'Our role is integral to football's future' - newly appointed regulator the new chairman
The Championship club's persistent issues are seen as a "major concern" and the new football authority is seeking powers to look into club affairs in comparable cases, the newly appointed chairman the regulator has declared.
In a wide-ranging interview, Kogan, who was appointed on Monday, expressed "sympathy" towards the club's followers.
Kogan met with four supporter groups representing the Championship side recently.
The team have been experiencing difficulties in multiple areas in 2025, with the club failing to pay players on time on five separate occasions, including in the autumn.
"Obviously the club has become a significant problem for EFL and a substantial concern for English football," Kogan told.
"The club represents one of the great brands for the English game and recently we have met fan representatives.
"We're now looking to get powers... which will permit us to bring the club and similar situations submitted for our review if they warrant scrutiny and acted upon."
Financial Struggles and Proprietorship Status
The team's struggling chairman the Thai businessman indicated in the summer he would be willing to sell up at their home ground, but he has not been able to secure a deal with potential new owners.
Delayed salary payments on time in earlier this year led to sanctions by the football authorities in summer, preventing the club from carrying out any transfers or loans for the following recruitment periods, although that restriction was lifted in the end of the transfer window.
Authority's Position
The regulator explained: "The position was created for the Owls followers, other clubs in similar situations where people are committed 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 authority might compel an owner to sell a club if they are deemed unsuitable, Kogan said: "If your question is 'would we intervene in the final instance?', the response would be once we assemble the facts and comprehend the circumstances, we will."
But the chairman emphasized that requiring chairmen to relinquish clubs would be considered the final option and the authority would rather to collaborate with owners.
"Our least desirable course of action is start getting involved with an specific team, an particular chairman, without being in a position to cooperate with that chairman to fix the problems affecting the organization and the chairman's encountering," Kogan said.
"However, realistically, when you look back over the history of the sport, over the recent generations there have been particular chairmen, few in number, but particular people who have shown negligence in the way which they've been managing their organizations and finally refuse to accept accountability for the long-term prospects."
Owls fans have been demonstrating against owner Dejphon Chansiri in recent months
'If we get it wrong, extraordinary progress vanishes'
The chairman convened with delegates from multiple organizations to lay out the remit of the authority recently and maintained it represented a "forward-thinking discussion" with a "high level of engagement" from the grassroots to elite level.
"It's a job that's actually really important, because if we get it wrong, if the world of football gets it wrong, the extraordinary progress that's been made might evaporate swiftly," the chairman stated.
"Such an outcome is universally undesirable in the terms of English football is a major achievement - we've got to keep it going.
"Substantial financial resources entering the sport and has been invested for the recent generations, because certainty is lacking it will continue to come into football, which is one of the reasons why I think we have to adopt a precise perspective on risk and of course, of the immediate future."
Top Flight Apprehensions
Elite division representatives objected to the establishment of an oversight body because of apprehensions regarding adverse consequences on the top-flight's competitiveness, but the regulator stated: "I'm absolutely committed to the prosperity and expansion as an financial organization of the elite league.
"As someone who appreciates the concern of undermining the top flight as an elite competition of England. But at the same time, if you talk to the Premier League after today's meeting, they would have had a significant degree of comfort -and, actually, they have been advising us privately they have a considerable comfort."
Political Connections
The chairman continues to confront a "full inquiry" by the public appointments commissioner after he revealed he contributed money to the Labour Party in the past.
The chairman contributed funds to Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport Lisa Nandy's leadership campaign, along with that of the now Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer.
"I have fully disclosed my former ideological connection [with Labour], and that political affiliation came to an end the day the select committee approved my appointment," Kogan said.
"I am no longer involved in any form of political activity."
