Sheffield Wednesday takeover: Message sent to Dejphon Chansiri, Mike Ashley interest, Sky pundit drops claim | OneFootball

Football League World rounds up the latest takeover news involving Sheffield Wednesday amid the ongoing crisis under Dejphon Chansiri

Sheffield Wednesday supporters and staff, alongside the wider national footballing sphere, are desperate to see the South Yorkshire outfit sold on to fresh ownership by Dejphon Chansiri in the near future.

The Thai businessman, who has owned Wednesday since January 2015, has come under widespread scrutiny in recent months owing to the Owls' ongoing crisis. A litany of off-pitch issues have plagued the club in recent months, with September marking the fifth occasion within just seven months that players had not received their wages, while non-footballing staff were paid just £1,000 of their expected payment — though employees throughout Hillsborough are now set to be paid in a fresh update.

Wednesday are under a host of English Football League (EFL) embargoes too, with Henrik Pedersen's side — who currently sit second-from-bottom in the Championship above fierce cross-city rivals Sheffield United — likely to suffer a points deduction at some stage.

An exodus of the playing squad under now-former boss Danny Rohl, coupled with Wednesday's inability to complete more than two loan signings in the summer, has left the club in a perilous position both on and off the pitch, resulting in ever-mounting pressure on Chansiri to sanction a sale.

There has, it would seem, been no shortage of interest, and with supporters and commentators alike continuing to bang the drum for a takeover, Football League World rounds up the latest news on that front...

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3 Will Vaulks sends Dejphon Chansiri, Sheffield Wednesday message

One of the latest figures to speak out on Wednesday's predicament is ex-Owls midfielder Will Vaulks, who made 91 appearances across two seasons at Hillsborough after joining from Cardiff City in 2022.

A hugely-popular presence among supporters, Vaulks helped Wednesday to promotion through the League One play-offs in his first season and won the club's player of the season award in his second before leaving as a free agent to join Oxford United, where he is set to face off against his former side later this month.

The 32-year-old discussed Wednesday's current situation with BBC Oxfordshire, labeling it as "really sad and frustrating." He also echoed the sentiment of many by lauding the continued delayed payment of wages to both playing and non-footballing staff as "unacceptable."

Vaulks explained: "I feel really sorry for the fans and for the players and staff there. I still speak to the staff behind the scenes.

"There’s a reason I left the football club, let’s put it that way. A lot of people kind of questioned why I was leaving and there were numerous reasons.

"I can’t go into too much about it but I think it was pretty obvious then what was going on. It’s just really sad and frustrating as someone who spent time there and saw the fans get really behind their club.

"Now they’re in a position where things need to change above club level and how we let owners control clubs and all that stuff I’m not going to get into. But it’s really sad to see.

"There’s potential points deductions and all this stuff for a fantastically supported football club, I hope they get back on their feet. But when we play them, I hope we batter them!"

"I remember someone gave me that advice, to pick your owner not your club," he continued. "It’s just sad. Regardless of what you earn it matters, but there are people at that football club that I know don’t get paid great because I know how the club is run.

"It’s not only that, but then to not get your payday that people rely on to pay mortgages and pay bills, it’s just terrible. In any other job it’s just unacceptable and it cannot happen.

"If my dad or whoever ran a business like that, they’d be struck off and people would just leave. They have a loyalty to the football club because they love the football club. And they know that if they leave it means the players have got one less staff or the fans have got less chance of winning that game.

"I think it’s a really important subject. I’m not at the football club anymore but I care about it and it’s not good to see. I hope it turns around, they get a new owner in and the future can look up.

"When our game comes I’ll be looking to win, but other than that I do have a real sympathy for the players and the staff. And the fans. The city is such a football-based city for both United and Wednesday. Hopefully they can get things sorted in the near future."

2 Ex-Newcastle United figure Mike Ashley interested in Sheffield Wednesday takeover

Meanwhile, it has been claimed by reporter Alan Biggs that former Newcastle United chairman Mike Ashley is "possibly" among the interested parties eyeing up a potential takeover of the Championship strugglers.

This development comes after claims that Chansiri could lower his steep, and much-criticised, valuation on Wednesday from £100m to £70m following a breakdown in negotiations with ex-Crystal Palace and Lyon figure John Textor.

Ashley, of course, cuts a polarising figure himself, having owned Newcastle for a turbulent 14-year period between May 2027 and October 2021.

Newcastle suffered relegation to the Championship on two separate occassions under the now 61-year-old's ownership, which came to a conclusion when the Magpies were taken over for £300 million by the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund, although the likelihood is that Wednesdayites would welcome just about anyone to end the Chansiri era at this moment in time.

1 Sky Sports pundit Lee Hendrie drops Mike Ashley, Sheffield Wednesday claim involving Dejphon Chansiri

Sky Sports pundit and former Aston Villa midfield man Lee Hendrie is among those to have weighed in on Ashley's potential exploration of interest in completing a takeover of Wednesday.

It is, of course, worth noting that there is little to suggest that Ashley's potential interest has gone beyond that quite just yet, but what it has done is offer fresh hope to Wednesdayites in an hour of need. They will be hoping that Ashley's interest progresses, but in the meantime, Hendrie has described it as a potentially "massive" development for the club.

In Hendrie's view, Ashley would give Wednesday some much-needed security following the "absolute shambles" that has been Chansiri's reign in charge.

Speaking exclusively to Football League World, Hendrie said: "Finally, it would be massive for Sheffield Wednesday.

"I think just having that security now, where they know where they are at, Chansiri out of the equation, which has been an absolute shambles.

"I think he ran the club relatively well beforehand, and then it feels like he's just tried to run the club down.

"It's huge that Mike Ashley has gone in there, someone who has got a really good business mind. I think it's just such a massive move for the football club, particularly because there was all sorts going on there, wages not getting paid, et cetera.