Some of the big questions Dejphon Chansiri needs to answer in major Sheffield Wednesday press conference

The Owls are yet to surpass the 12-point deduction slapped on them during the summer after the club were found guilty of misconduct for the circumstances around the sale of their Hillsborough stadium to a separate, Chansiri-owned company.

Alongside the off-field stuff, there are various football issues to discuss, with Wednesday’s midweek defeat of promotion favourites Bournemouth easing pressure on manager Garry Monk.

There has been no indication that Chansiri has called the press conference in order to make any grand announcement, but will provide open access to TV, radio and local and national media for the first time since December 2018.

Let’s take a look at just a handful of the important issues that require discussion.

Why did the club have to sell Hillsborough in the first place? And why the mess?

Hillsborough was sold in an attempt to sidestep Financial Fair Play sanctions, we know that, but what needs to be answered is why the club got into a situation where such drastic action was needed.

Sheffield Wednesday denied any wrongdoing throughout the legal wranglings surrounding their misconduct case, but evidence having been published by the EFL back in July suggested Owls hierarchy could possibly have sidestepped punishment had they acted quicker to satisfy EFL processes.

How did the club get in a financial situation that meant they needed to sell their biggest asset? Why didn’t they act quicker to satisfy the EFL?

These are just two of the questions that require answers around a mess that saw them slapped with that hefty points deduction.

What was the Hillsborough ‘loan’ for?

A frisson of speculation whistled through the Sheffield Wednesday fanbase last month when it emerged that Chansiri had effectively taken out a charge of £6.4m against Hillsborough Stadium.

There was debate over why the move was made, whether it should be an immediate matter of concern to Wednesday fans and how it could effect the club going forward should any payments be missed – the first of which is due in September next year.

Football finance experts were quick to insist the move should be of little immediate concern, but it will be interesting to hear the explanation for the move.

What are the club’s finances like now?

We’re not expecting a line-by-line detail of the club accounts, but it is well-known that Wednesday are one of the majority of clubs who have felt the pinch of the coronavirus crisis.

Owls boss Garry Monk has made it clear on a number of occasions that their transfer plans were altered by the shifting of the financial landscape and while there is no indication that there is immediate cause for panic, the club have shown their support for the #LetFansIn campaign designed to welcome in the safe return of matchday revenue to clubs.

The most recent publicly available set of accounts suggest that around 37 per cent of Wednesday’s total income is generated on a matchday. It will be interesting to hear Chansiri open up a little on where the club’s finances are at.

How is the appeal going?

Immediately after the club’s guilty finding back in the summer, the club launched an appeal in an attempt to get their 12-point sanction eased.

We were told back then that we should expect a verdict on that appeal sometime in the Autumn – which technically runs from 1 September until 30 November – and no update is of yet forthcoming.

Anyone expecting a chapter-and-verse detail of the case will likely be disappointed, but it will be interesting to hear what he has to say on the proceedings and whether he is confident of any success on that front.

What’s the plan?

Chansiri arrived in a whirlwind of positivity at Sheffield Wednesday, confidently predicting a return to the Premier League. That return feels a long way away just now.

The club has undergone something of a shift in recent months, in terms of approach to the transfer market and so on, and has invested heavily in the vision of Garry Monk by backing him in the transfer window and delivering his choice of backroom staff.

So how far invested are the club in a Monk-driven vision for the club’s future and what does that vision look like from the chairman’s point of view?

If not necessarily Monk-led, then what? What is the contingency if Wednesday are to taste relegation from the Championship?

Will there be a re-think on the pricing structure?

It’s a real bugbear for Wednesday fans. Speaking two years ago, Chansiri admitted that the club charged high-end ticket and merchandise prices, but made clear that this was the cost the fans had to pay for a side capable of challenging for a place in the Premier League.

With that seemingly goal further away than at any point under his stewardship, with a squad far less expensively assembled than two years ago, it will be interesting to hear whether any re-think is on the agenda at Wednesday.

Is he sticking around?

There’s a likely answer to this one; yes.

When news of the press conference made its way onto social media, there was manic speculation that a major announcement was to be made; pertaining to the future of either Monk or Chansiri. As we understand it, that’s not the case.

He’s publicly considered selling the club in times of criticism previously, but earlier this year the chairman reiterated his determination to get things right at Wednesday. What that premiership looks like will be fascinating to hear.

You can follow every answer to these questions and more as they are delivered by Mr Chansiri tomorrow morning on The Star’s all-bases-covered LIVE blog.

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