'Our role is integral to football's future' - football oversight chief the new chairman
The Championship club's current difficulties represent a a "major concern" and the independent regulator is looking to gain the ability to look into club affairs in such situations, the recently named head the official has announced.
During an extensive discussion, Kogan, who was named to the position this week, showed understanding towards Wednesday's fanbase.
Kogan met with four supporter groups associated with the football team in recent days.
The football club have been facing challenges both on and off the pitch in 2025, with the club missing wage payments on five separate occasions, including in September.
"Evidently Wednesday represents a major concern for the league and a substantial concern for English football," the regulator explained.
"The club represents one of the iconic names for football in England and recently we have met fan representatives.
"Our aim is to acquire the ability... which will allow us to have Wednesday and comparable cases submitted for our review if they need to be investigated and addressed."
Financial Struggles and Proprietorship Status
The team's struggling chairman the Thai businessman suggested earlier this year he would be open to selling the club at the stadium, but he has failed to complete a sale with prospective buyers.
Failure to pay player wages on time in March and May caused limitations by the English Football League (EFL) in summer, preventing the club from carrying out any transfers or loans for the next three transfer windows, although those limitations were removed in the end of the transfer window.
Authority's Position
The regulator explained: "Our role exists to serve the supporters of Wednesday, other clubs in similar situations where supporters are loyal to a local institution that has represented their community in many cases.
"I have absolute sympathy for the club's situation, as I do for every team that over recent decades have faced collapse, or approached financial ruin, for reasons that have nothing to do with the supporters."
Questioned about whether the authority might compel an owner to sell a club if they are deemed unsuitable, the regulator answered: "When asking whether 'would we intervene in the final instance?', the answer is once we collect the information and know what's going on, we will."
But the chairman emphasized that forcing owners to sell clubs would be viewed as the ultimate measure and the authority would rather to cooperate with proprietors.
"Our least desirable course of action is commence engagement with an specific team, an individual owner, without being in a position to cooperate with that chairman to fix the challenges confronting the team and the owner's facing," Kogan said.
"In actuality, when you review the record of the game, over the last 20 or 30 years there have been some owners, few in number, but some who have been irresponsible in the approach they have taken toward their teams and eventually refuse to accept accountability for the coming years."
Owls fans have been protesting against owner Dejphon Chansiri this season
'If we get it wrong, extraordinary progress vanishes'
The chairman convened with delegates from multiple organizations to lay out the remit of the regulator on Wednesday and stated it constituted a "progressive gathering" with a "substantial involvement" from the National League to the Premier League.
"The role holds considerable importance, because if errors are made, if the football community fails, the significant advances achieved might evaporate incredibly quickly," Kogan said.
"And that's what nobody wants in the realm of domestic football is a huge success story - we need to continue the progress.
"Considerable investment coming into football and has come into football for the last 20 or 25 years, because there are no assurances it will continue to come into football, which is part of the rationale behind I think we have to adopt a precise perspective on risk and of course, of the immediate future."
Top Flight Apprehensions
The Premier League opposed the establishment of an oversight body because of apprehensions regarding adverse consequences on the top-flight's competitiveness, but the regulator stated: "I fully support the achievement and development as an financial organization of the elite league.
"I of all people understand the worry about compromising the top flight as an elite competition of the nation. But concurrently, if you consult with top flight officials after this week's discussion, they would have had a high level of reassurance -and, actually, they have been informing us confidentially they have a considerable comfort."
Ideological Links
The regulator remains subject to a "thorough examination" by the public appointments commissioner after he acknowledged providing funds to the political party in recent years.
The chairman donated money to government minister Lisa Nandy's leadership campaign, along with that of the current Prime Minister.
"I have been entirely transparent regarding my previous political affiliation [with Labour], and that political affiliation came to an end the day the select committee approved my appointment," the regulator explained.
"I am presently disconnected from any type of partisan engagement."
