David Bruce reveals how close Sheffield Wednesday were to going under and addresses Dejphon Chansiri failings
Sheffield Wednesday chief executive David Bruce has lifted the lid on how close the club came to going bust, and has addressed the failings of former owner Dejphon Chansiri.
Chief executive David Bruce has admitted Sheffield Wednesday were “days away” from going out of business before Arise Capital Partners’ takeover of the club in May.
Following several months of chaos and carnage under former owner Dejphon Chansiri, Wednesday went into administration last October. Dozens of interested parties expressed an interest in buying the club before Arise, at the second time of asking, secured preferred bidder status in March.
The US consortium, comprising David Storch, Michael Storch and Tom Costin, finalised its purchase of the club on May 1, creating a party atmosphere at Hillsborough for the Owls’ final game of a wretched 2025/26 campaign the following day.
Just over 100 days have passed since Arise secured the keys to Hillsborough, and the progress that has been made in that short period has been impressive, with more than £8 million invested in the club’s infrastructure and 13 new signings added to the squad.
Although Wednesday and their supporters are now looking forward with optimism, there was a period last season when the club’s very existence was under threat.
“A fan of any team can dream about how you’ll feel about winning a cup final or promotion,” Bruce told The Athletic. “You can also imagine how you’d feel if you were ever relegated.
“But how many fans have had to process what would happen if their team disappeared? That’s how close this club was.
“It was days away from potentially not existing anymore.”
As Chansiri’s position as owner became untenable towards the end of his reign, Wednesdayites increased the pressure on the Thai businessman by boycotting matches at Hillsborough and refusing to spend money in the Megastore or on the concourses on matchdays.
Those sacrifices eventually backed Chansiri into a corner, forcing him to relinquish control of the club.
Bruce continued: “People truly came together and saved this club. What the fanbase did here was unbelievable. They were staring into oblivion, and people found a way.
“They did things that football fans shouldn’t have to do. We’ve all know hard times, but you’d still go to games because it was your duty.
“What happened here was the fans chose to stop coming because they didn’t trust the guy at the top to spend their money in a way they felt was appropriate.
“That’s the ultimate sacrifice. They created action.”
Watching last year’s chaos unfold from afar, Bruce, who became a named director of ‘Wednesday 1867 Ltd’ last month, could not understand how Wednesday had found itself in such serious trouble. However, now that he has had the chance to look under the bonnet and make sense of what happened, he has learnt all about Chansiri’s failings.
“The fish rots from the head,” Bruce added. “That’s definitely evident here.
“It had all the ingredients, and from the outside, I could never understand how it had become a bit of a basket case.
“When you get here and look under the hood, you begin to see there was no strategy. No sense of plan or underpinning purpose.
“It was never driven by any sense of vision, and no one was held accountable. Just short-term decisions based on how one person was feeling on a particular day. We all know that’s a recipe for disaster.”