Simon Jordan has given his verdict on the ownership model at Sheffield Wednesday.
On the pitch, Sheffield Wednesday are in a very good place right now.
Although they remain in 23rd place of the Championship table, Danny Rohl‘s side have won their last five league games, with a win against Leeds United on Friday night able to lift them as high as 16th.
But off the pitch, matters remain quite chaotic for the Owls under the regime of Dejphon Chansiri.
The Thai businessman has seen his popularity and approval among Sheffield Wednesday fans hit all-time lows this season.
It’s led to the formation of The 1867 Group which is aiming to oust Chansiri from the club.
Simon Jordan gives verdict on Sheffield Wednesday model
Speaking on talkSPORT this morning, pundit and former Crystal Palace chairman Simon Jordan gave his verdict on the ownership at Sheffield Wednesday; not just now but in the past too.
He said:
“I find it curious that a club with such enormous pedigree and such a wonderful fan base which Sheffield Wednesday do have, that some of the ownership models that have owned that football club have astounded me.
“Some of the ones when I was there who had this Draconian view of who could go on their boardroom and what they wanted to do in Football League meetings and seemed to be very pedestrians, which explained to me why their club was sitting marooned in the Championship, because it’s a big club.”
Before Chansiri it was Milan Mandaric.
He originally saved the club from winding up orders but after four years at the club, many fans were glad to see the back of him, and the ambitious Chansiri come in.
And Chansiri, if anything, has shown ambition.
But that ambition has been woefully managed and now the Owls find themselves in a perilous position, with no money to move forward and no real foundations to rebuild themselves upon.
Football needs a modern shake-up
Like Jordan alludes to, many football clubs are run by owners like Chansiri who feel the need to be very involved in footballing matters at the club.
Because they’re the owner, they assume they must be involved. But clubs need more structure these days; there needs to be levels between the owner and manager, not like at Sheffield Wednesday where the decision-making is done by Rohl and Chansiri, as previously revealed by Rohl himself.
There needs to be directors, CEOs and what not.
Jordan’s comments about club’s like Sheffield Wednesday with such heritage and fanbases being run into the ground is a sad reality of modern football and more needs to be done by the Football League and those in power.
And Wednesday fans need to keep on making their voices heard, with The 1867 Group being the sole protest group against Chansiri, and that’s only come about this season.
Sheffield Wednesday host Leeds United in the Championship on Friday night.