Sheffield Wednesday accounts indicate move towards Dejphon Chansiri’s planned shift in direction, says expert

But their latest publication has given reasons to be cautiously optimistic about the future direction of the club’s finances, according to a football finance expert.

Dr Dan Plumley, Senior Lecturer in Sport Business Management at Sheffield Hallam University, believes the reality of what Wednesday had to deal with in terms of the loss of matchday revenue in 2020/21 means that their loss of £25m – up slightly from the previous year’s accounts – can be considered a ‘step in the right direction’.

“Turnover is down, but that’s to be expected because of Covid of course,” Dr Plumley told The Star.

“That’s the big asterisk with this set of accounts as it accounts for the season that was fully behind closed doors.

“And then you look at the overall losses at £25m. That looks scary but when you contrast that with the losses the year before at £24m, it’s not necessarily a bad picture because of that drop in turnover because of the pandemic.

“Of course revenue and losses were going to dip because of Covid, but the fact is that losses haven’t dropped too much. I see that is a positive.”

In May last year Wednesday owner Dejphon Chansiri told members of the Sheffield Wednesday Supports Trust that he intended to move the club towards a more self-sustainable model, a move that would represent a departure from the vast spending that took place in the early years of his ownership.

The accounts reveal a major drop in wage expenditure brought about by the release of several big name players who left the club in the summer of 2020 including Fernando Forestieri, Steven Fletcher, Kieran Lee, Atdhe Nuhiu, Sam Winnall, Morgan Fox and – for half the season at least – Sam Hutchinson.

There were new arrivals in the form of Callum Paterson, Elias Kachunga and Chey Dunkley, but the wage bill still plummeted even well ahead of relegation to League One, which in the view of Dr Plumley represents a sign the club are moving towards a more sustainable way of doing business.

In his most recent media engagements Chansiri has reiterated his commitment to Wednesday moving forward. The accounts indicate the continued reliance on his bankrolling the club, though this is nothing new or unusual among larger EFL clubs.

Dr Plumley said: “Wages have dropped a fair bit, which is a step in the right direction. It’s a drop of £9m. That’s still high against income but it’s on the way down from where it’s been.

“I’d predict another drop in wage expenditure when the accounts are released for this season given the squad restructure.

“There’s a continuing commitment needed by Chansiri. The long-term liability is at £60.5m, and £51m of that is related to the owner. But there’s nothing new in that the club are very much reliant on the owner. It’s not at all unusual in football.”

“I suspect we’ll see a similar sort of turnover line next year, because the accounts will then include the relegation dip. The next step for the club is to get out of that league as soon as possible.”