What will happen to Sheffield Wednesday when a winding-up petition is confirmed by HMRC | OneFootball

Football League World takes a look at what will happen to crisis club Sheffield Wednesday once a winding-up petition is confirmed by HMRC

Sheffield Wednesday's crisis at the hands of unpopular owner Dejphon Chansiri is continuing to worsen, with the Owls on the verge of heading into administration.

Reports last week revealed that HMRC are owed up to £1 million by the South Yorkshire outfit, who have plunged into financial ruin in recent months.

Indeed, in the last seven months, Wednesday have managed to pay full wages to playing and non-playing staff on time on just two occasions, which started back in March. Since then, Wednesday have endured myriad issues away from the pitch, with the English Football League (EFL) imposing five separate embargoes upon the Championship strugglers.

A difficult summer at Hillsborough saw highly-rated and once-hugely-popular boss Danny Rohl walk from the job following long-standing issues with Chansiri, while a number of key players such as Djeidi Gassama, Michael Smith and Josh Windass all departed too, leaving Wednesday with a youthful, threadbare squad unprepared for the Championship while being able to sign just two loan players in Harry Amass and Ethan Horvath.

The players and supporters, it must be said, have rallied on regardless, and Wednesday are continuing to show no shortage of fight in what promises to be an extremely tough campaign fighting against relegation.

Now, however, as the threat of administration looms, Football League World has taken a look at what will happen in the blue-and-white quarters of the Steel City once Wednesday receive a winding-up petition, which is set to be served "imminently"...

What will happen to Sheffield Wednesday once HMRC winding-up petition is confirmed

Once this happens, an application will be made to the high court requesting for the court to wind the company in question up. After some time, a hearing will then be arranged to determine whether the company should be placed into compulsory liquidation, which, of course, is a fate that has fallen upon clubs throughout the EFL in previous years.

A winding-up order does not always mean the end, however, and it will place even more pressure on Chansiri to pay owed debts and, most crucially, sell up to a new owner.

Winding-up orders usually lead to entering administration, which we saw with Derby County during the 2021/22 campaign under ex-owner Mel Morris. For that, the Rams were deducted 12 points, and a total deduction of 21 points throughout the season saw Wayne Rooney's side relegated to League One before coming under new ownership - a scenario which Wednesday supporters would perhaps take at this moment in time, simply to get Chansiri out of the club.

A 12-point deduction is par of the course for entering administration, and that would only add further difficulty to Henrik Pedersen's ambitions of keeping the Owls in the Championship.

It's also important to note that, if administration is indeed imposed upon Wednesday, Chansiri's ownership would effectively be over and the club would be run by administrators until a fresh buyer is found. This situation was desperately preventable, and there's no denying that Wednesday are in dire straits right now, but if that's what needs to happen for a change to Chansiri's ownership, then Owls supporters can perhaps begin to see a flicker of light at the end of the tunnel.

Sheffield Wednesday would surely take Derby County repeat amid Dejphon Chansiri crisis

There's rarely any love lost between Wednesday and Derby supporters, but the Owls would surely be content with a repeat of the Rams' aforementioned situation a few years ago.

Points deductions, administration and relegation were tough to take at Pride Park, just as it may be at Hillsborough if that's how it plays out, but Derby came out better in the long run. Local businessman David Clowes purchased the club in the summer of 2022, and two years later, the Rams were back in the Championship.

There is a feeling in Derbyshire that increased investment at the top may be required in order for the Rams to return to the days of competing for promotion to the Premier League. However, stability and relative progression, in both a financial and footballing sense, have been brought in, and given the scale of the Owls' predicament, Wednesdayites must wish for the same.