'We are going to be a part of football's future' - football oversight chief the new chairman
Sheffield Wednesday's persistent issues are seen as a "serious issue" and the new football authority is aiming to acquire authority to examine team situations in such situations, the newly appointed chairman David Kogan has announced.
During an extensive discussion, the chairman, who was appointed on Monday, showed understanding towards Wednesday's fanbase.
Kogan met with four supporters' associations associated with the Championship side this week.
The team have been facing challenges both on and off the pitch in 2025, with the club failing to pay players on time on five separate occasions, including in last month.
"Evidently Wednesday represents a significant problem for EFL and a substantial concern for English football," the chairman stated.
"The club represents one of the historic institutions for English football and in recent days we have met fan representatives.
"Our aim is to acquire the ability... which will enable us to take Sheffield Wednesday - and other clubs brought to our attention if they warrant scrutiny and dealt with."
Economic Challenges and Leadership Concerns
The team's struggling chairman the Thai businessman suggested earlier this year he would be prepared to relinquish control at Hillsborough, but he has not been able to secure a deal with interested parties.
Delayed salary payments on time in March and May led to sanctions by the league officials in summer, blocking the team from conducting any recruitment activities for the next three transfer windows, although that restriction was lifted in late summer.
Regulator's Perspective
The chairman stated: "The job [of the regulator] is there for the Owls followers, Bury or any football club where people are committed to a regional establishment that has existed throughout their lifetimes in many cases.
"I have absolute sympathy for Sheffield Wednesday, as I do for every team 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."
Questioned about whether the oversight body could require an chairman to relinquish a club if they are judged inappropriate, the chairman responded: "Should the inquiry concern 'would we intervene in the final instance?', the response would be once we gather the evidence and understand the situation, we will."
But Kogan stressed that forcing owners to sell clubs would be treated as a "last resort" and the authority would rather to cooperate with proprietors.
"Our least desirable course of action is start getting involved with an particular organization, an specific proprietor, without being able to work with that owner to try and resolve the issues that the club's facing and the owner's facing," the regulator explained.
"In actuality, when you review the record of the sport, over the last 20 or 30 years there have been some owners, not many, but certain individuals who have acted carelessly in the manner they have operated their teams and eventually refuse to accept accountability for the coming years."
Sheffield Wednesday supporters have been protesting against the current proprietor in recent months
'Errors may undo substantial development'
The regulator engaged officials from numerous teams to lay out the remit of the authority recently and insisted it was a "forward-thinking discussion" with a "high level of engagement" from the lower divisions to the top flight.
"The role holds considerable importance, because if errors are made, if the sport makes errors, the remarkable development accomplished might evaporate rapidly," Kogan said.
"Such an outcome is universally undesirable in the terms of English football is a huge success story - we need to continue the progress.
"There's an enormous amount of money entering the sport and has come into football for the recent generations, because certainty is lacking it will keep flowing into the sport, which is one of the reasons why I think we have to maintain a focused outlook on risk and of course, of the next two or three years."
Premier League Concerns
Top flight officials resisted the establishment of an oversight body because of fears of a negative impact on the top-flight's competitiveness, but the chairman responded: "I completely endorse the success and growth as an financial organization of the top division.
"As someone who appreciates the concern of undermining the top flight as an elite competition of the nation. But simultaneously, if you engage with division representatives after this week's discussion, they would have had a significant degree of comfort -and, actually, they have been informing us confidentially they have a considerable comfort."
Ideological Links
Kogan is still facing a "full inquiry" by the public appointments commissioner after he acknowledged providing funds to the Labour Party in recent years.
The 68-year-old contributed funds to government minister Lisa Nandy's leadership campaign, along with that of the now Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer.
"I have been entirely transparent regarding my former ideological connection [with Labour], and that ideological connection terminated the day the official body endorsed my nomination," the chairman stated.
"I am presently disconnected from any sort of politics."
