Sheff Wed a 'significant problem' - football regulator

Sheffield Wednesday's struggles are a "significant problem" and the football regulator is seeking powers to investigate clubs in such situations, its new chair David Kogan has said.

In a wide-ranging interview with BBC Sport, Kogan, who was appointed on Monday, expressed "sympathy" towards supporters of the Owls.

Kogan met with four supporter groups associated with the South Yorkshire club this week.

The Championship side have been struggling on and off the field in 2025, with the club failing to pay players on time on five separate occasions, including in September.

"Clearly Sheffield Wednesday has been a significant problem for EFL and a significant problem for football," Kogan told BBC Sport.

"Sheffield Wednesday is one of the great brands for English football and this week we have met Sheffield Wednesday supporters' groups.

"We're now looking to get powers... which will allow us to have Sheffield Wednesday - and other clubs - referred to us if they need to be investigated and acted upon."

Wednesday's embattled owner Dejphon Chansiri indicated in the summer he would be willing to sell up at Hillsborough, but he has not been able to secure a deal with potential new owners.

Failure to pay player wages on time in March and May this year resulted in restrictions being imposed by the English Football League (EFL) in June, preventing the club from carrying out any transfers or loans for the next three transfer windows, although that restriction was lifted in August.

Kogan said: "The job [of the regulator] is there for the fans of Sheffield Wednesday, Bury or any football club where people are committed to a local institution that has existed throughout their lifetimes in many cases.

"I have absolute sympathy for Sheffield Wednesday, as I do for all the 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."

When asked if the regulator could force an owner to sell a club if they are deemed unsuitable, Kogan said: "If your question is, 'would we intervene in the final instance?', the answer is once we gather the evidence and know what's going on, we will."

But Kogan stressed that forcing owners to sell clubs would be treated as a "last resort" and the regulator would prefer to work with them.

"The last thing what 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," Kogan said.

"But the truth is, when you look back over 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 been managing their clubs and ultimately don't wish to take responsibility for the future."

Kogan met with representatives from 110 clubs to lay out the remit of the regulator on Wednesday and insisted it was a "proactive meeting" with a "high level of engagement" from the National League to the Premier League.

"It's a job that's actually really important, because if we get it wrong, if the world of football gets it wrong, the extraordinary progress that's been made necessary will vanish incredibly quickly," Kogan said.

"And that's what nobody wants in the terms of English football is a huge success story - we've got to keep it going.

"There's an enormous amount of money coming into football and has come into football for the last 20 or 25 years, because there's no guarantee it will continue to come into football, which is one of the reasons why I think we have to take a really clear view on risk and of course, of the next two or three years."

The Premier League opposed the creation of a regulator because of fears of a negative impact on the top-flight's competitiveness, but Kogan said: "I'm absolutely committed to the success and growth as an economic entity of the Premier League.

"I of all people understand the concern of undermining the Premier League as a premium product of this country. But at the same time, if you talk 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."

Kogan is still facing a "full inquiry" by the Commissioner for Public Appointments after he revealed he contributed money to the Labour Party in 2020.

The 68-year-old donated money to Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport Lisa Nandy's leadership campaign, along with that of the now Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer.

"I've been completely open about my previous political affiliation [with Labour], and that political affiliation came to an end the day the select committee approved my appointment," Kogan said.

"I am no longer involved in any sort of politics."