Sheffield Wednesday file for administration

Sheffield Wednesday have filed a notice to be placed into administration after it was revealed His Majesty's Revenue & Customs were set to issue a winding-up petition against the club.

A notice was filed with the Insolvency and Companies Court at the High Court on Friday morning and the Championship club will now face a 12-point deduction.

Staff have been briefed, while administrators also held a meeting with players. The Owls host Oxford United at Hillsborough on Saturday (15:00 BST).

BBC Sport has contacted Sheffield Wednesday and the EFL for comment.

The news comes following increased supporter protests at Hillsborough, with fans boycotting the game against Middlesbrough on Wednesday.

Going into administration would effectively end Dejphon Chansiri's decade-long ownership of the club.

The Owls are bottom of the Championship and a points deduction will leave them 15 points adrift of safety.

Thai businessman Chansiri took over at Hillsborough in March 2015 with ambitions to lead the club back into the Premier League for the first time since 2000.

They were beaten in the Championship play-off final by Hull City the following May but that was the closest they came to ending their top-flight exile under his ownership and were relegated to League One in 2020-21 after a six-point deduction for breaking spending rules.

Darren Moore led them back to the second tier in 2023 but left by mutual consent shortly afterwards and Danny Rohl then stabilised the club after a wretched start to 2023-24 under Xisco Munoz.

During Chansiri's reign there had previously been some issues with wage payments but things really came to the fore when May's wages were not paid on time, having previously happened in March.

At present, they are under five EFL embargoes and wages have not been paid on time in five of the past seven months.

The highly-rated Rohl, who has now taken over at Rangers, departed in July and his assistant Henrik Pedersen took charge with the club unable to add to their small playing squad because of the financial issues.

As well as protests before and during games this season, fans boycotted the EFL Cup ties with Leeds United and Grimsby Town, while a small number entered the field of play to temporarily halt the 5-0 home reverse by Coventry City and there was then a mass boycott of the league game with Middlesbrough.

Chansiri has been absent from the club for the whole period of turmoil.