Sheffield Wednesday owner Dejphon Chansiri has asked fans to raise £2m in the coming days to help the club pay an outstanding debt to HM Revenue and Customs and cover wages.
The Championship club were placed under a registration embargo on Friday by the English Football League.
Chansiri told the Sheffield Star that he has a problem with “cashflow”.
Gill Furniss, MP for Sheffield Brightside and Hillsborough, called the development “very concerning”.
She said in a post on X, formerly Twitter: “It is the responsibility of the owners to fix this, not fans. I will be seeking an urgent meeting with the club to discuss this.”
Chansiri, who has been in charge at Hillsborough since 2015, said cashflow is currently a problem “all over the world” and that he is also owed money as a result, adding that any funds given by supporters would be paid back “with interest”.
He said last month that he would stop putting “additional funding” into the South Yorkshire club and said “some fans need to have more respect for owners of clubs” after some supporters had thrown tennis balls onto the pitch during a 1-1 draw with Middlesbrough to protest against his ownership.
In the interview with the Sheffield Star he said that Wednesday, who are bottom of the Championship after making their worst ever start to a season, could face a lengthy transfer ban if the monies owed are not paid by 10 November.
Under EFL regulations the Owls are now nine days into a “persistent default” for failing to pay their HMRC debt and should they also fail to pay players’ wages, which are due on Tuesday, that will open up a second default.
Clubs who accrue 30 days worth of breaches in a year, from 1 July to 30 June, are liable to be banned from registering new players for three transfer windows.
The Thai businessman said: “If 20,000 people gave £100 then it’s £2m, and it’d be clear – so we can finish it.
“That would cover everything, HMRC and the wages. That would need to be done before 10 November if they don’t want to pass the 30 days, but that means that there can be no next time.
“It’d need to be before to make it safe – if it was on the fifth then there would be 10 days left… If we were to hit 30 days then we’ll get a ban for three windows.”
