Sheffield Wednesday fans held a protest against current owner, Dejphon Chansiri, ahead of the team's game with Stoke City on Saturday, Michael Crossland reports.
00:00Hello, I'm Michael Crossland, reporter for the Yorkshire Post, here at Hillsborough Park.
00:05What you can hear in the background is Sheffield Wednesday fans blowing whistles in the first five minutes of the team's game against Stoke City.
00:13We're here today in Hillsborough Park, just after fans held a protest against current owner, Daphon Chantieri.
00:19During the protest, fans held what they described as a funeral procession for the club, carrying a coffin emblazoned with Sheffield Wednesday's badge.
00:27The protest is the culmination of months of complaints about Wednesday club owner Chantieri, with issues including unpaid or late wages, resulting in the fans calling for the owner to sell the club.
00:40Payments for players were delayed in May, June and July, with the club also placed under registration embargoes, preventing it from registering new players.
00:49The EFL, for its part, in June charged the club and Chantieri for repeatedly paying the players and other members of staff late.
00:58Amongst the speakers at today's event was Sheffield MP and long-time Wednesday supporter Clive Betts, who congratulated the club supporters' trust for its work.
01:08Today, I'll begin speaking on behalf of myself, to all the six Labour MPs in the city, on behalf of David Bluntwood as well.
01:18We're all united behind the campaign to get Chantieri out and to get him out now.
01:24That's what we want to do.
01:25Get him out!
01:26The supporters, you the supporters, have got to be involved in the running of this club going forward.
01:33We aren't going to simply get to a point, we have another Chantieri coming, who behaves the same way.
01:38That's an important challenge we've all got to work towards.
01:42Mr Betts also said that work was currently being done in Parliament to bring in a new football regulator who could potentially intervene in the situation.
01:50Today's protest was the latest in a series of actions by Wednesday fans who refused to take their seats in the first five minutes of their recent game against Leicester.
02:00Wednesday players also refused to play in a pre-season friendly match against Burnley.
02:06Today's action has also been followed with talks of fans boycotting the club's upcoming game against Leeds United.
02:13Chantieri, however, has stayed silent on the matter, leaving fans with the question of if or when he will eventually let go of the club.
02:23That's all for the time being.
02:24I'm Michael Crossland reporting for the Yorkshire Post.
Be the first to comment