'Our role is integral to football's future' - football oversight chief David Kogan
Sheffield Wednesday's current difficulties are seen as a "significant problem" and the football regulator is seeking powers to examine team situations in similar circumstances, the recently named head the official has declared.
In a wide-ranging interview, the regulator, who was named to the position this week, showed understanding towards Wednesday's fanbase.
The chairman convened with four supporters' associations connected to the Championship side in recent days.
The football club have been facing challenges both on and off the pitch in this season, with the club delaying salary disbursements on five separate occasions, including in September.
"Evidently Wednesday represents a significant problem for EFL and a major challenge for the sport," the regulator explained.
"Sheffield Wednesday is one of the great brands for the English game and this week we have met Sheffield Wednesday supporters' groups.
"We are seeking authority... which will allow us to have the club and similar situations brought to our attention if they require examination and acted upon."
Monetary Issues and Ownership Situation
Wednesday's embattled owner the Thai businessman indicated in the summer he would be willing to sell up at their home ground, but he has failed to complete a sale with interested parties.
Delayed salary payments on time in earlier this year resulted in restrictions being imposed by the league officials in mid-year, stopping Wednesday from completing any recruitment activities for the subsequent signing windows, although that restriction was lifted in the end of the transfer window.
Regulator's Perspective
The chairman stated: "Our role exists to serve the Owls followers, Bury or any football club where fans are dedicated to a regional establishment that has existed throughout their lifetimes in many cases.
"I have absolute sympathy for Sheffield Wednesday, as I do for each organization that in modern times have encountered failure, or approached financial ruin, for reasons that have nothing to do with the supporters."
When asked if 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 reply is once we assemble the facts and understand the situation, we will."
But the regulator clarified that forcing owners to sell clubs would be considered the final option and the regulator would prefer to work with them.
"The final option we would consider is start getting involved with an specific team, an individual owner, without being able to work with that chairman to fix the issues that the club's facing and the chairman's encountering," the chairman stated.
"In actuality, when you review the record of football, over the recent generations there have been particular chairmen, a small minority, but some who have been irresponsible in the approach they have taken toward their teams and eventually decline to assume obligation for the future."
Owls fans have been protesting against the current proprietor this season
'If we get it wrong, extraordinary progress vanishes'
The regulator engaged officials from numerous teams to detail the scope of the oversight body this week and insisted it was a "proactive meeting" with a "high level of engagement" from the grassroots to elite level.
"It's a job that's actually really important, because should mistakes occur, if the world of football gets it wrong, the extraordinary progress that's been made could disappear swiftly," the chairman stated.
"And that's what nobody wants in the context of the English game is a huge success story - we need to continue the progress.
"There's an enormous amount of money entering the sport and has come into football for the recent generations, because there's no guarantee it will persist in entering the game, which is among the factors explaining I think we have to adopt a precise perspective on challenges and obviously, of the immediate future."
Elite Division Worries
Top flight officials resisted the establishment of an oversight body because of apprehensions regarding adverse consequences on the top-flight's competitiveness, but the chairman responded: "I'm absolutely committed to the achievement and development as an commercial operation of the elite league.
"I of all people understand the concern of undermining the Premier League as a premium product of the nation. But at the same time, if you talk to the Premier League after today's meeting, they would have had a significant degree of comfort -and, actually, they have been telling us in private they have a high level of reassurance."
Partisan Associations
Kogan is still facing a "full inquiry" by the public appointments commissioner after he disclosed making donations to the political party in recent years.
The 68-year-old contributed funds to Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport the minister's leadership bid, along with that of the current Prime Minister.
"I have been entirely transparent regarding my past party membership [with Labour], and that political affiliation came to an end the day the parliamentary committee confirmed my selection," Kogan said.
"I am presently disconnected from any sort of politics."
