Thai Union Family Member Hit With English Football Club Ban

Thai Union family member Dejphon Chansiri, former owner of English soccer club Sheffield Wednesday, has been placed under a three-year ban by the English Football League (EFL) from owning any football club for his role in Sheffield Wednesday’s financial crisis. Some of the main complaints against Chansiri were his repeated failure to pay wages to players and taxes, cash-flow crises, and breaches of regulatory and financial fair-play rules, eventually leading to a complete loss of confidence in his ability to run the club sustainably. He relinquished control of the club on Wednesday.

Two years back, Chansiri announced that he would stop investing in the club after being insulted by its fans. That same year, he gained widespread criticism for asking fans to raise millions of dollars to “save their club” by paying an outstanding tax debt to the British HM Revenue and Customs. Ever since then, there has been a rising demand from different sides for Chansiri to drop the club ownership. The administrators for Sheffield Wednesday have received around six or seven bids for the club and are currently deciding which to put forward as their preferred candidate. The deadline was kept as December 5, but is likely to be extended.