Dejphon Chansiri questioned as Sheffield Wednesday takeover talks hit bizarre new twist | OneFootball

FLW's Owls expert has weighed in on the former Chairman's negotiating antics

May 1st has loomed over Sheffield Wednesday for weeks.

It is the date David Storch and Arise Capital are targeting for EFL ratification of their takeover, a moment that would allow one of English football’s most chaotic ownership sagas to finally move into a new chapter.

For Wednesday, relegated to League One after a historically disastrous campaign and still carrying the uncertainty of administration, it would offer something they have not had in months - clarity.

There had, until now, been signs of meaningful progress. Storch has visited Sheffield, met players and staff and sought to project stability ahead of the summer.

Reports have suggested growing optimism that the deal could be completed in time for the final-day fixture against West Bromwich Albion.

The central issue, however, has never entirely gone away.

Under EFL regulations, clubs exiting administration must offer creditors at least 25 pence in the pound or face a 15-point deduction the following season.

In Wednesday’s case, that complication is amplified by the identity of their largest creditor: Dejphon Chansiri, the owner whose decade of mismanagement led the club to this point.

Arise’s reported £20 million bid is thought to fall short of the threshold required to satisfy creditors at that level, making negotiations with Chansiri pivotal to avoiding further punishment.

Those talks had reportedly been progressing. Now, in a development that feels grimly familiar, they appear to have already stalled.

Dejphon Chansiri’s latest Sheffield Wednesday takeover tricks blasted by Owls expert

According to reports from Alan Nixon, Chansiri has claimed another bidder has approached him directly and offered the 25p in the pound he had been seeking.

Whether such an approach is credible, or procedurally relevant given Wednesday are in administration and Arise are the preferred bidder with exclusivity, is open to question.

But with the May 1st deadline approaching, the uncertainty has returned at precisely the wrong time.

Football League World spoke to resident Owls fan pundit Patrick McKenna for his take on the takeover update.

“The fact is that it is not his club anymore. He had the chance for many years to sell it to his preferred owners, but that isn't the case anymore, McKenna told FLW.

“He simply cannot claim that there are other bidders he would rather sell to because they would give him more money.
I severely doubt that these bidders even exist.

“It's just a pathetic attempt by Chansiri to somehow think that he holds the power in these negotiations. It just shows as well that he is not, and never has been, a serious negotiator.

“This is just the pattern of his negotiations shown again, where at the last minute he tries to change things with ridiculous demands or propositions and that leads to the talks collapsing.

“So yeah, really these latest claims from him are to be ignored. Not to be taken seriously and indeed, he is to be ridiculed for them.

“If it means that the talks do reach a dead end, then we have to take 15 point deduction, you know, so be it in a way - because basically we cannot waste our time forever with this mad man, and if he is not gonna strike a deal then we're not gonna let him dictate things.

“Yeah, it's just tiresome really, having to listen to him, let's just move on.”

Sheffield Wednesday risk League One setback if David Storch takeover misses May 1 deadline

Perhaps the mistake was in allowing optimism to build around the very idea of Dejphon Chansiri negotiating at all.

After a decade in which Wednesday have lurched from crisis to crisis under his ownership, there was always a certain naivety in treating “positive talks” as though they represented meaningful progress.

The evidence of the last ten years suggests resolution is rarely simple where Chansiri is involved.

This latest twist, then, feels less like a shock than a continuation of a pattern. Reports of alternative bidders, eleventh-hour complications and shifting demands fit neatly into the familiar chaos that has defined Wednesday’s decade-long decline.

Even now, with his time at Hillsborough seemingly nearing its end, Chansiri remains capable of destabilising the process - and the stakes attached to that instability are enormous. Missing the May 1st target would materially damage Sheffield Wednesday’s preparation for life in League One.

The Owls are already running behind. The longer ratification goes on, the narrower the runway to League One becomes.

The 15 point deduction remains a serious threat, but there is a scenario in which the more damaging consequence is entering next season undercooked, directionless and scrambling to catch up.

After everything that has happened over the last year - and indeed the last decade - Sheffield Wednesday can ill afford another summer wasted in limbo.

The hope remains that the deal is done in time and the reset can begin - but if this process has shown anything, it is that even on his way out, Chansiri is still capable of dragging Wednesday back into the dysfunction he leaves behind.