'Our role is integral to football's future' - football oversight chief the new chairman
The team's ongoing struggles are seen as a "serious issue" and the independent regulator is seeking powers to examine team situations in similar circumstances, the recently named head David Kogan has stated.
In a wide-ranging interview, the regulator, who was recently selected, voiced concern towards the club's followers.
Kogan met with four supporter groups associated with the Championship side in recent days.
The team have been facing challenges both on and off the pitch in the current year, with the club missing wage payments on several different times, including in the autumn.
"Evidently Wednesday represents a major concern for the league and a major challenge for the sport," the chairman stated.
"The club represents one of the historic institutions for English football and in recent days we have met fan representatives.
"We are seeking authority... which will enable us to take Sheffield Wednesday - and other clubs submitted for our review if they require examination and dealt with."
Monetary Issues and Ownership Situation
The team's struggling chairman Dejphon Chansiri indicated in the summer he would be prepared to relinquish control at Hillsborough, but he has not been able to secure a deal with prospective buyers.
Missed wage deadlines on time in March and May caused limitations by the league officials in summer, preventing the club from carrying out any recruitment activities for the next three transfer windows, although those limitations were removed in the end of the transfer window.
Official's Viewpoint
The regulator explained: "The job [of the regulator] is there for the Owls followers, Bury or any football club where supporters are loyal to a local institution that has existed throughout their lifetimes in numerous instances.
"I fully appreciate the team's plight, as I do for all the clubs that over recent decades have faced collapse, or approached financial ruin, for causes separate from the fans themselves."
Questioned about whether the regulator could force an owner to sell a club if they are deemed unsuitable, Kogan said: "When asking whether 'would we intervene in the final instance?', the response would be once we gather the evidence and comprehend the circumstances, we will."
But the chairman emphasized that compelling proprietors to divest clubs would be considered the final option and the authority would rather to collaborate with owners.
"The final option we would consider is commence engagement with an specific team, an individual owner, without being able to work with that owner to try and resolve the issues that the club's facing and the proprietor's dealing with," the regulator explained.
"However, realistically, when you examine the past of the sport, over the last 20 or 30 years there have been some owners, a small minority, but particular people who have shown negligence in the approach they have taken toward their organizations and finally refuse to accept accountability for the future."
Wednesday followers have been voicing opposition to the team's chairman in recent months
'Mistakes could erase significant advances'
The regulator engaged officials from numerous teams to detail the scope of the oversight body this week and maintained it represented a "progressive gathering" with a "significant participation" from the lower divisions to the top flight.
"This position carries substantial significance, because if we get it wrong, if the world of football gets it wrong, the significant advances achieved could disappear swiftly," the regulator warned.
"This represents everyone's worst fear in the terms of English football is a substantial accomplishment - we need to continue the progress.
"Substantial financial resources flowing into the game and has come into football for the past two decades, because certainty is lacking it will persist in entering the game, which is among the factors explaining I think we have to maintain a focused outlook on risk and of course, of the immediate future."
Elite Division Worries
The Premier League opposed the establishment of an oversight body because of fears of a negative impact on the Premier League's sporting equality, but the regulator stated: "I fully support the prosperity and expansion as an financial organization of the top division.
"Being fully aware of the apprehension regarding damaging the top flight as an elite competition of the nation. But concurrently, if you talk to the Premier League after the recent gathering, they would have had a significant degree of comfort -and, indeed, they have been telling us in private they have a high level of reassurance."
Partisan Associations
Kogan is still facing a "comprehensive investigation" by the public appointments commissioner after he revealed he contributed money to the Labour Party in the past.
The 68-year-old provided financial support for government minister Lisa Nandy's leadership campaign, along with that of the government leader.
"I have been entirely transparent regarding my former ideological connection [with Labour], and that ideological connection terminated the day the parliamentary committee confirmed my selection," the chairman stated.
"I am no longer involved in any sort of politics."
