Sheffield Wednesday takeover: Who actually owns Hillsborough? | OneFootball

Sheffield Wednesday have called Hillsborough home for over 125 years

Sheffield Wednesday have played at Hillsborough since 1899.

The Owls have suffered great torment this summer and their famous stadium hasn’t escaped controversy either.

Owner Dejphon Chansiri’s financial mismanagement saw players go without payment on time for five of the last seven months, leading to key operators such as Josh Windass and Michael Smith making moves away from the club for free to Championship rivals Wrexham and Preston North End, respectively.

Wednesday have been placed under five embargoes by the EFL due to the Thai businessman’s wrongdoings, limiting their transfer activity in the process. Loan deals for Harry Amass and Ethan Horvath were all the Steel City side could manage, firmly placing them on the back foot heading into this season.

Another point of disappointment during the summer came via Hillsborough’s North Stand, which had "extensive corrosion" in the roof.

Sheffield City Council's safety advisory group advised that until remedial work had been carried out, the authority would not be "in a position to approve the continuance of the existing general safety certificate".

Wednesday eventually addressed this issue and were able to open the area for the start of the season. However, the Owls’ ground is back in the news once more.

Hillsborough’s ownership explored amid administration threat

It was recently reported via journalist Alan Nixon that although Wednesday’s recent threat of administration would force a change of ownership, Chansiri would hope to retain Hillsborough.

This means that any potential buyer would take control of just the club and not the Owls’ iconic stadium, too.

Chansiri bought Hillsborough from Sheffield Wednesday for £60 million in 2017, to ensure that the Steel City side didn’t breach spending rules.

This saw the Owls receive a profit of more than £38 million for the ground, helping them record a pre-tax profit of £2.5m for 2017-18.

Following in the footsteps of Derby County and Aston Villa at the time, Wednesday avoided a potential points penalty by taking these steps, but in turn lost control of the ground to Chansiri.

The stadium is officially owned by a company called Sheffield 3 Limited, which is controlled by the Thai businessman.

Due to the fact that this separate company owns the ground, it acts as a different legal entity to Chansiri. This allows him to ultimately retain control of Hillsborough even if the Owls fall into administration.

Sheffield Wednesday supporters will hope Dejphon Chansiri eases on his Hillsborough stance

When Chansiri does eventually relinquish control of Hillsborough, Wednesday supporters are likely to all partake in a collective sigh of relief.

The torment they have been put through during his tenure isn’t what any supporter should endure and anyone associated with the Owls would probably wish to forget the Thai businessman ever existed.

However, if he does remain in control of Hillsborough, that could prove to be quite the task.

If Wednesday’s potential new owner wants to buy the ground from Chansiri, supporters may hope that he decides that the time is right to part with the club entirely and move on to a new segment in his life.

But, Chansiri hasn’t exactly proven to be reasonable during his tenure as the Steel City side’s owner, so only time will tell how this scenario plays out.