Sheffield Wednesday boycott: Championship club fans divided over boycotting Middlesbrough game in protest over owner Dejphon Chansiri

Sheffield Wednesday supporters have been urged to boycott the game against Middlesbrough tomorrow (Wednesday 22 October) in the latest protest against Dejphon Chansiri. Fans invaded the pitch in protest against Chansiri during their game at home to Coventry City.

The Sheffield Wednesday Supporters' Trust then organised a boycott of the game against Boro, which will be shown live on Sky. The Trust say the Boro game is a "prime opportunity to communicate to Chansiri via national media that we will not continue to fund our own decline".

The Trust's statement in full reads: “Fellow Wednesdayites, the crisis at Sheffield Wednesday under Dejphon Chansiri's ownership is not a short-term slump; it is a long-term issue. It has been years of decline, division, and disconnection from the community that has given this club life.

“In solidarity with fellow supporters who yesterday risked jobs and livelihoods to protest against Dejphon Chansiri, we today announce the next stage in our campaign to convince him to sell our club. We ask our members and wider fanbase not to purchase season tickets during any early-bird phase of sales, which we believe is likely to come earlier than ever before, possibly even during October.

"We're asking everyone who can, including season ticket holders, to go a step further now and enact a full boycott of the home game against Middlesbrough, live on Sky on 22nd October. The Middlesbrough game is a prime opportunity to communicate to Chansiri via national media that we will not continue to fund our own decline. Your empty seat will speak louder than a thousand words. Instead, we ask supporters to watch the Middlesbrough game at your local pub in Sheffield, ensuring your hard-earned money stays in our community.”

However, fans are divided. In the comments section under the Sheffield Wednesday Supporters’ Trust latest post on X some fans are in support of the boycott while others aren’t.

One fan wrote: “I will be boycotting. I am 99% sure it won't make any difference but feel its right thing to do to support the Trust and register my disgust at the way the club been ran into the ground.”

However, another fan penned: “I'll be there supporting my team. Sorry.”

Wednesday have found themselves in the clutches of constant crisis for most of the year, with news arriving this week of a seventh month in five that the club have found themselves unable to fulfil its monthly salary obligations to its workforce. Spiralling financial problems have left the club battling but bitterly under-resourced on the field and with a points deduction likely to join the growing list of EFL sanctions hanging over the club, supporter unrest is continuing to simmer.

The crisis worsen as the Championship club are said to owe £1million according to BBC Radio Sheffield. A winding-up petition would see pressure on the club's owner, Dejphon Chansiri, to sell the club amplified.