'Our role is integral to football's future' - independent football regulator David Kogan
Sheffield Wednesday's ongoing struggles constitute a "significant problem" and the new football authority is looking to gain the ability to examine team situations in comparable cases, the recently named head the regulator has announced.
Through a comprehensive talk, the chairman, who was named to the position this week, showed understanding towards the club's followers.
The regulator engaged with four supporters' associations representing the Championship side recently.
The football club have been struggling on and off the field in this season, with the club failing to pay players on time on several different times, including in last month.
"Clearly Sheffield Wednesday has been a significant problem for EFL and a substantial concern for English football," Kogan told.
"Sheffield Wednesday is one of the historic institutions for the English game and this week we have met supporters' organizations.
"Our aim is to acquire the ability... which will enable us to take Sheffield Wednesday - and other clubs submitted for our review if they need to be investigated and dealt with."
Economic Challenges and Ownership Situation
Wednesday's embattled owner Dejphon Chansiri indicated in the summer he would be willing to sell up at the stadium, but he has failed to complete a sale with potential new owners.
Failure to pay player wages on time in spring months caused limitations by the league officials in June, stopping Wednesday from completing any transfers or loans for the following recruitment periods, although that restriction was lifted in August.
Official's Viewpoint
The regulator explained: "The job [of the regulator] is there for the supporters of Wednesday, other clubs in similar situations where people are committed to a community organization that has existed throughout their lifetimes in numerous instances.
"I fully appreciate Sheffield Wednesday, as I do for each organization that over recent decades have faced collapse, or approached financial ruin, for factors unrelated to the fans themselves."
Inquired if the authority might compel an owner to sell a club if they are considered unfit, the chairman responded: "If your question is 'would we intervene in the final instance?', the response would be once we assemble the facts and comprehend the circumstances, we will."
But the chairman emphasized that forcing owners to sell clubs would be treated as a "last resort" and the regulator would prefer to cooperate with proprietors.
"The last thing what we want to do is begin intervening in an particular organization, an individual owner, without being in a position to cooperate with that proprietor to address the issues that the club's facing and the chairman's encountering," Kogan said.
"In actuality, when you examine the past of the sport, over the last 20 or 30 years there have been particular chairmen, not many, but some who have been irresponsible in the approach they have taken toward their teams and eventually don't wish to take responsibility for the future."
Wednesday followers have been voicing opposition to the current proprietor this season
'If we get it wrong, extraordinary progress vanishes'
The regulator engaged officials from numerous teams to lay out the remit of the regulator on Wednesday and insisted it was a "progressive gathering" with a "substantial involvement" from the grassroots to elite level.
"It's a job that's actually really important, because if we get it wrong, if the world of football gets it wrong, the significant advances achieved necessary will vanish rapidly," the regulator warned.
"This represents everyone's worst fear in the context of the English game is a substantial accomplishment - we've got to keep it going.
"There's an enormous amount of money entering the sport and has been channeled for the past two decades, because certainty is lacking it will keep flowing into the sport, which is one of the reasons why I think we have to take a really clear view on risk and of course, of the next two or three years."
Elite Division Worries
Top flight officials resisted the formation of an authority because of concerns about detrimental effects on the top-flight's competitiveness, but the chairman responded: "I'm absolutely committed to the success and growth as an economic entity of the Premier League.
"I of all people understand the apprehension regarding damaging the division as a high-quality offering of England. But simultaneously, if you engage with division representatives after the recent gathering, they would have had a significant degree of comfort -and, indeed, they have been telling us in private they have a high level of reassurance."
Ideological Links
The chairman continues to confront a "comprehensive investigation" by the public appointments commissioner after he disclosed making donations to the political party in recent years.
The 68-year-old donated money to Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport Lisa Nandy's leadership campaign, along with that of the government leader.
"I have been entirely transparent regarding my former ideological connection [with Labour], and that party membership ceased the day the official body endorsed my nomination," Kogan said.
"I am no longer involved in any sort of politics."
