'Our role is integral to football's future' - independent football regulator the regulator's chair
The Championship club's ongoing struggles constitute a "serious issue" and the football regulator is seeking powers to look into club affairs in comparable cases, the newly appointed chairman the regulator has stated.
In a wide-ranging interview, Kogan, who was named to the position this week, showed understanding towards Wednesday's fanbase.
The chairman convened with four fan organizations connected to the South Yorkshire club recently.
The team have been facing challenges both on and off the pitch in 2025, with the club delaying salary disbursements on multiple instances, including in the autumn.
"Evidently Wednesday represents a significant problem for EFL and a significant problem for football," the chairman stated.
"The club represents one of the iconic names for English football and recently we have met Sheffield Wednesday supporters' groups.
"Our aim is to acquire the ability... which will permit us to bring Sheffield Wednesday - and other clubs referred to us if they require examination and addressed."
Financial Struggles and Leadership Concerns
Wednesday's embattled owner the Thai businessman suggested earlier this year he would be willing to sell up at the stadium, but he has not been able to secure a deal with prospective buyers.
Delayed salary payments on time in March and May resulted in restrictions being imposed by the league officials in mid-year, blocking the team from conducting any transfers or loans for the next three transfer windows, although those limitations were removed in late summer.
Authority's Position
Kogan said: "The position was created for the Owls followers, Bury or any football club where supporters are loyal to a local institution that has been part of their lives in numerous instances.
"I have absolute sympathy for the club's situation, as I do for every team that over recent decades have faced collapse, or been close to going to the wall, for factors unrelated to the supporters."
Questioned about whether the oversight body could require an proprietor to divest a club if they are considered unfit, Kogan said: "If your question is 'would we intervene in the final instance?', the reply is once we gather the evidence and know what's going on, we will."
But the chairman emphasized that forcing owners to sell clubs would be viewed as the ultimate measure and the oversight body would choose to work with them.
"The last thing what we want to do is start getting involved with an particular organization, an individual owner, without being in a position to cooperate with that owner to try and resolve the problems affecting the organization and the owner's facing," the chairman stated.
"However, realistically, when you review the record of the sport, over the past few decades there have been particular chairmen, few in number, but certain individuals who have acted carelessly in the way which they've been managing their organizations and finally decline to assume obligation for the long-term prospects."
Sheffield Wednesday supporters have been voicing opposition to the current proprietor this season
'If we get it wrong, extraordinary progress vanishes'
The regulator engaged delegates from multiple organizations to detail the scope of the oversight body this week and insisted it was a "forward-thinking discussion" with a "significant participation" from the grassroots to elite level.
"It's a job that's actually really important, because if errors are made, if the football community fails, the significant advances achieved might evaporate swiftly," the chairman stated.
"And that's what nobody wants in the realm of domestic football is a huge success story - we've got to keep it going.
"Considerable investment coming into football and has been channeled for the last 20 or 25 years, because certainty is lacking it will keep flowing into the sport, which is part of the rationale behind I think we have to adopt a precise perspective on risk and of course, of the next two or three years."
Top Flight Apprehensions
Elite division representatives objected to the creation of a regulator because of apprehensions regarding adverse consequences on the elite division's competitive balance, but the chairman responded: "I fully support the prosperity and expansion as an financial organization of the top division.
"Being fully aware of the concern of undermining the top flight as an elite competition of England. But simultaneously, if you engage with division representatives after today's meeting, they would have had a substantial amount of confidence -and, indeed, they have been telling us in private they have a considerable comfort."
Ideological Links
Kogan is still facing a "full inquiry" by the official appointments authority after he acknowledged providing funds to the Labour Party in recent years.
The 68-year-old contributed funds to Culture Secretary the minister's leadership bid, 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 am presently disconnected from any type of partisan engagement."
