'Our role is integral to football's future' - independent football regulator the regulator's chair
The team's ongoing struggles are seen as a "significant problem" and the independent regulator is looking to gain the ability to investigate clubs in such situations, its new chair the regulator has stated.
Through a comprehensive talk, the chairman, who was appointed on Monday, voiced concern towards the club's followers.
Kogan met with four fan organizations representing the South Yorkshire club in recent days.
The football club have been struggling on and off the field in 2025, with the club missing wage payments on several different times, including in last month.
"Clearly Sheffield Wednesday has been a significant problem for EFL and a substantial concern for English football," the regulator explained.
"Wednesday stands as one of the historic institutions for the English game and this week we have met fan representatives.
"We're now looking to get powers... which will permit us to bring Wednesday and comparable cases submitted for our review if they warrant scrutiny and addressed."
Monetary Issues and Proprietorship Status
The team's struggling chairman Dejphon Chansiri indicated in the summer he would be willing to sell up at the stadium, but he has been unable to finalize an agreement with prospective buyers.
Failure to pay player wages on time in earlier this year led to sanctions by the league officials in summer, blocking the team from conducting any player acquisitions for the next three transfer windows, although the ban was rescinded in late summer.
Authority's Position
Kogan said: "The position was created for the Owls followers, teams facing challenges where people are committed to a local institution that has existed throughout their lifetimes in many cases.
"I fully appreciate Sheffield Wednesday, as I do for every team that in modern times have encountered failure, or been close to going to the wall, for factors unrelated to the supporters."
Questioned about whether the authority might compel an owner to sell a club if they are judged inappropriate, Kogan said: "If your question is 'would we intervene in the final instance?', the reply is once we collect the information and know what's going on, we will."
But the regulator clarified that compelling proprietors to divest clubs would be treated as a "last resort" and the authority would rather to cooperate with proprietors.
"Our least desirable course of action is commence engagement with an individual club, an individual owner, without being in a position to cooperate with that proprietor to address the issues that the club's facing and the owner's facing," the chairman stated.
"In actuality, when you examine the past of the sport, over the past few decades there have been particular chairmen, a small minority, but some who have been irresponsible in the approach they have taken toward their organizations and finally decline to assume obligation for the long-term prospects."
Wednesday followers have been voicing opposition to the team's chairman during the current campaign
'If we get it wrong, extraordinary progress vanishes'
The regulator engaged representatives from 110 clubs to lay out the remit of the oversight body this week and stated it constituted a "proactive meeting" with a "significant participation" from the grassroots to elite level.
"It's a job that's actually really important, because if errors are made, if the world of football gets it wrong, the extraordinary progress that's been made could disappear rapidly," the regulator warned.
"This represents everyone's worst fear in the context of the English game is a major achievement - we must maintain momentum.
"There's an enormous amount of money flowing into the game and has been invested for the past two decades, because there's no guarantee it will keep flowing into the sport, which is one of the reasons why I think we have to take a really clear view on potential dangers and naturally, of the immediate future."
Premier League Concerns
Elite division representatives objected to the formation of an authority because of apprehensions regarding adverse consequences on the top-flight's competitiveness, but the regulator stated: "I'm absolutely committed to the achievement and development as an commercial operation of the Premier League.
"I of all people understand the concern of undermining the division as a high-quality offering of England. But simultaneously, if you talk to the Premier League after today's meeting, they would have had a substantial amount of confidence -and, actually, they have been informing us confidentially they have a considerable comfort."
Political Connections
Kogan is still facing a "thorough examination" by the public appointments commissioner after he disclosed making donations to the Labour Party in 2020.
The chairman provided financial support for government minister the minister's leadership bid, along with that of the current Prime Minister.
"I've been completely open about my past party membership [with Labour], and that party membership ceased the day the official body endorsed my nomination," the regulator explained.
"I am no longer involved in any type of partisan engagement."
