In his own words – Dejphon Chansiri explains the £6.4m charge against Sheffield Wednesday’s Hillsborough stadium

Sheffield Wednesday chairman, Dejphon Chansiri, has given some clarity on his decision to effectively take out a mortgage on Hillsborough earlier this year.
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It was confirmed via Companies House last month that Chansiri had borrowed £6.4m from a lender called New Avenue Projects Limited, with Hillsborough being used as the ‘charged property’ in the agreement.

The charge, simply put, means that the chairman’s company, Sheffield 3, now owe the lender £6.4m by 30th Sept 2021, and a couple of financial experts were quick to point out that it was nothing to be concerned about for Wednesdayites.

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Chansiri has now explained in his own words why the decision was taken in the first place, saying that they’re actually paying off a debt that was already at the club when he bought it.

He told the media,

“This company, we’ve owed them since before my time… Maybe it’s my fault, but I didn’t know that. I knew that when I got in. I’ve just been paying interest to them until we had enough money to pay them back. This means I never spent or used this money.

“Then from last season, when we started to have problems with the EFL with deductions and disciplinary, they got scared that if something happened to us then the club wouldn’t have the ability to pay them back.

Dejphon Chansiri has explained the charge against Sheffield Wednesday's Hillsborough. (Pic Steve Ellis)Dejphon Chansiri has explained the charge against Sheffield Wednesday's Hillsborough. (Pic Steve Ellis)
Dejphon Chansiri has explained the charge against Sheffield Wednesday's Hillsborough. (Pic Steve Ellis)

“So they asked me more about security, that’s when we started to have issues.”

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He went on to add, “I cleared the majority of debts when I got here, but some of them I kept. Normally, you need to be sustainable by yourself, to survive by yourself, without injections.

“So I kept some, because I still need to spend money. One day the club should have their own ability to pay for that. The majority we cleared, but some small ones we keep, that’s the normal process in business.”

When asked if he would be able to pay off the debt should the company decide they want it immediately at some stage, he replied confidently, “Of course, it’s just a few million, why not? That’s not an issue.”

Chansiri spoke for the best part of three hours on Thursday morning in an in-depth conversation with the media, and The Star will be breaking down various elements of it over the coming days.

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