Sheffield Wednesday: Owls charged with breach of EFL financial rules regarding sale of Hillsborough

A general view of a corner flag at Hillsborough Stadium (Photo by Matthew Lewis/Getty Images)

Wednesday sold their stadium to their owner Dejphon Chansiri, in an attempt to avoid breaching the EFL’s spending rules.

Wednesday received a profit of over £38m on the sale, which helped them record a pre-tax profit of £2.5m for the 2017-18 period.

Without the sale, the Owls would have posted a pre-tax loss of over £35m.

General view of the clock at Hillsborough: Laurence Griffiths /Allsport

Chansiri previously said he was putting Wednesday up for sale after admitting the club had ‘problems’ with the league’s Profit and Sustainability rules, formerly known as financial fair play.

A statement from the EFL this afternoon read: “Following a formal investigation into financial information provided by Sheffield Wednesday in relation to the Club’s 2017/18 Profitability and Sustainability (P&S) submission, the EFL has today issued a number of charges relating to alleged breaches of EFL Rules.

“Earlier this year the EFL launched an investigation into the Club’s financial submission for the period ending July 2018 under the relevant P&S Rules following the completion of the sale of Hillsborough Stadium.

“The EFL has reviewed a large number of documents obtained from the Club as part of this process and concluded there is sufficient evidence to justify issuing charges of Misconduct. The charges are in respect of a number of allegations regarding the process of how and when the stadium was sold and the inclusion of the profits in the 2017/18 accounts.

“All charges will be considered by an independent Disciplinary Commission and, if the charges are proven, the Commission can impose any of the sanctions set out in EFL Regulation 92.2.

“The EFL Board has previously agreed and communicated with all Championship Clubs a set of sanctioning guidelines, but the Commission, under EFL Regulations, has the ability to invoke a full range of sanctions should the breach be confirmed.

“The EFL continues to review the Club’s 2018/19 P&S submissions.

“As these matters are now subject to proceedings, the EFL will be making no further comment at this time.”