'We will play a key role in football's future' - football oversight chief David Kogan
The Championship club's persistent issues are seen as a "serious issue" and the independent regulator is seeking powers to investigate clubs in comparable cases, the recently named head the regulator has declared.
During an extensive discussion, Kogan, who was appointed on Monday, expressed "sympathy" towards Wednesday's fanbase.
The chairman convened with four supporters' associations representing the Championship side recently.
The football club have been facing challenges both on and off the pitch in this season, with the club missing wage payments on multiple instances, including in the autumn.
"Evidently Wednesday represents a major concern for the league and a substantial concern for English football," the chairman stated.
"Wednesday stands as one of the iconic names for football in England and in recent days we have met supporters' organizations.
"Our aim is to acquire the ability... which will enable us to take Wednesday and comparable cases referred to us if they warrant scrutiny and addressed."
Economic Challenges and Proprietorship Status
The team's struggling chairman the Thai businessman indicated in the summer he would be willing to sell up at their home ground, but he has failed to complete a sale with potential new owners.
Failure to pay player wages on time in earlier this year resulted in restrictions being imposed by the English Football League (EFL) in mid-year, stopping Wednesday from completing any recruitment activities for the subsequent signing windows, although the ban was rescinded in the end of the transfer window.
Authority's Position
The regulator explained: "The job [of the regulator] is there for the Owls followers, other clubs in similar situations where fans are dedicated to a local institution that has been part of their lives in many cases.
"I have absolute sympathy for the team's plight, as I do for every team that since 1992 have gone to the wall, or been close to going to the wall, for factors unrelated to the supporters."
When asked if 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 answer is once we collect the information and understand the situation, we will."
But Kogan stressed that forcing owners to sell clubs would be considered the final option and the oversight body would choose to cooperate with proprietors.
"The last thing what we want to do is commence engagement with an particular organization, an specific proprietor, without being able to work with that chairman to fix the challenges confronting the team and the chairman's encountering," the regulator explained.
"In actuality, when you look back over the history of the sport, over the recent generations there have been certain proprietors, not many, but particular people who have shown negligence in the way which they've been managing their clubs and ultimately don't wish to take responsibility for the future."
Sheffield Wednesday supporters have been protesting against owner Dejphon Chansiri this season
'Mistakes could erase significant advances'
The chairman convened with representatives from 110 clubs to detail the scope of the regulator on Wednesday and maintained it represented a "proactive meeting" with a "significant participation" from the National League to the Premier League.
"This position carries substantial significance, because if we get it wrong, if the sport makes errors, the significant advances achieved necessary will vanish swiftly," the regulator warned.
"This represents everyone's worst fear in the realm of domestic football is a substantial accomplishment - we need to continue the progress.
"There's an enormous amount of money coming into football and has been channeled for the last 20 or 25 years, because there's no guarantee it will keep flowing into the sport, which is part of the rationale behind I think we have to take a really clear view on challenges and obviously, of the coming seasons."
Premier League Concerns
The Premier League opposed the creation of a regulator because of apprehensions regarding adverse consequences on the Premier League's sporting equality, but Kogan said: "I completely endorse 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 concurrently, if you engage with division representatives after this week's discussion, they would have had a high level of reassurance -and, in fact, they have been informing us confidentially they have a significant confidence."
Ideological Links
The chairman continues to confront a "comprehensive investigation" by the Commissioner for Public Appointments after he disclosed making donations to the opposition group in the past.
The official provided financial support for Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy's leadership campaign, along with that of the current Prime Minister.
"I have been entirely transparent regarding my past party membership [with Labour], and that party membership ceased the day the select committee approved my appointment," Kogan said.
"I currently have no participation in any sort of politics."
