Dejphon Chansiri Deal Spurs EFL Review After 15-Point Waiver
dejphon chansiri is owed a quarter of the £64m he lent Sheffield Wednesday, but new owner David Storch refused to pay him and the club still avoided a 15-point deduction. The EFL is now expected to review its insolvency policies before next season after Wednesday escaped punishment despite breaching the league's agreed policy.
Sheffield Wednesday confirmed Storch's takeover on Sunday, ending a financial standoff that had threatened the club's future. The board's decision not to impose the penalty depended on the credibility of the offer to Chansiri and whether it remained available to him.
Hillsborough's penalty countdown
At Hillsborough on Saturday, the club put a countdown on the big screen and reduced the 15-point penalty point by point during the final game of the season. That punishment had never been decided or applied by the EFL, but the display captured how close the club had been to starting next season under a major sanction in League One.
The reason Wednesday avoided the deduction sits in the terms Storch put forward. Sky Sports News was told the offer remains on the table for Chansiri for several million pounds, with payment due only if Wednesday reach the Championship at the first attempt. It is a structure similar to the one Chansiri agreed with Milan Mandaric when he bought the club in 2015.
EFL insolvency policy pressure
The EFL guidelines say new buyers must make every reasonable attempt to clear debts, with football creditors and HMRC paid in full and other creditors paid at 25p to the pound. What persuaded the EFL to waive the points penalty was Storch's attempts to negotiate with Chansiri and evidence that Chansiri was inflexible and not prepared to talk.
Chansiri also contacted the administrators and demanded that they put the club back on the market and seek a new buyer for a higher price. That move would have seriously risked the club going into liquidation, and there were real doubts about Wednesday's existence if Storch's deal had not gone through when it did.
Clubs want fresh talks
Several Championship clubs are unhappy that Wednesday have avoided a points deduction for the start of next season in League One, and they have chosen to remain anonymous. The EFL is expected to hold new talks with clubs before the start of next season, with insolvency policy back on the table after it was last debated in 2023, 10 months after Derby County's exit from administration.
For Wednesday, the immediate damage has been avoided. For the rest of the league, the next argument is whether the rules that applied in 2023 still fit the way clubs are bought out of administration now.
