The soon-to-be former owner of Sheffield Wednesday may have questions to answer about a multi-million-pound debt that appears in the club’s accounts, but he has chosen to remain silent on the topic thus far.

Of all the things Sheffield Wednesday fans may have hoped for as a result of their club’s administration, a better understanding of what was going on under Dejphon Chansiri’s ownership that put them in such a desperate situation in the first place may have been near the top of the list.

Wednesday were placed into administration on October 24th due to long-standing financial concerns, with the club’s players and staff frequently being paid late, in violation of EFL guidelines. Part of the administrators’ responsibilities is to go into depth about the club’s finances, and one debt that has elicited puzzled looks has prompted queries of the soon-to-be former owner, which he has chosen not to answer.

Dejphon Chansiri has failed to respond to questions about the £3.7 million debt that appears on his books.

According to the creditors’ report produced as part of the administration process, £3,785,243 was owed to one Luis Alves, who was registered as an agent in Portugal during the 2023-24 season and is registered again this season, though there is no evidence that he was registered as one throughout the 2024-25 season.

The Star verified that Alves was “the lead intermediary” for two deals that resulted in players moving to Hillsborough, though these occurred some years apart. The first was for Marcos Matias, who signed for the club in July 2015, six months after Chansiri’s takeover, and stayed until 2019, making 72 appearances for Wednesday during an injury-plagued spell before returning to CD Nacional, the club from which he had originally signed.

Momo Diaby, the second of these players, joined on loan from another Portuguese club, Portimonense, in the summer of 2023, with the option to buy. He made only 11 appearances for Wednesday during an injury-plagued 2023-24 season, thus the club did not pursue that option.

There does not appear to be any clear reason why a club should have taken loans from an agent, though the Star does clarify that “it should be stressed that it is not clear whether Alves was acting as a registered agent at the time the money was leant” and that the matter of whether clubs should accept loans from agents “could be something of a regulatory grey area.” They also confirmed that Chansiri had not responded to requests for comment regarding this odd situation.

The £3.7 million loan is a reminder of how chaotic and unclear things were at Hillsborough under Chansiri.

Begbies Traynor, as licensed insolvency practitioners, are legally required to review the last three years of accounts for any business that goes into administration. Before they can proceed with deciding on a buyer for a new club, they must check that any amounts due are legitimate.

The £3.7 million debt owed to Luis Alves is undoubtedly a mystery. Before we even address whether loans from agents, who may or may not be registered, are legal, the question of how the club came to owe so much money to an agency in the first place remains open.

Even if there is something wrong with the debt transactions, Chansiri is unlikely to face any additional sanctions, unless administrators prove that criminal activity occurred, which there is no evidence of in this case.

According to the Star, the previous owner has already been ‘prohibited from becoming an owner or director of any EFL Club for a term of three years’ due to his involvement in the club’s financial collapse. According to the Star, Begbies Traynor has already reported the incident to the Football Association.

Sheffield Wednesday fans would not be surprised to learn that Hillsborough’s financial condition was chaotic previous to the club going into administration. It remains true that the club will be in a significantly better long-term situation under new ownership than it was for many years under their discredited former owner.