Sheffield Wednesday fail to pay players due to ‘temporary cashflow’ problems

Sheffield Wednesday have failed to pay their players their salaries for March on time due to “cashflow” problems.

The Owls say the delay in payment is only temporary and chairman Dejphon Chansiri is attempting to resolve the issue.

A club statement read: “Sheffield Wednesday can confirm a temporary issue with the payment of player salaries for the month of March. This has occurred as a result of significant sums of money owed to the chairman’s businesses which has in turn impacted on the club’s immediate cashflow.

“The chairman is working hard to resolve this situation at the earliest possible opportunity and in the meantime thanks everyone for their patience and understanding.”

Chansiri, part of a family which controls the Thai Union Group, the world’s largest producer of canned tuna, headed a consortium which bought Sheffield Wednesday in January 2015 for £37.5m from previous owner Milan Mandaric. It is not the first time during his time in charge that players have been paid late while there have also been a number of other financial challenges.

Wednesday sold their Hillsborough stadium to Chansiri for about £60m in July 2019 to ensure they did not breach spending rules while in October 2023 Chansiri appealed to fans to raise £2m to help the club pay an outstanding debt to HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) and cover wages. Last November, Wednesday were placed under a registration embargo by the EFL over amounts owed to HMRC.

Wednesday are currently 12th in the Championship, five points adrift of the playoffs, and host Hull in their next match on Saturday.