Championship team hit with huge points deduction in crushing blow after fan protests | Football | Sport
Sheffield Wednesday have received a 12-point deduction in the Championship after being placed into administration. The former Premier League club filed a notice to appoint an administrator at the Insolvency and Companies Court on Friday morning.
Wednesday have faced a host of financial issues recently and reportedly owe around £1million to HMRC in unpaid taxes. In July, former manager Danny Rohl left the crisis-hit club, with the German coach since taking over at Rangers. Henrik Pedersen is currently in charge at Hillsborough, but the club’s issues off the pitch appear to be taking their toll, with the team currently positioned at the bottom of the Championship table after winning just one of their first 11 league matches this term.
Wednesday players have not been paid on time on five occasions in the last seven months due to the financial issues at the club.
Supporters have been growing increasingly frustrated with Owls owner Dejphon Chansiri and have displayed their feelings during a number of fan protests this season.
The team’s Championship clash with Coventry at the start of October was temporarily halted after just 10 minutes of action after a number of angry fans invaded the pitch. And thousands of fans boycotted the team’s match against Middlesbrough earlier this week.
Just 7,081 fans were in attendance at the stadium to watch Wednesday lose 1-0, with 3,699 of those reportedly being seated in the away section. In contrast, 22,224 supporters attended the match against Coventry.
Coventry boss Frank Lampard expressed his sympathy for the situation at Hillsborough before guiding his team to a comprehensive 5-0 win against the struggling outfit.
“The first thing I’d say is I’ve got a lot of sympathy with Sheffield Wednesday fans because I grew up when Sheffield Wednesday was always a big football club, and it still is,” explained the former England midfielder.
“I understand their emotions, even though I’m not completely in touch with the story.”
According to talkSPORT, Wednesday will be placed into administration imminently.
And former Crystal Palace chairman Simon Jordan told the media outlet on Thursday: “I would guess if there’s a requirement to run this football club, it probably takes £10million to run it for the rest of the season. I think there’ll be solutions, but I think they’re difficult.
“The fans are in no uncertain terms making their views very, very clear. And they’re not prepared to go inside a football stadium and give them one scintilla of their money.”
