rebound for being difficult to work with. I can only see one outcome here.
@MDN099: When do these people ever speak in absolutes? He’s not guaranteeing anything & that’s probably because he’s not got the full picture yet. This won’t be an overnight thing either, it’s going to take time. So unless Chansiri agrees to sell, we better batten down the hatches.
@TWWcast: Yeah I get that bit, truly understand. It’s a good litmus paper test about how this is going to play out isn’t it. Politician talk and “we need to push through this legislation” which surprisingly hasn’t been done yet. Dan
@IzzyNicholson: It wasn’t supposed to go through until Feb next year and has been brought forwards. It will def be a long process. I’m happier it’s being spoken about cautiously because too hard and you could create the legal case against the regulator at this stage.
@MarkJoh30738739: This sounds promising…talks a great game. Let’s see how big their bollocks are! #swfc #EnoughIsEnough
@chris_shelley: He has to manage expectations. We can’t expect a quick resolution but if he thinks there could be one he’s not going to say that out loud now. Hopefully what he says behind closed doors to Chansiri (if he can get hold of him) is different.
@parkinbower: I wasn’t expecting him to go guns blazing instantly but I expected him to be a bit more blunt than he was. It did leave me wondering whether this will even have the teeth we need it to have or it will be another government tick box exercise
@OwlSam97820: Well he could have gone on all guns blazing and said yeah we’re gonna get the bastard out on the first week that they are up and running. He chose to be honest and stated that all the ducks aren’t in a row just yet, but the evidence and the means to remove him will be there soon.
@TWWcast: After the announcements and interviews of the new independent football football regulator. Is anyone else concerned about the non committal language used by David Kogan?He spells out a long drawn out process with the chairman and his removal? There is a lot of “could”, “can” and “might” On the BBC outlets he’s been a part of
@JadBaron: his language is giving Chansiri every opportunity to remove himself in a dignified way, while also admitting that in the end they’ll have to drag him out screaming
@nigelwi21110365: Whilst they obviously have to through the relevant legal processes, might as well jump straight to formal involvement in selling, trying to reason with Chansiri is pointless. Longer they mess about the more sanctions and greater the inevitable ultimate points deductions will be.
@TomMoor00441129: Why aren’t those powers already in place? It takes an age to get legislation drafted, approved and given Royal Assent.
@martynware: ‘Eventually’ may be too late I fear
@apanfull: Gave me hope that interview.
@JohnDBell1985: Thing is, if they dont sort Wednesday out and force DC out, they lose all credibility before they’ve even got started
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