Championship football club on brink as owner issues brutal statement demanding fans pay him £2m
Dejphon Chansiri has challenged Sheffield Wednesday fans to help save the club
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Sheffield Wednesday's owner Dejphon Chansiri has said the club must raise £2million in order to save the club.
The Owls were placed under a registration embargo for non-payment to HRMC last wek.
Sheffield Wednesday then proceeded to finally get their first Championship win of the season with a 2-0 victory over Rotherham on Sunday.
A brace from Michael Smith gave them all three points, though they remain rooted to the bottom of the table.
Football news: Dejphon Chansiri has a rocky relationship with fans of Sheffield Wednesday
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Sheffield Wednesday are currently struggling to pay their players and staff members, however.
They are currently nine days into a 'persistent default' over their non-payment to HRMC.
If they accrue 30 days, they could be banned from signing players for the next three transfer windows.
And Chansiri has now turned on supporters of the club and demanded they raise funds in order to save the club.
He told the Sheffield Star: "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.”
Chansiri, somewhat unsurprisingly, has a poor relationship with supporters of the club.
And he recently defended the way he runs the Owls, while also recognising the difficult period they're in.
"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," he added.
"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.”
He continued: "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 a 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.
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Dejphon Chansiri has been the owner of Sheffield Wednesday for nine years
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"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.
"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."