Sheffield Wednesday release statement on transfer embargo - update on player wages
Sheffield Wednesday have released a statement following the news they have been placed under a transfer embargo by the EFL.
The news became clear on Thursday evening when it was published on the EFL reporting service website. The embargo has been put in place after a failure to satisfy a HMRC payment deadline in time, a year on from their last embargo episode over a similar infringement. Wednesday since confirmed the news to The Star and were invited to comment.
A Sheffield Wednesday spokesperson said: “Sheffield Wednesday can confirm a current EFL embargo which we are seeking to resolve at the earliest possible opportunity. This is a temporary issue and a consequence of significant and as yet unpaid sums of money owed to the chairman which in turn has impacted on the club’s immediate cashflow. We expect this situation to be finalised imminently, at which point the embargo will be lifted.”
The Star is told that players and staff have been paid on time today and therefore the club are not under the threat of any sanction on that front. News of an embargo is not of any immediate material issue to Wednesday as they are outside a transfer window. Free agents can be signed to clubs outside of windows, though Owls boss Danny Röhl told reporters this week he was not in the market for signings of that nature.
The news comes 12 months on from their last embargo and a year to the day from an interview with The Star in which Owls chairman Dejphon Chansiri revealed he was concerned the club would be unable to pay players and staff their October 2023 wages on time amid what he described as ‘cashflow issues’. The the same interview, Chansiri remarkably asked the club’s supporters to raise £2m within a few days to ‘save their club’. All payments were satisfied within 24 hours and the embargo was lifted.
As of Thursday evening, Wednesday were one of two clubs operating under the terms of an embargo along with League One Reading, who have been reprimanded for their breaching of ‘Regulation 16.7.4 Submission of Annual Accounts’.