'Our role is integral to football's future' - independent football regulator the new chairman
Sheffield Wednesday's ongoing struggles are seen as a "serious issue" and the independent regulator is seeking powers to investigate clubs in similar circumstances, its new chair the official has declared.
Through a comprehensive talk, the chairman, who was appointed on Monday, showed understanding towards the club's followers.
Kogan met with four supporter groups connected to the football team in recent days.
The Championship side have been facing challenges both on and off the pitch in the current year, with the club delaying salary disbursements on five separate occasions, including in September.
"Evidently Wednesday represents a major concern for the league and a major challenge for the sport," the chairman stated.
"Wednesday stands as one of the historic institutions for football in England and recently we have met supporters' organizations.
"We are seeking authority... which will permit us to bring Wednesday and comparable cases referred to us if they warrant scrutiny and addressed."
Financial Struggles and Ownership Situation
The club's controversial proprietor the current owner indicated in the summer he would be open to selling the club at their home ground, but he has been unable to finalize an agreement with prospective buyers.
Failure to pay player wages on time in earlier this year caused limitations by the league officials in mid-year, preventing the club from carrying out any recruitment activities for the next three transfer windows, although that restriction was lifted in late summer.
Authority's Position
The regulator explained: "The position was created for the Owls followers, teams facing challenges where supporters are loyal to a regional establishment that has represented their community in numerous instances.
"I have absolute sympathy for Sheffield Wednesday, as I do for every team that in modern times have encountered failure, or been close to going to the wall, for causes separate from the fans themselves."
Questioned about whether the authority might compel an chairman to relinquish a club if they are judged inappropriate, Kogan said: "When asking whether 'would we intervene in the final instance?', the response would be once we assemble the facts and know what's going on, we will."
But Kogan stressed that requiring chairmen to relinquish clubs would be considered the final option and the authority would rather to cooperate with proprietors.
"Our least desirable course of action is begin intervening in an individual club, an individual owner, without having the opportunity to collaborate with that owner to try and resolve the problems affecting the organization and the chairman's encountering," the regulator explained.
"In actuality, when you examine the past of football, over the past few decades there have been certain proprietors, not many, but some who have been irresponsible in the way which they've been managing their organizations and finally don't wish to take responsibility for the coming years."
Owls fans have been protesting against the current proprietor in recent months
'Mistakes could erase significant advances'
Kogan met with representatives from 110 clubs to lay out the remit of the authority recently and stated it constituted a "proactive meeting" with a "high level of engagement" from the lower divisions to the top flight.
"It's a job that's actually really important, because should mistakes occur, if the world of football gets it wrong, the extraordinary progress that's been made might evaporate rapidly," Kogan said.
"And that's what nobody wants in the context of the English game is a substantial accomplishment - we must maintain momentum.
"Considerable investment coming into football and has come into football for the past two decades, because there's no guarantee it will persist in entering the game, 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."
Premier League Concerns
The Premier League opposed the creation of a regulator because of fears of a negative impact on the elite division's competitive balance, but the regulator stated: "I fully support the success and growth as an commercial operation of the Premier League.
"As someone who appreciates the concern of undermining the division as a high-quality offering of the nation. But concurrently, if you consult with top flight officials after the recent gathering, they would have had a high level of reassurance -and, actually, they have been telling us in private they have a high level of reassurance."
Partisan Associations
The chairman continues to confront a "thorough examination" by the public appointments commissioner after he revealed he contributed money to the political party in recent years.
The official contributed funds to government minister the politician's campaign, along with that of the now Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer.
"I've been completely open about my past party membership [with Labour], and that political affiliation came to an end the day the parliamentary committee confirmed my selection," the regulator explained.
"I am no longer involved in any sort of politics."
