Sheffield Wednesday news: Chansiri fan protest, EFL issues, North Stand at Hillsborough update | OneFootball

Things aren't getting easier for Sheffield Wednesday as the new season begins. Here's the latest takeover news from the troubled Championship club.

Things haven't got much easier for Sheffield Wednesday since the new season started.

The Owls' 2025-26 season has started with two league defeats, yet even that is almost among the lowest items on the club's priority list at the moment.

Wednesday were beaten 3-0 in their first home match of the season against Stoke on Saturday, a result which leaves them joint-bottom of the Championship table alongside their city rivals, Sheffield United.

But the financial positions of the two Sheffield clubs couldn't be much more different.

While United had a season of Premier League money last season and will receive parachute payments for a minimum of the next three, Wednesday were reliant on the Premier League's solidarity payment to get themselves off the EFL's transfer embargo list, and even that hasn't been enough to bring any new players into the club.

With just a fortnight left before the closure of the summer transfer window and - more significantly, for this particular club - wages and other debts due to be paid again, here's the latest news following another difficult weekend for Sheffield Wednesday.

Wednesday fans protest prior to the Stoke City match

Sheffield Wednesday's 3-0 home defeat at the hands of Stoke City on Saturday was preceded by a substantial fan protest against club owner Dejphon Chansiri.

Thousands of fans turned out for a mock funeral procession with a coffin to symbolise "the death of the football club" in Hillsborough Park before Saturday's match, with Sheffield South East MP Clive Betts, a Wednesday fan who's previously raised the club's plight in parliament, addressing the crowd.

Betts told those assembled that, "I've spent an awful lot of my life watching Wednesday and to watch it being systematically torn apart and destroyed by an owner who doesn't care is really hurting", and said that he had raised the matter with Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, Lisa Nandy, last week, and that, "she recognises if that regulator isn't able to act, and Wednesday gets into serious trouble, that simply isn't acceptable."

The Stoke City attendance may worry the Wednesday hierarchy

One striking figure to emerge from Saturday's home defeat to Stoke was the size of the crowd at Hillsborough. The reported attendance for the match was 21,683, which represents Wednesday's lowest for a home league match since 21,330 turned out to see them beat Morecambe 3-0 in a League One match in February 2023.

And there were mitigating circumstances behind that attendance figure which did not apply last weekend. The Morecambe match was a Tuesday night fixture, and this particular Tuesday night happened to be Valentine's Day. The Stoke crowd was Wednesday's lowest home attendance for a Saturday league match since 20,872 turned out to see them play Plymouth Argyle in January 2022, more than three and half years ago. The crowd for Wednesday's first home game of last season, also against Plymouth Argyle, was 29,535.

For a club in desperate need of ready money, falling attendance figures are very bad news indeed. Wednesday have to pay wages, transfer fee money and HMRC again at the end of August, and a fall in match-day income could seriously impact their ability to do so. At the present moment in time, there remains little indication that a sale of the club will be wrapped up by the end of this month.

Sheffield Wednesday were released from their transfer embargo shortly before the start of the new season, but there are still severe restrictions in place that are seriously impacting the club's ability to bring the players in that they need.

With a senior squad of just 16 players, it's clear that Wednesday need new blood, but despite the lifting of the transfer embargo, the club still have to get any new signings agreed by the EFL's Club Financial Reporting Unit (CFRU). It's already been reported that these restrictions prevented the signing of Liam Cooper before the Stoke match, while rumours linking the former Norwich winger Onel Hernandez to the club have also been tempered by reports that the CFRU may not agree to this either.

The Sheffield Star has reported that the CFRU have little confidence that the club will be able to pay wages on time so long as Dejphon Chansiri owns the club, meaning that it's entirely possible that there will be no new signings before any takeover has been completed.

The North Stand at Hillsborough was reopened for the Stoke match

There was one bit of good news to emerge from Hillsborough last week, with reports that the North Stand at Hillsborough, which had been closed with a prohibition notice in the summer after "extensive corrosion" was found in its roof supports, would be open for the Stoke match.

This news came through on the 13th August, with a statement from Sheffield City Council confirming that, "With the notice lifted, normal operations at Hillsborough can resume, allowing supporters to return to all stands and enjoy matchdays", and that, "Documentary and photographic evidence of the completed works was provided, and Eastwood and Partners [the structural engineers who carried out the checks in the first place] confirmed in writing that public safety risks have been adequately addressed and that a programme of works will be delivered."

Establishing that their stadium meets the minimum required standards to safely house spectators might be considered the absolute bare minimum for the club to have achieved, but with actual takeover talk having been so quiet over the weekend, Sheffield Wednesday fans have to take their good news where they can find it, at the moment.