Sheffield Wednesday are a prime example of how not to prepare for a Championship campaign, as negativity continues to consume the football club.

A triple transfer embargo was slapped on Sheffield Wednesday at the start of July, with the most damaging being their £7k-a-week wage budget restriction and their inability to sign players for fees until January 2027.

While Wednesday settled outstanding payments to the HMRC and saw one of their embargoes removed last week, turmoil has followed the club throughout the summer.

With a raft of players exiting Hillsborough, leaving their squad dangerously thin on the ground, Danny Rohl is also set to be sacked by the club after his return to training didn’t go down well with the playing squad.

So, with a mountain of problems piling up, including multiple failed takeover bids, one finance expert has shed some light on their punishments.

Why the EFL are taking a ‘harsh’ approach with Sheffield Wednesday

The problems started this summer when Dejphon Chansiri failed to pay his players and staff. Across May and June, the playing staff either received their payments late or didn’t receive them at all.

Players were allowed to terminate their contracts if wages went unpaid, and the likes of Michael Smith and Josh Windass have left on a free transfer to pursue their careers elsewhere.

With just a week until Chansiri is required to pay wages for July, there are fears even more players could leave S6, with Akin Famewo in talks over a switch to Hull City.

The situation in South Yorkshire is grim, and football finance expert Kieran Maguire has explained why the EFL have taken a ‘harsh approach’ with Sheffield Wednesday after hitting them with multiple embargoes.

“There are two issues in the sense that the embargo is presumably linked to payments for loan players,” Maguire said on the Wednesday ‘Til I Die podcast.

“Why are the EFL taking such a strict approach? The reason why that is because the EFL and the Premier League and UEFA and FIFA, they’re all operating in a house of cards.

“If you take a look at the Premier League, for example, there are 3.6 billion pounds of unpaid transfer fees. You only need one or two clubs to say ‘I owe 50 million here, 20 million there, and I’m not going to pay it for whatever reason’, and the club due to receive it says, ‘hold on, that was going to pay our wages for the next three months’.

“The whole of football could unravel, so that’s why we’re seeing the authorities take such a harsh approach.”

Administration could be best option for Sheffield Wednesday

The Sheffield Wednesday fanbase are praying for someone to save them from their financial abyss and takeover from Chansiri.

Unfortunately, an unnamed consortium stalled in their takeover of the Owls, putting them back to square one after Tilman Fertitta showed an interest in Sheffield Wednesday.

In June, finance expert Rob Wilson claimed administration could be the ‘best outcome’ for Sheffield Wednesday, as while it would hand them a points deduction, the EFL would then intervene and ‘support the sales process’.

“While many think of administration as a last resort, particularly given the points sanction that would follow, it actually presents a best outcome for the club and its supporter base,” Wilson said.

“While administration points to financial instability and could see some key assets undervalued or sold under pressure, the process would actually enable SWFC to reset its financial liabilities, enable the EFL to intervene and support the sales process and secure a new level of investment or ownership that stabilises the club in the medium term.”

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