Sheffield Wednesday hit with 12-point penalty after entering administration / Photo: Oli SCARFF - AFP/File
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Sheffield Wednesday hit with 12-point penalty after entering administration
Struggling Championship club Sheffield Wednesday on Friday entered administration and were hit with an automatic 12-point penalty by the English Football League.
The Owls, whose financial difficulties have been well-documented in recent months, issued a statement announcing the appointment of administrators.
The EFL followed with a statement of its own confirming the 12-point sanction for entering administration but pointed out the process "presents Sheffield Wednesday with the opportunity to move matters towards a successful sale and secure future under new ownership".
Second-tier Wednesday said they had appointed insolvency firm Begbies Traynor as administrators, with Dejphon Chansiri's controversial ownership of the club now over.
The club said appointing administrators had followed "significant efforts to agree a sale to a credible future custodian in recent weeks which unfortunately could not be concluded and amid rising pressure from creditors".
Joint administrator Kris Wigfield said: "Like many football clubs, (Sheffield Wednesday) have been trading at a significant loss for several years, with those losses historically funded by the former owner Mr Chansiri.
"Due to increased financial pressure on the club, the owner has chosen to place the club and the stadium company into administration which will enable us to market the club and the stadium as a whole, which is great news for supporters of the club."
The 12-point penalty leaves the former Premier League side on minus six points at the bottom of the Championship -- 15 points adrift of safety.
Fans have held protests calling on Chansiri to sell throughout the season, including during this week's 1-0 defeat against Middlesbrough at Hillsborough.
Supporters boycotted the game in their thousands in a bid to force Chansiri out.
Wednesday have been placed under various embargoes due to tax debts and after failing to pay players and staff on time on five separate occasions this year, including in September.
Images on social media showed seats spelling out Chansiri's name in the North Stand at Hillsborough being ripped out, while there were also reports of queues already forming outside the stadium of fans looking to buy tickets for Saturday's match against Oxford.
Even Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy had called on Chansiri to sell, and on Friday she said: "Having been in this position with my own team, Wigan Athletic, I know everyone who loves the club will be hoping for a resolution as soon as possible."
The Sheffield Wednesday Supporters' Trust described it as "one of the most bittersweet days in our club's proud 158-year history".
"Entering administration was the inevitable outcome of years of financial mismanagement, a lack of accountability and repeated failures to engage credible buyers," the Trust said in a statement.
"Administration is not to be celebrated. It needn't have ended this way. But we are overjoyed to have Dejphon Chansiri out of our club for good."
M.F.Schmitz--JdB
