'Our role is integral to football's future' - football oversight chief David Kogan
Sheffield Wednesday's persistent issues represent a a "major concern" and the new football authority is looking to gain the ability to investigate clubs in comparable cases, the recently named head the regulator has declared.
Through a comprehensive talk, Kogan, who was named to the position this week, expressed "sympathy" towards supporters of the Owls.
Kogan met with four supporters' associations representing the South Yorkshire club this week.
The football club have been facing challenges both on and off the pitch in the current year, with the club missing wage payments on five separate occasions, including in last month.
"Evidently Wednesday represents a major concern for the league and a significant problem for football," Kogan told.
"Sheffield Wednesday is one of the great brands for the English game and recently we have met Sheffield Wednesday supporters' groups.
"We're now looking to get powers... which will allow us to have the club and similar situations referred to us if they require examination and addressed."
Economic Challenges and Ownership Situation
The club's controversial proprietor the Thai businessman 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.
Delayed salary payments on time in March and May led to sanctions by the English Football League (EFL) in June, preventing the club from carrying out any recruitment activities for the next three transfer windows, although that restriction was lifted in August.
Official's Viewpoint
Kogan said: "The job [of the regulator] is there for the supporters of Wednesday, Bury or any football club where supporters are loyal to a community organization that has existed throughout their lifetimes in many cases.
"I have absolute sympathy for the team's plight, as I do for all the clubs that in modern times have encountered failure, or been close to going to the wall, for factors unrelated to the supporters."
Questioned about whether the regulator could force an proprietor to divest a club if they are judged inappropriate, the chairman responded: "Should the inquiry concern 'would we intervene in the final instance?', the answer is once we assemble the facts and know what's going on, we will."
But the chairman emphasized that compelling proprietors to divest clubs would be treated as a "last resort" and the regulator would prefer to collaborate with owners.
"The final option we would consider is begin intervening in an particular organization, an individual owner, without being able to work with that proprietor to address the issues that the club's facing and the proprietor's dealing with," Kogan said.
"However, realistically, when you review the record of the sport, over the past few decades there have been some owners, few in number, but particular people who have shown negligence in the approach they have taken toward their organizations and finally refuse to accept accountability for the coming years."
Owls fans have been voicing opposition to the current proprietor during the current campaign
'If we get it wrong, extraordinary progress vanishes'
The regulator engaged officials from numerous teams to explain the responsibilities of the oversight body this week and maintained it represented a "proactive meeting" with a "substantial involvement" from the lower divisions to the top flight.
"The role holds considerable importance, because if errors are made, if the world of football gets it wrong, the significant advances achieved necessary will vanish rapidly," the chairman stated.
"And that's what nobody wants in the realm of domestic football is a huge success story - we need to continue the progress.
"There's an enormous amount of money entering the sport and has been channeled for the last 20 or 25 years, because there are no assurances it will persist in entering the game, which is part of the rationale behind I think we have to take a really clear view on risk and of course, of the coming seasons."
Elite Division Worries
Elite division representatives objected to the formation of an authority because of apprehensions regarding adverse consequences on the Premier League's sporting equality, but the regulator stated: "I fully support the prosperity and expansion as an economic entity of the top division.
"Being fully aware of the apprehension regarding damaging the Premier League as a premium product of the nation. But simultaneously, if you engage with division representatives after this week's discussion, they would have had a high level of reassurance -and, actually, they have been telling us in private they have a significant confidence."
Political Connections
Kogan is still facing a "full inquiry" by the Commissioner for Public Appointments after he disclosed making donations to the opposition group in recent years.
The official donated money to Culture Secretary the politician's campaign, along with that of the current Prime Minister.
"I have been entirely transparent regarding my previous political affiliation [with Labour], and that political affiliation came to an end the day the official body endorsed my nomination," the chairman stated.
"I currently have no participation in any sort of politics."
