Sheffield Wednesday and Dejphon Chansiri charged by EFL over late payment of wages
Sheffield Wednesday have been charged by the Football League (EFL) with "multiple breaches" of their regulations after once more failing to pay their staff on time.
And owner/chairman Dejphon Chansiri has also been charged personally for not keeping his commitment to meet the club's financial commitments.
The charges relate to the "ultimate beneficial owner" – Thai businessman Chansiri – and the club failing to meet their obligations to pay players’ wages on time and in full in March and May 2025.
Wages for May were due on Friday and at the time of going to press, are understood to have not yet been settled in full, something Chansiri has publicly apologised for,
Not unusually for a Championship club, the Owls do not generate enough money on their own to sustain their wage bill and other costs, which is why owners such as Chansiri are required to promise they will ensure financial obligations are met.
Clubs who are late in paying wages in full over the course of 30 days – either in one block or cumulatively – between July 1 and June 30 in any given year are put under a transfer embargo until the matter is resolved. Once it is, they can be put under "fee restrictions" for three transfer windows, preventing them from paying transfer, compensation or loan fees for signings in that time, and limiting the size of their squads to 23 players of "professional standing".
Clubs are given a written warning when they hit the 10-day mark, and issued with a fine after 20 days, which Wednesday are thought to have passed during the delay to wages in March. The fine can be £6,000 or five per cent of the money outstanding.
Whilst transfer embargoes are published on the Football League's official website after a two-working day grace period, the clubs under fee restrictions are not made public, so if Wednesday are put under one, it is likely to be Thursday before it is made public.
Clubs have 21 days to appeal fee restrictions, or the length of them.
The club and Chansiri have 14 days to respond to the charges but are yet to comment on whether they or Chansiri plan to appeal the charges against them.
Included in a brief statement on their website, they said: "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."
The case will be heard by an independent legal commission, which will also decide the sanctions against Wednesday.
Although they do not count towards this charge. the fact that the Owls also failed to pay players on time and in full late in the 2020-21 season could be taken into consideration.
Because there are charges against the club, who can benefit in a sporting sense from having a bigger wage bill than they can sustain, a change of ownership will not allow them to dodge punishments, though it can be used in mitigation. There has been reported interest in buying the club but as yet no offers are thought to have been accepted.
Chansiri bought the Owls in January 2015 but has been under increasing pressure from supporters in recent years to sell.
The club was put under a transfer embargo in October 2023 for not paying HMRC bills, and again in November 2024, though this was resolved by the time January's transfer window opened.
In 2020-21 they were deducted six points for breaching spending rules – a punishment which ultimately saw them relegated to League One.