SHEFFIELD WEDNESDAY face a potential points deduction after they were hit with misconduct charges by the EFL over their finances.

The Championship club face a series of allegations that they broke the league's strict profit and sustainability rules.

If found guilty the Owls face having points stripped away from them which could wreck their Premier League promotion bid.

Garry Monk's side are currently in eighth in the Championship and pushing strongly for a return to the top flight next season.

But those hopes would take a huge knock if they are found guilty by the league.

Fellow Championship club Birmingham were deducted nine points by the EFL for similar offences earlier this year.

League bosses believe there are irregularities over the way the club sold their Hillsborough stadium to owner Dejphon Chansiri to get around their strict spending rules.

Wednesday's lodged accounts for 2017-18 showed the club had sold the ground for £60million to Chansiri at a profit of more than £38m.

That allowed the club to record a pre-tax profit of £2.5m for the year, instead of a £35.4m loss.

The EFL decided to begin disciplinary proceedings after a detailed investigation into the documents provided by the club.

An EFL statement said: "Following a formal investigation into financial information provided by Sheffield Wednesday in relation to the club’s 2017/18 Profitability and Sustainability (P&S) submission, the EFL has today issued a number of charges relating to alleged breaches of EFL Rules.

"Earlier this year the EFL launched an investigation into the club’s financial submission for the period ending July 2018 under the relevant P&S Rules following the completion of the sale of Hillsborough Stadium.

"The EFL has reviewed a large number of documents obtained from the club as part of this process and concluded there is sufficient evidence to justify issuing charges of misconduct.

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"The charges are in respect of a number of allegations regarding the process of how and when the stadium was sold and the inclusion of the profits in the 2017/18 accounts.

"All charges will be considered by an independent disciplinary commission and, if the charges are proven, the commission can impose any of the sanctions set out in EFL Regulation 92.2.

"The EFL board has previously agreed and communicated with all Championship clubs a set of sanctioning guidelines, but the commission, under EFL regulations, has the ability to invoke a full range of sanctions should the breach be confirmed."

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