Charges landing for a failure to pay staff on time; the popular manager hardly being shy about seeking a way out; transfer restrictions in place that could increase in severity; the family business of the owner using social media to distance themselves from him. There is nothing quite like a summer break and this is nothing like a summer break for Sheffield Wednesday supporters.
On the surface, the 10 years under Dejphon Chansiri’s ownership have brought Wednesday roughly back to where they started: a mid-table Championship club with ideas of promotion but with more reason to look down than up. For all the promises and the promise, the fall and the fallouts and the recovery back to the second tier, they have simply moved down three places in a decade.
The truth is infinitely worse. Wednesday no longer own their stadium, sold to another of Chansiri’s companies to avoid financial rule breaches. The club lost around £10m a year at the last count and has debts to their owner of £68m. The squad needs some work and the best academy talent has been sold. The proceeds will probably just pay overdue wages during the months without matchday revenue.
The appointment of Danny Rohl, a masterstroke at the time, has drifted into the same disharmony that coats every wall of this place now. A year ago, I interviewed Rohl and he spoke glowingly of the connection with supporters as his driver for staying on at Hillsborough. They loved him and he loved them and so, for a while, reality was suspended.
Rohl must surely regret that decision, given what has followed. When, last December, he said that there had been no contact with the owner over January transfers, Chansiri sarcastically said that the onus was on Rohl to come to him with the targets he wanted. Why is it that these people think lashing out is an effective strategy?
Even so, Wednesday were eighth in early February and with a shot at the Championship play-offs before the bad vibes set in again. In March, the club stated that money owed to the chairman’s other businesses had caused a cash flow issue that meant players would be paid late. For March, read May too.
The payday issues, coupled with repeated failures to make HMRC payments on time, paint a bleak picture of the financial situation. No business in rude health – or any health at all – fails to clear the smallest hurdle. The latest EFL charges could cause a ban on registering players, but just as relevant is how word gets around: why would you want to join a club that doesn’t pay you on time? Wednesday are boxed into a hand-to-mouth existence.
But the most apposite dispute is between the owner and supporters. It is now 18 months since Chansiri told fans that they had no right to ask him to leave, told them to have more respect for him, told them not to be selfish and told them he wouldn’t inject any more money. In the end, he did. This was still the end’s beginning.
Were this playing out differently – perhaps with greater communication, greater humility and greater acceptance of mistakes made – the situation could be repairable with the present actors remaining in place. There would be sympathy for Chansiri, who has lost a reported £156m in this club and presumably feels that the scale of his investment has been overlooked.
But… that is football. If you did not foresee that piling millions into an EFL football club without improving its league position might not pay back in kind, you should have done more research. If you did not foresee that keeping supporters onside as things went sour, rather than lambasting them in club statements before silence resumed, was the right approach, your claim for sympathy dissipates. And so this is not repairable and change must come.
We are told that there have been offers from an American consortium. We are told, too, that offers do not meet Chansiri’s asking price. That is the greatest danger to Wednesday: an owner who wishes to claw back much of what he has spent and potential buyers who (understandably) do not wish to pay over the odds. There is a gap between expectation and reality that, should it cause further drift, could take this club close to the edge.
The answer lies in protest. I can understand the reticence: fear of making Chansiri more stubborn. But Wednesday are dying, slowly or quickly. There is no likely scenario where the relationship is fixed and this club moves on sustainably under this owner. Every day takes them further from salvation.
The best solution is the one that sees ownership change quickly. That can be aided by mass action. The fanbase must ignore the temptations of apathy for now and move as one. Make your voice heard. Write to your MPs. Assist your local media in campaigning for a better future. It will almost certainly cause short-term pain and angst. The alternative might be the slow death of a grand club.
