Exclusive: Sky pundit reacts to big off-pitch Sheffield Wednesday update - it's 'a huge jump forward' | OneFootball

Speaking exclusively to FLW, Lee Hendrie has declared that Sheffield Wednesday wages being paid on time is a sign of their recovery.

Lee Hendrie has told Football League World that the news that Sheffield Wednesday's players getting paid on time is a sign of the club is moving on following the Dejphon Chansiri era.

There may be uncertain times ahead over the next few weeks, but Sheffield Wednesday's fall into administration is good news for the club. By removing Dejphon Chansiri from the day-to-day running of the club, they can now start to repair some of the damage caused by his mismanagement.

Perhaps the most visible sign of this mismanagement came in the form of the late payment of wages to players and staff at the end of each calendar month. Wednesday are required to do so under EFL rules, but repeatedly failed to do so throughout 2025.

But the administrators, Begbie's Trainor, have confirmed that they are "increasingly confident" that they will be able to ensure that wages will be paid on time at the end of October, and this has not been a regular occurrence at the club so far in 2025.

"A big step forward" - Lee Hendrie pleased that Wednesday can pay wages on time

Speaking exclusively to Football League World, Sky Sports pundit Lee Hendrie has expressed his delight that the club is in a position to be able to do this: "It's good news to hear that that's going to happen, wages getting paid. It does feel like a huge jump forward for everyone that's around Sheffield Wednesday and obviously the Chansiri era is one that they'll want to forget, one that they'll want to move on from."

And Hendrie feels that this is a sign that the club is moving on after the mismanagement of the Chansiri era: "The quicker that all these things are resolved and put to bed, there's a lot of mess and a lot to be cleaned up for Sheffield Wednesday, the fans, the players, everyone that's involved in the club to move forward. It will be a big relief and a big step forward for them."

Wages getting paid on time is every football club's most basic obligation as a business

The importance of ensuring the player and staff wages are paid on time cannot be overstated. It's one of the most basic obligations of any business, and any failure to do so is a sign of serious problems.

It has real world costs. During the summer, Sheffield Wednesday lost Josh Windass and Michael Smith, their two top goalscorers last season, to Wrexham and Preston North End after they invoked FIFA rules over the non-payment of wages and handed in their notice to leave the club. The team later refused to play a behind-closed-doors pre-season friendly at Burnley in protest at this.

It's a matter that the EFL themselves take very seriously. Since 2022, clubs have been required to self-report within two working days whether wages or amounts due to HMRC are to be paid late, with points deductions should this happen. This became a significant issue at Reading FC under the chaotic ownership of Dai Yongge, where the club received repeated points deductions for failing to meet these most basic of obligations.

The fact that there's even a chance of this being possible is largely down to the devotion of the fans themselves. Following the announcement that the club had been placed into administration, £200,000 was spent in the club shop - a boycott had previously been in place under the guidance of the Sheffield Wednesday Supporters Trust - while an extra 9,000 tickets were sold for their last home match against Oxford United.

This money coming into the club is critical to ensure their survival. While a reasonably quick sale of the club is expected, the administrators still need working capital to guarantee that they can continue to operate as a going concern, and as things stand, at this time of year, match-day revenues - through ticket sales, club shop sales and receipts for food and drink - are one of the few ways in which it can be done.

There are still hurdles to overcome and there does remain a possibility that things could go wrong in administration, but this announcement on the part of the administrators is a sign that the green shoots of recovery are visible following the toxic reign of Dejphon Chansiri. Sheffield Wednesday aren't quite back yet, but they may be on their way, and that's more than could have been said for the club for a very long time indeed.