A large portion of Sheffield Wednesday supporters stayed away from the Carabao Cup tie with Leeds as part of ongoing protests against owner Dejphon Chansiri. The club has repeatedly failed to pay wages on time for three months and faces several EFL sanctions. Supporters displayed banners and staged a mock funeral to signal their discontent. The Supporters' Trust urged a boycott and asked fans to donate ticket money to Sheffield Children's Hospital Charity. Match attendance was sparse, with several stands closed and away fans potentially outnumbering home supporters. Some fans remain torn due to away-game protest dynamics and ticket commitments.
"I cannot imagine many Sheffield Wednesday against Leeds games which have ever been played in a Hillsborough stadium like this," BBC Radio 5 live commentator Alistair Bruce-Ball, covering the game at Hillsborough, said. "The protest being made this evening was by not coming to this game. "I'm pretty sure the Leeds fans, about 3,000 of them, may well outnumber the home support. "The North stand is closed tonight, as is the East stand. The only place you will find the home fans is in the lower tier of the south stand."
"If fans don't come to this, they can't go to the away games, and it's at the away games where the bigger protests are happening," he added. "A lot of people have bought tickets for this game that don't even come as they just want the points for the away games."
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