No manager, unpaid wages and a closed stand - Sheffield Wednesday latest

With 10 days until the start of the new Championship season, the departure of manager Danny Rohl and the closure of the North Stand at Hillsborough are the latest developments in a chaotic summer for Sheffield Wednesday.

Wages have gone unpaid, the local MP described the club as being "held hostage" by the owner and now some fans are fearing the worst for their club.

BBC Sport takes an in-depth look at the situation.

Sheffield Wednesday, who are run by owner Dejphon Chansiri, have had cashflow issues for some time.

There has been no official explanation by Chansiri on what has led to the problem but things have escalated this summer.

The club has gone from delayed payments to His Majesty's Revenue and Customs (HMRC) in 2023 and 2024 to players, coaches and staff now not being paid on time in both May and June. It's believed July's pay is due on Thursday.

They are under an English Football League (EFL) embargo relating to unpaid transfer fees. They had been under two further embargoes, one for unpaid player wages and the other the issue with HMRC.

Wednesday remain under a registration embargo preventing them from signing anyone, even free transfers and can not make any transfers or loans which involve a fee for this summer's window and the two in 2026.

No explanation has been offered by Chansiri on what has led to the current crisis and there is no obvious solution to the problem under the current owner.

The situation at the club has been described as "shocking" and "not tolerable" by Maheta Molango, the head of the Professional Footballers' Association.

Meanwhile, Sheffield South East MP Clive Betts has urged Chansiri to sell the club, accusing him of holding it "hostage".

Betts, a life-long Owls fan, said: "He must accept that he needs to sell Wednesday to prevent the complete collapse of the club… we as fans deserve better."

The Thai businessman, whose family controls the Thai Union Group, the world's largest producer of canned tuna, bought Sheffield Wednesday for a reported £37.5m in 2015 from former chairman Milan Mandaric.

The Owls, who have not played in the Premier League since 2000, reached the Championship play-offs in each of his first two seasons in charge but in recent years the 57-year-old has frequently clashed with supporters during a series of lengthy fans' forums and public statements.

In 2023 he told supporters "you have no right to ask me to leave" amid calls to sell. In an interview with the Sheffield Star, external in the same year, he asked fans to raise £2m to help the club pay an outstanding debt to HMRC and cover wages, before resolving the issue shortly after.

By the end of last season, a significant demonstration organised by the Sheffield Wednesday Supporters' Trust called on Chansiri to leave.

On Tuesday it was announced Sheffield Wednesday boss Rohl has left the club by mutual consent - less than two weeks before the new season begins.

Rohl had looked set to leave at the start of the summer when he did not return to take pre-season training, but he came back in early July and had been planning for the Owls' first game against Leicester.

However, things remained unsustainable with no takeover at the club and now the parties have mutually parted.

It is expected Henrik Pedersen, Rohl's assistant manager, will take control of the first team.

The squad is threadbare with both Akin Famewo and Callum Paterson leaving the club on free transfers this week to join Hull City and MK Dons, respectively.

The Owls had already sold Djeidi Gassama for a discounted price to Rangers and Anthony Musaba left for Samsunspor.

Josh Windass and Michael Smith also had their contracts ended by mutual consent and joined Wrexham and Preston North End, respectively, shortly after.

Paterson, Gassama, Musaba, Windass and Smith produced 55 goals and assists between them in the second tier last season. Of the remaining contracted squad players, there are only 22 goal contributions left.

Captain Barry Bannan remains out of contract and it is unclear if he will return, although he has been training with the squad.

This week it was revealed Sheffield City Council had issued a prohibition notice for Hillsborough Stadium in respect of the North Stand. It prevents spectators from entering the stand until the specified work to resolve the issue has been completed.

This comes after two recent SAG (Safety Advisory Group) meetings where the club was told they would not receive a safety certificate for the North Stand without work taking place.

The club say they are continuing to work with SAG to satisfy their concerns, that additional information is currently being obtained and they will provide further updates at the earliest possible opportunity.

It's unclear whether non-playing staff, who suffered late payment of wages in May and June, will be paid on time for July. An emergency fund helped some employees for the past two months but sources the BBC has spoken to painted a distressing picture, with people unsure if they'll be able to pay bills on time.

BBC Radio Sheffield have requested interviews with Chansiri and the offer remains open.

Chansiri has not publicly revealed what kind of offer he would be willing to accept for the club.

He did reveal in a statement, external that he had rejected an offer of £40m plus "limited future Premier League promotion payments" from a consortium.

The owner has spent a considerable amount during his 10-and-a-half years at Hillsborough and appears determined to ask for a bid that is well beyond what many consider to be market value.

Unless his price demand comes down, it's hard to imagine anyone buying the club.

Mandaric briefly suggested he would be interested in a return but subsequently decided against getting involved, while John Flanagan, a member of a US-based consortium, told BBC Radio Sheffield that they had had two offers for the club rejected with no counter-offer.

The BBC reported at the start of July that Sheffield Wednesday were directing parties interested in buying the club to a professional team with a proven track record of selling football clubs, with the aim of completing a takeover.

We then received information that an agreement had been reached with an interested party. Multiple sources confirmed this, with a growing belief a takeover could actually be on the cards.

We also discovered that businessman Francesco Guardascione was part of a group pursuing a purchase.

Within days, the mood changed around a prospective takeover with things appearing to stall and no deal was completed.

There are multiple parties showing interest in Sheffield Wednesday. However, it's believed that negotiating a deal to buy the club is a challenging process. Words like 'unique' and 'unorthodox' are used to describe negotiations.

Some believe a bidder would have to be prepared to overpay or come up with a package that would interest Chansiri.

What constitutes a realistic asking price is likely to be impacted by the recent departures of key player assets. If the club struggles when the season begins, potential buyers might argue they are effectively buying a League One team.

A ruling on EFL charges against the club and Chansiri will be made. It is impossible to predict what the outcome would be but the precedent set when the league dealt with Reading suggests a points deduction is possible.

If Chansiri is serious about selling, time might be running out to secure a satisfactory deal.