Sheffield Wednesday's administrators to auction off two golden elephants as Dejphon Chansiri era ends | OneFootball

After Dejphon Chansiri's departure from Sheffield Wednesday, two of his golden elephants are set to be auctioned off by the club's administrations.

Sheffield Wednesday's administrators are reportedly set to auction off two golden elephant statuettes that were installed by former owner Dejphon Chansiri following his departure from the club.

That's according to The Times, who claim that the pair of golden elephants are set to be put up for sale by Wednesday's administrators as they look to bring in funds to help stabilise the club's precarious financial situation and pay staff and creditors.

Chansiri's turbulent decade-long tenure at Hillsborough came to a sudden end on Friday when he put the club and the company through which he owned the stadium into administration, which saw the Owls hit with an immediate 12-point deduction that leaves them bottom of the Championship table on minus six points.

After boycotting previous home games, Wednesday supporters returned in their numbers for the 2-1 home defeat to Oxford United on Saturday, with 27,261 in attendance, while over £500,000 has been spent on tickets and merchandise in recent days in response to a call from the administrators for fans to put as much money into the club as possible.

The Owls have already taken steps to erase all traces of Chansiri, with the white seats in the North Stand bearing his name currently in the process of being removed, and it seems another of the main symbols of his reign could soon be a thing of the past.

Sheffield Wednesday set to auction off golden elephants after Dejphon Chansiri exit

Since 2016, the two golden elephants have stood either side of the main entrance to Hillsborough in the South Stand, with Chansiri installing them as they are believed to offer strength, power and good luck in Thai culture, as well as being a symbol that represents the country.

However, as Chansiri's reign turned sour, the golden elephants soon became a target for supporter frustration, and fans would often humorously call for them to be thrown into the nearby River Don on social media in protest against their former owner.

Earlier this month, one of the golden elephants was reportedly vandalised by supporters, with The Star claiming that black paint was aimed in the direction of the statuette, but rather than causing any damage, most of it instead settled on the doors, windows and floor of the South Stand entrance.

After a mass supporter boycott was planned for the game against Middlesbrough last Wednesday night, the golden elephants were removed from the entrance and taken to a safer spot inside, as can be seen in the image below, which was posted on social media by The Star reporter Chris Holt.

However, the golden elephants may soon be gone from Hillsborough completely, with joint-administrator Kris Wigfield revealing that they could be auctioned off in order to raise funds.

"The last I heard about the elephants, a staff member said that they had put them in a cupboard somewhere, so as far as I’m aware they’re still in that cupboard," Wigfield told The Times.

"I think putting them up for auction is definitely a possibility. We’ll see what comes in the next week."

Removal of Dejphon Chansiri's golden elephants would be a symbolic moment for Sheffield Wednesday

On the surface, this may seem like a relatively light-hearted story about two golden elephants being sold, but to Wednesday supporters, their removal would be another significant moment as the Chansiri era comes to an end.

It is unclear exactly how much the golden elephants are worth, but the income from their sale would no doubt be useful in helping to pay staff and creditors, and the fact that they will no longer be outside the South Stand entrance is another sign that Owls fans have got their club back.

Of course, it is important that the club is under new ownership as quickly as possible, and four or five credible bidders are already said to be showing interest, but for now, Wednesday supporters will be content to simply enjoy the feel-good factor that has returned after Chansiri's exit.