Sheffield Wednesday’s points deduction has been reduced from 12 to six in a boost to their hopes of Championship survival.
The Owls were handed a 12-point deduction in July, following a breach of the EFL’s profitability and sustainability rules. The club had included the sale of Hillsborough Stadium in the 2017/18 accounts to avoid displaying a pre-tax loss of £35.4m. However, an arbitration panel has decided that the deduction will be halved after the club’s appeal was upheld in part.
The decision means that although Wednesday remain rooted to the bottom of the Championship table, they are now just three points adrift of safety. It provides another lift for the second tier strugglers, who ended a run of four consecutive defeats with a 1-0 win over Bournemouth on Tuesday.
In a press conference this morning, owner Dejphon Chansiri insisted that although the decision to reduce the deduction was better than nothing, he was still disappointed that any form of deduction was applied in the first place.
Despite criticism from sections of the Wednesday fanbase, he also claimed that he has no intention of selling the club that he purchased from Milan Mandaric in 2015.
The focus of Garry Monk’s squad, however, will be firmly fixed on the visit of Millwall on Saturday. Wednesday have not won back-to-back league games since December 2019, and face a Lions side that have kept more clean sheets in 2020 than any other side in England’s top four tiers.
