It is days before the start of the season. A ball is yet to be kicked and the bitter tang of defeat has not yet been tasted, but in the club shop an angry fan is demanding a refund on his season ticket.
There is no optimism about what lies ahead here, at one of English football’s grand old institutions. No excitement for what is to come over the next nine months. No printing press busily stamping the names of summer arrivals on the backs of new shirts for supporters ahead of a new campaign.
That there have been no arrivals may explain that, along with the fact a replica jersey costs no less than £72.
At Sheffield Wednesday, in early August 2025, there is only fury, disbelief and fear.
Fury at stayaway owner Dejphon Chansiri, whose inability to pay the bills and the wages has seen a proud club placed under transfer embargo, its squad decimated, its manager gone, a points deduction hovering over its head – along with the guillotine of extinction.
Disbelief that things have deteriorated to the extent that our man in the club shop is seeking his refund because the North Stand, where he is situated, has been closed by the council because it is not fit to host supporters.
Sheffield Wednesday have just nine days until their first home match of the season – and still some season-ticket holders don’t know where they will be sitting
Dejphon Chansiri’s miserable, decade-long reign has resulted in only fury, disbelief and fear
Fear that the unthinkable may become a reality and that this community, and a global fanbase, could lose the club it adores. That an institution that has won four league titles – the most of any Yorkshire club and still in the top 10 of all time, twice as many as Tottenham, one more than Leeds, and three more than the other club in this city – three FA Cups, a League Cup and Charity Shield could be lost.
That 158 years of history could be about to become just that.
The man tells the staff member that he paid £380 and he wants it back. The worker who, like the club’s players, will have had his paycheck delayed for the past three months – and who will now be six days beyond the latest non-payday – is wearily apologetic.
His hands are tied but he patiently relays the news, as he appears to have done many times during this summer of angst in South Yorkshire, that the club is not offering refunds but will try to find him somewhere else to sit.
The punter mentions legal action and agrees to write a letter. You get the impression that he will not hold his breath while he does so. He is one of around 9,000 in the same boat.
This is a football club – a giant football club, averaging crowds of 26,632 last season even to watch a team they knew were being let down by their owner – that has taken money from its fans but can now not even deliver the seat which they paid for.
The decay, on a sunny day that should be filled with anticipation, is everywhere. The sign for the shop itself is missing the ‘ore’ and reads ‘Owls Megast’.
There is also, given the current situation with the North Stand, irony. Dotted between the Kop’s red-brick turnstiles on Penistone Road, sketches of fans, accompanied by common sayings in these parts, have been drawn by a local artist.
The paintings that decorate the walls close to Hillsborough may need an update
The sketches are laced with irony – the fans would have very different things to say now
Among the ranks is a grey-haired, elderly couple, both dressed in the famous blue-and-white stripes. ‘Neva miss a game’ her caption says. ‘Av ad these seats years,’ her husband responds. The artist may have to come back soon and change that one, if they are also situated in the condemned area.
A short walk up Vere Road, where the tightly packed terraced houses back on to the stadium, takes you to Emm’s Barbers (no appointment needed). It is doing a roaring trade on this Wednesday afternoon and Joanne Bellamy speaks to me as she washes a young customer’s hair.
After the man in the next chair requests a ‘number four all over’ she lays out her Wednesday credentials. ‘If you’re from Sheffield you are either blue and white or red and white,’ she says. ‘From the first day I was told I was blue and white and that was it. It’s my family, my dad, my husband, his dad, my grandchildren. Seventy to 80 years’ worth.’
Like most around here, she is holding one person responsible for what could transpire. ‘It’s Chansiri, isn’t it?’ she says, rhetorically. ‘Nobody else. What he’s doing is ridiculous. He is killing the club.’
I ask what she would say to the Thai businessman should he be the next to walk in off Leppings Lane.
‘I’d ask him to think about all the people that’s gone,’ she says. ‘A lot of my family, we’ve got memorial bricks, and those who have ashes scattered in there. It’s not just about tomorrow, it’s about the past, and what this club means to people. It’s everything.
‘My favourite game was the last derby I went to with my brother, who died in 2018. We have a programme of my dad’s at home from the time Pele played here for Santos in the 1960s. It’s about making memories with your loved ones and passing that on to the next generation but he might take it away from us. That’s the only way I can put it.’
Joanne is not without some sympathy for Chansiri, who is understood to have spent around £160million on top of the £37.5m he paid for Wednesday in 2015 in a fruitless quest to propel them back to the Premier League.
The letters have fallen off the megastore’s sign, another symbol of the disrepair at the club
Even before the first game of the season there is a strong feeling of defeat around this club
‘I know that a lot of people have got a lot of time for how much money he’s spent from the beginning,’ she explains. ‘Money he spent very unwisely because I don’t think he had the right advisers. Genuinely, I think at first he had the right intentions. But he can’t take criticism. And now it feels he just wants to run it into the ground.’
Those who work for the club, speaking to Daily Mail Sport on the understanding they will remain anonymous, insist that is not the case. The general view is that Chansiri has overstretched and that there is no malice, only incompetence.
That a man whose family’s company is reportedly the world’s largest producer of canned tuna thought he could spend a certain amount to ensure promotion and passage to the land of milk and honey.
He came close, with a play-off final defeat in year one, but not close enough. Ten years later and it feels like they have fallen down the mountain. While putting a net worth on the 57-year-old is difficult, in 2020 the family business was valued by Forbes at £431m. Chansiri says he has other investments but the belief is that the well is almost dry. This is not nation-state wealth.
‘The problem is that there is no Plan B,’ one source explained. ‘And there never has been.’
The vast majority of the workforce at Hillsborough consists of Wednesdayites and some believe that means the tolerance level for the mayhem that has unfolded is higher than it would be at another business because of the sheer loyalty involved.
Morale is low and there has been frustration. Initially, updates from HR were regular and staff were given 24 hours’ notice that their pay would not be forthcoming on the due day.
But those updates, continually telling them that the money was not there yet, began to grate. To that end, an email sent last week explained that the messages would become fewer but that staff would be the first to know of any positive developments.
The consensus is that Chansiri has overstretched and there is no malice, only incompetence
Hillsborough still saw huge attendances last season despite the turmoil at the club
There is also an emergency fund, which some have turned to. There is, however, a reluctance to do so. As ludicrous as it sounds, given that those involved are simply asking for what they have earned, making it known that you are struggling financially is not a step taken lightly around here.
Some have, instead, cancelled summer holidays. Others have called off date nights and day trips. Staff feel wounded and hamstrung. ‘Nobody is telling us why there is no money,’ explained one. The fact that Wednesday have spent on a new pitch and new academy buildings only adds to the confusion.
There have been personal attacks on some, from elements of a seething fanbase desperate to hold someone to account. The reality is that no statement on the matter, no mere update, can be released without the owner’s say so – and that simply is not forthcoming.
Chansiri has not been seen at Hillsborough since late January. The reality is that it is probably not safe for him to be here. This is a club that operates with no board. No chief executive. There is no direct line of contact.
Daily Mail Sport’s questions to the club have been met with a response of ‘no comment’. Chansiri was in London recently for his daughter’s graduation and lavish pictures posted by his son on Instagram of glitzy European vacations have understandably not gone down well, although the posts are thought to be acts of naivety rather than spite.
It is understandable why some hold that view. This summer the manager, Danny Rohl, did not show for pre-season training and departed not long after, followed by most of his backroom staff.
The wage issues have seen a triple transfer embargo and talented players, such as Josh Windass and Michael Smith, leave for nothing. Star man Djeidi Gassama was ‘stolen’ by Rangers for £2.2m. He has since scored four in three for his new club.
There are currently 16 senior players remaining, a group which includes one goalkeeper. There are no senior coaching staff and no pre-season friendlies have been played. Relegation would appear to be a certainty. As the old gag goes, other than that it’s going really well.
On Wednesday, the club announced it was doing everything in its powers to get the North Stand reopened, although it is understood that netting was recently placed over the seats – not a good omen. ‘Perhaps its just to cover up Chansiri’s name,’ joked one source.
Manager Danny Rohl did not show up for pre-season training and has left the club
Netting is set to appear on the closed North Stand, which bears Chansiri’s name on the seats
Plans appear to be being made to house elsewhere the 40 or so disabled fans impacted, although a proposed position under the away supporters would suggest space is at a premium. There are concerns that should those affected be moved to the Kop and South Stands, the strained infrastructure would not be able to cope with the influx.
The Sheffield Wednesday Supporters’ Trust are planning a series of protests and have organised for a plane to fly over their televised opening fixture at Leicester City. One can imagine what the message will say.
And yet, amid all the chaos, there is hope. The EFL, despite the fact they have only spoken to advisors and not the man himself, firmly believe Chansiri is trying to sell.
The arrival of solidarity money means the wages should be paid by the end of the week. Fears Wednesday would not be able to fulfil the Leicester fixture appear to have been allayed.
Barry Bannan, the long-serving midfielder, bucked the trend when he signed a new contract which cannot be worth more than £7,000 a week, because that is the cap on Wednesday set by the league. He was previously on more than double that. Bannan will be hailed as a hero the next time he is in front of the Owls’ faithful.
New manager Henrik Pedersen, who has stepped up from being Rohl’s No 2, has already installed a siege mentality among those who remain, according to those at the training ground. There will be opportunities for those in the highly regarded academy to quickly graduate from boys to men. They will no doubt be backed like never before from the stands which remain open.
When I asked one person with knowledge of the accounts how quickly a takeover was needed, the response was ‘sooner rather than later’ – but there is a semblance of light in the fact the EFL have already paved the way to expedite the approval process, should a buyer be found.
‘It wouldn’t be appealing to an asset-stripper because all the assets have been stripped,’ one insider explained. The number of staff is equivalent to a League One or League Two club. The summer fire sale has seen the wage bill slashed.
Barry Bannan has cut his wages in half to help the dire financial situation at Wednesday
This is still a huge club, one of the giants of English football, and there is a mass of untapped potential
In an era of fascination with the English game, where American investment groups seem to permanently circle, one would hope a positive conclusion can be found. Even now, even amid this catastrophic backdrop, they have shifted around 16,000 season tickets, although many took January’s early bird offer.
They are arguably the biggest club outside the Premier League. The potential is huge, but it will take seriously deep pockets to turn the juggernaut around. There are rumours Chansiri wants as much as £100m. The bill for the improvements needed for the North Stand alone is thought to be seven figures. The rest of the stadium, including the infamous Leppings Lane End, is in dire need of an upgrade.
One former Premier League chairman summed it up neatly: ‘It needs someone to hold their nose, pay what needs to be paid and then get things right because the opportunity is vast.’ Despite everything, it remains Sheffield Wednesday. Ron Atkinson, John Sheridan, Chris Waddle, David Hirst, Ron Springett, Paolo Di Canio. Sheffield Wednesday.
Outside the club shop earlier I asked the disgruntled supporter if he would speak, and he agreed to do so as long as I didn’t name him.
‘The fanbase is split and I could get a lot of abuse for this,’ he explained. ‘I’ve been a Wednesday fan all my life, since Jack Charlton was in charge, but I’ve had enough. I don’t want to sit somewhere else. They’ve taken advantage of us because we’re such a good fanbase.’
I asked if he could sum up just what is going on. He paused and you could hear the emotion in his voice when he responded. ‘It’s just a complete mess,’ he said.