Dejphon Chansiri takes action over 8-figure Sheffield Wednesday debt | OneFootball

The Owls' owner's latest action on their famous stadium should make supporters happy.

Sheffield Wednesday owner Dejphon Chansiri has paid off nearly £20 million of the debt accrued from the purchase of Hillsborough.

New documents on Companies House have revealed that the owner of the Owls has paid back £19,198,205 that was used to purchase the stadium and was owed to New Avenue Projects Limited.

This payment satisfies three charges owed to the limited company that helped Chansiri purchase Hillsborough in a bid to circumnavigate the EFL's financial rules, leaving one charge of £6,750,000 left to be paid before the end of the month.

Dejphon Chansiri pays off majority of Hillsborough debt

The Thai businessman, who made his millions from seafood company Thai Union Group, bought Hillsborough in order to avoid breaching spending rules.

In 2020, documents showed that debt was used as part of the purchase of the ground, leaving Hillsborough in a somewhat precarious position.

Chansiri, though, has gone most of the way to settling any potential nerves on this issue as he has paid almost £20 million of the owed debt back, as is shown on the latest documents on Companies House.

This payment was made by Sheffield 3 - one of the owner's businesses.

Dr Dan Plumley - a sports finance expert at Sheffield Hallam University - told The Star that this latest news is good news for Wednesday.

"Those satisfaction of charges link back to previous registration of charges," Plumley said.

"What this means is that three of the four charges have now been settled and paid off, which is obviously a good thing."

Dr Plumley did stress though that the recency of the submission of documents to Companies House doesn't necessarily correlate to the timing of the payments.

"It’s worth noting, though, that because these three have come through in one go doesn’t mean that they were paid off recently - you don’t have to tell Companies House when or if you’ve paid something off," the finance expert added.

"They could have been paid on or before each respective deadline.

"It’s good housekeeping to do what they’ve done, and seeing it satisfied through Companies House... It’s positive in the grand scheme of things, and at the very least payments are being kept up to date - the transaction is working as we expected it to."

Sheffield Wednesday, Dejphon Chansiri actions are a stark contract to last year

Almost a year ago, Chansiri put out a statement via the club which, to sum it up briefly, called out the supporters, said that he did not like their collective anger towards him and that he would not be putting any more money into the club.

Now, a year on from that, the club made one of the most miraculous relegation comebacks of all time thanks to Danny Rohl, and the summer was filled with investment by the club and a new contract for the young German boss.

The feeling then was one of despair and impending doom. There was no light at the end of the tunnel, but there is now.

The results may not have picked up as some would have hoped after their brilliant opening game, with Wednesday sitting in the bottom three having lost on all but one occasion since their win over Plymouth Argyle, but there's still reasons to be optimistic due to off the pitch matters - perhaps Chansiri is now getting better advice from the people around him to keep supporters happy enough.