Following the first leg of the playoff semi-final against Peterborough United, seemingly the entire football world wrote Sheffield Wednesday off and the playoff final tickets had been posted to Cambridgeshire. Sheffield Wednesday, a behemoth of a football club, certainly in League One terms, had other ideas. What followed six days later at Hillsborough was nothing short of a football miracle, history in fact, as The Owls fought back from the 4-0 deficit on a night of high emotion, an incredible atmosphere and the brutal yet beautiful clash of success and failure.
English football, on occasion, is a beast and the game at Hillsborough epitomised that. With the tie seemingly over and their club embarrassed in the reverse fixture, the Wednesday fans were out in force with almost 32000 attending the game. Yes, this was an end-of-season playoff match with a chance at promotion on the line but this is English football’s third tier! Those who were in attendance will have the night’s events etched in their memories for years to come.
The incredible comeback victory, completed on penalties, of course, set up the final tie with Barnsley who had finished 4th in the League One standings. The final was, at times, controversial with at least a couple of VAR decisions under scrutiny with a red card and potential Barnsley penalty as the key talking points. It wasn’t until the 123rd minute of action that the season was settled by a diving Josh Windass header to send the Owls up and back into the Championship. So, what lies ahead for Wednesday now that the fans have a second-tier club once again?
The Undr The Cosh Podcast
Back in October 2022, Wednesday’s experienced goalkeeper David Stockdale spoke to the podcast, co-hosted by former footballer Jon Parkin, and discussed the events of his career. He spoke highly of his former club Wycombe Wanderers and commended the work done there by the then manager Gareth Ainsworth particularly when recruiting players.
When speaking to co-host and former Doncaster Rovers striker Chris Brown, Stockdale describes the club as, “Massive, massive. The away followings, it’s brilliant. The thing that I like is that pressure.” The Leeds-born stopper continues, touching this time on when he signed for the club, “When I signed, Darren Moore was like I need people that have been there, have had to deal with pressure. Because they believe they shouldn’t have this club in League One.”
Stockdale’s comments are interesting when you compare them to the average age of the Wednesday squad and starting elevens selected by Moore this season. With an average attendance of over 25000 this season, higher than 5 of the 7 pre-Covid seasons in the Championship, and the expectation of promotion it is perhaps no surprise Stockdale discusses the pressures of playing for this football club.
An Ageing Squad
Of the eleven players who started against Peterborough in the first leg of the playoff semi-final, six were aged 30 or older with captain Barry Bannan and Aden Flint the eldest pair at 33. They were joined in the over-30s club by Michael Ihiekwe (30), Liam Palmer (31), Marvin Johnson (32) and Michael Smith (31), giving the eleven who kicked the game off an average age of 30. Factor in Lee Gregory (34), David Stockdale (37) and Jack Hunt (32) on the bench and the 18 players in the match day squad have an average age of 29 and a half.
Those that took to the field in the second leg were even older than that, with an average age of 30 and the 18-man squad was over 29.
In a previous piece I penned for TheRealEFL, I delved into the average ages of the squads in League One and it will come as no surprise that Wednesday came out on top and they have a squad that now averages 28.7 years old.
During this campaign, in which the club amassed a massive 96 points, they fielded a starting XI with an average age of 30 or above on 17 occasions with the highest being 31. The huge points total suggests that there isn’t an awful lot wrong at Sheffield Wednesday and that the experienced players are still performing, however, how do the club rebuild as these players begin to leave? Do the club need an experienced squad to deal with the pressures David Stockdale mentioned of playing for a football club that carries the weight of expectation from 25000 Wednesdayites every week, a pressure that perhaps less experienced players may find too much?
Recruitment
Following relegation from the Championship in 2021, The Owls have restricted their spending to just £60000 whilst recouping over £700 000 in fees, according to Transfermarkt. There has been a sharp reduction in spending at the club since the 2017/18 season when the club spent over £14 million on the likes of Jordan Rhodes and Joost van Aken only to lose them both on free transfers four years later.
From the beginning of the 2021/22 season in League One, Wednesday has ventured extensively into the transfer market in search of the formula to achieve promotion. Those brought in for the first season back in the third tier included Middlesborough pair Lewis Wing and Marvin Johnson, Jack Hunt from Bristol City and former Premier League striker Saido Berahino. The following season saw the like of Berahino and Wing move on with players such as the two Michaels from Rotherham in Ihiekwe and Smith as well as midfielder Will Vaulkes from Cardiff City.
According to the data available on Transfermarkt, the only transfer fee the club have paid since relegation is the £60000 paid to Norwich City for Akin Famewo and have brought in some £700 000 in sales, primarily from Celtic purchasing youngsters Liam Shaw and Osaze Urhoghide. The club are moving away from spending big money on transfer fees and has predominantly looked to the free agent market to build their squad, with a selection of loans added.
Interestingly, of the 30 players signed permanently or on loan since dropping into League One, 24 have come from the Championship or above, 3 from abroad, 1 free agent and only 2 from either League One or Two – Wycombe goalkeeper David Stockdale and AFC Wimbledon defender Ben Heneghan. Is this significant? Is Wednesday reluctant to sign players from lower levels? Is this, once again, linked to the pressure that comes with playing for this football club?
The 2022/23 season saw the arrival of the vastly experienced keeper Stockdale who was joining on the back of playing all 46 league games and the playoff matches as Wycombe fell just short of returning to the Championship. Stockdale came in to replace the departing Burnley loanee Bailey Peacock-Farrell and to compete with Cameron Dawson for the number one spot. Joining him at Hillsborough was the recently promoted Rotherham pair, defender Michael Ihiekwe and goal scorer Michael Smith as well as Cardiff City midfielder Will Vaulkes and former Sheffield United defender Ben Heneghan.
Of the five players who signed who were under the squad’s average age of 28, Tyreeq Barkinson made the most appearances (26, 13 starts) in League One following his arrival from Bristol City. Between them, 88 appearances were made at an average of 17 per player. In comparison, the 7 players who were 28 or older at their time of signing managed an average of 26 games apiece which, of course, fits with the high average age of the starting eleven and matchday squad. Whilst younger players are being signed, the current management team are favouring the older, more experienced players to lead the club towards promotion.
The squad, on paper, is getting younger the players that Darren Moore chooses to start are predominantly the more experienced players. The experience in the side has paid off with the clinching of promotion but questions remain as to how the club will now move forward.
The Ownership
Dejphon Chansiri took control of Sheffield Wednesday in 2015, purchasing the club for a reported £30 million from previous owner Milan Mandaric. Since he acquired the club, it has not exactly been plain sailing for the Thai businessman, who controls the Thai Union Group and is estimated to be worth over £500 million, but he will be preparing for another shot at the Championship now that his manager and players have secured promotion. The best league position Wednesday has managed under him is a 4th place finish in the 2016/17 Championship season when Carlos Carvalhal had a dream as well as losing the 2016 playoff final to Hull City.
Chansiri had claimed at a Fan’s Forum in late 2018 after the club had been placed under a transfer embargo following a breach of the Financial Fair Play (FFP) rule and the supporters were unhappy with the then manager Jos Luhukay as they occupied 18th in the Championship table. He told the disgruntled group, “I will put this club on the market. I believe many people want to buy.” Under the Football League’s Profitability and Sustainability rules at the time, clubs were not allowed to post losses of greater than £39 million over three years and the available finances showed a £20 million loss in 2016/17, up from £5 million in the previous season.
He did not, of course, end up parting with the club but further rumours of his interest to sell emerged as recently as February 2022, when interest was credited to Rangers shareholders Sandy and James Easdale but it was met with denial from the Thai Tuna magnate, who commented, “If I get an offer that I can’t refuse, then maybe I’ll think about it. I have no intention to sell Sheffield Wednesday, but in the future, who knows?”
Chansiri’s problems increased when he secured a loan against the club’s Hillsborough stadium, meaning it could be sold if repayments ceased. The owner bought the ground for £60 million in a bid to ensure the club did not breach spending rules, however, the inclusion of these details on the 2017/18 accounts despite the sale not happening until a year later led to the club being handed a 12-point deduction, later reduced to 6 on appeal. The posting of the sale in the earlier accounts allowed the club to post a pre-tax profit of £2.5 million when without doing so would have taken the club over the three-year £39 million losses limit. In fact, without the sale, a pre-tax loss of over £35 million would have been recorded, following on from losses of almost £10 and £21 million the previous two seasons.
The 6-point deduction ended up costing the club their place in the Championship at the end of the 2020/21 season and the owner took the responsibility, “As your owner and chairman, I take full responsibility for everything that happens at our club. I am the leader and in good times or bad, the responsibility for Sheffield Wednesday lies with me. I am sorry to you all that we have been relegated.” The same report claimed that the players had repeatedly been late in receiving wages and were still owed money from the previous month. The move to secure a loan came after Chansiri had ploughed close to £80 million into the club in the form of loans and led to uncertainty and worry amongst supporters.
As football re-emerged from its fan-free Covid impacted season of 2020/21, The Owls were preparing for life in League One and the Sheffield Star discussed the changes that Chansiri wished to make financially and for them to eventually become ‘self-sustainable’ after he spoke to the Sheffield Wednesday Supporter Engagement Panel. The impact of the Covid situation, meaning clubs had to play behind closed doors for the entire 2021/22 season had a huge impact on clubs, and Wednesday was very much one of those. The owner, despite wishing for the club to be self-sustainable, went on to comment on how he felt it would be ‘impossible’ to push the club for promotion to the Premier League without breaching Financial Fair Play. He said, “You have to understand and be realistic, if you’re not going to push [for promotion], you’re not going to get an issue. If you push, you’re going to get an issue. If we don’t push, the fans are going to moan, ‘Oh you don’t have any ambition’. If we push of course we need to take risks. What do the fans want me to do, they want me to push but then they say, ‘Oh you can’t break FFP’. It is impossible. It’s just £13m [the FFP-permitted loss per year in the Championship], it’s impossible. Even when we don’t spend money in the past, we still lose a lot of money. If you spend even a little bit you can still break it.”
Football finance expert Kieran Maguire commented on the change in financial approach but that there was still work to be done to achieve the ‘break even’ that Chansiri was hoping for. “Chansiri’s investment in players had clearly been reassessed and he was clearly trying to cut back on costs,” said the University of Liverpool Senior Teacher. It is perhaps a tweet from Maguire that helps to capture the monetary issues at the club during this period.
Wage bill down £9m but still £209 for every £100 of income. Furlough brought in £761k pic.twitter.com/ijkN3rbYdi
— Kieran Maguire (@KieranMaguire) May 3, 2022
Around the time of the charge for the irregularities around the reporting of the stadium purchase, The Guardian ran a story about Wednesday being sponsored to the tune of £1 million by companies that weren’t commercially active but were connected to the owner. At the time, the club’s home shirt was sponsored by ‘Chansiri’ and Chansiri was an official club partner despite Chansiri Ltd being dormant at the time. The club’s kit manufacturers were again owned by the chairman but were making the kit however the scoreboard was sponsored by a company with the name D Taxis, a company that was not functioning but whom it was believed Chansiri intended to set it up as a business. The Football League were aware of the arrangements but was unconcerned.
Promotion Confirmed – Where Next?
Chansiri’s comments regarding Financial Fair Play and a push for the Premier League are interesting as, despite being an older comment, it poses questions as to how the club will approach the elevation in level. In their recent transfer activity, Wednesday has looked at free agents and loan signings from teams in the Championship and Premier League (albeit from the reserves).
With the owner seemingly uncertain as to whether to push to gain another promotion and risk further Financial Fair Play breaches or disappoint the fans with a lack of ambition? Will he change the ambition to break even to compete in the upper echelons of the Championship?
A club the size of Wednesday playing in League One will always face criticism towards the amount of money they spend and will hear the ‘well they should be at the top with the amount they spend’ style comments but how do they stand up against their 2023-24 opponents? Differing reports have Wednesday’s salary spend for the latest season at between £9.5 million a year, or £184000 a week (see tweet)
https://twitter.com/League1news22/status/1661765492892221441
Twitter and £12 million a year, or £233000 a week. These figures, of course, are up for debate but the numbers are frightening for League One even if we take the low end of the estimate with the club spending £1.7 million a year more on wages than the next highest spenders in Derby County.
To help put their spending into context with the rest of the league, the £4.3 million a year difference between Wednesday and eventual champions Plymouth is greater than the total spend of 13 of their divisional rivals.
Despite the spending, according to the statistics available for the Championship season of 2022-23, the men from Sheffield would sit in the lower third of wage expenditure amongst the 24 clubs. The lowest spending club are Rotherham United who spend less than half of their Yorkshire rivals with 11th place Watford topping the list at £26.8 million. The salary outlays of the promoted sides, Burnley, Sheffield United and Luton were a reported £26 million, £17.5 million and £6.7 million respectively whilst those relegated, Reading, Blackpool and Wigan were paying out £13 million, £5.2 million and £6.6 million.
Based on this season’s statistics, Sheffield Wednesday would sit 16th in the list of highest wages paid out so how will they approach next season? Will Luton Town’s success be the new go-to comment for owners looking to appease fans and cut expenditures? Or do the club realistically need to spend even more to avoid a relegation scrap and push up the league?
As the club prepare to compete in English football’s second tier once more, supporters have had the opportunity to purchase early bird season tickets for as little as £395 which would be the 3rd cheapest seat based on 2022-23 but those buying tickets now face paying over £500 and some up to £720. Previously, the club sold upwards of 90% of its season tickets in the early bird windows so the majority of fans will not be paying the somewhat astronomical prices in the later renewal windows.
Alongside season ticket sale income, the club will likely receive a minimum of £7 million in TV revenue and up to £100 000 every time they feature in a live televised match, which promotion to the Championship is likely to increase the possibility of. This extra income will go some way to eating away at the losses the club has suffered over recent years but would need substantially adding to should the club wish to compete with the top spenders.
The Championship – Over And Underachievers
The Championship is full of teams who have and are spending big to achieve the dream of Premier League football, some make it, some fall just short and others, quite frankly, fail miserably. This season, there have been some big failings, such as relegated Reading who were operating on a playoff-challenging wage bill but finished third bottom – obviously, the club were deducted points for failing to satisfy the authorities of their compliance with the relevant financial rules. Cardiff City, who were saved from relegation by Reading’s deduction, are another side shelling out playoff wages but falling short in terms of league position. These two as well as other examples like Stoke and Norwich (albeit in receipt of Premier League parachute payments) are examples of clubs who have not achieved their aims despite spending well on wages and will surely be looked at by Sheffield Wednesday as they prepare their approach to life in the Championship.
There are, however, some shining examples of shrewd spending and overachieving on relatively low budgets. The obvious stand is the now former Championship side Luton Town, who will be gracing the topflight in 2023-24 having won the playoffs after finishing 3rd on a relegation budget. Playoff final opponents Coventry City also punched above their financial weight, operating on a budget that should have seen them playing League One football next term but managing to end the season in 5th. Keeping Chansiri’s break even and Financial Fair Play comments in mind, teams such as Luton, Coventry, Sunderland and Blackburn will be an inspiration to the Wednesday owner that money does not need to be spent like it is going out of fashion to have some success in the Championship.
The Squad – Future Recruitment
As previously mentioned, the Sheffield Wednesday squad is an ageing one and manager Darren Moore has spoken about the need for bringing that average age down in the near future. The club have been linked with former loanee Mark McGuiness who was recalled by parent club Cardiff City in January to help aid their survival bid. The 22-year-old would represent the vision that the manager has in terms of bringing in younger players, and he was quoted recently as telling Yorkshire Live, “Without giving away too much too soon, yes there are the younger players (to look at) but the ideal players we’re looking for are ones who are young but who are ready to step into the first team. We have looked at the squad and we feel there’s a lot of experience but what we need to just do is fill that in in the outer season with some younger players, without a doubt. When I speak about adding young players I mean ones that can come in, step in and do a job. Players we’ve had the last few years like Mark McGuinness, Jordan Storey (on loan) – players who can have an impact and take the team forward.”
Those brought in will need to be the right characters for the club as they look to build on their playoff success and propel the club forward. As Moore commented, he can’t bring in young players for the sake of it but he will need players that can improve the team as well as be able to handle the pressures of playing for a club the size of Sheffield Wednesday. It will also be interesting to see how the club deal with those experienced players who have done so much to aid their promotion bid, particularly those who will see their contracts expire next month. Over 30s such as Aden Flint, Jack Hunt, Liam Palmer, Marvin Johnson and Lee Gregory all see their deals end this summer and, with the manager referencing his desire to bring in younger players, at least some of these players will likely be moved on from the club, freeing up squad space and wages to bring in new players.
The Chairman’s Message
Following the Owls’ promotion back to the Championship, Dejphon Chansiri has released a statement on the club’s website congratulating the management and players on the ‘perfect end to a remarkable season.’ The Thai businessman also praised the fans for their ‘unrivalled’ support and gave a clear indication that the Championship is just the start, stating, ‘The journey now continues. The next stop is the Championship – one step closer to where we all want our wonderful club to be.’
The responses to the club’s tweet are somewhat mixed with a leaning towards positivity shown towards the chairman for sticking with Darren Moore but others are sceptical as to whether the club can challenge in the Championship without funds being injected.
Writer’s View
Sheffield Wednesday has had a very good season, one that would have seen the club win the league title every year since 2017-18 when Wigan and Blackburn achieved 98 and 96 points respectively. As well as a club record point tally of 96, the Owls also enjoyed an incredible 23-game unbeaten run only to be pipped to the post by the brilliant Plymouth Argyle and Ipswich Town.
Looking into the club a little for this article, I was shocked to be reminded of the mistakes made by the club’s hierarchy that led to points being deducted and eventual relegation to the third tier of English football. The seemingly relaxed attitude towards dormant companies involving Chansiri putting sponsorship money into the club was also something of a concern.
Now that promotion has been achieved, if I were a fan I would be questioning how the chairman of my club intends on delivering his aims of Premier League football without putting the club in financial difficulties. Yes, he has put a large amount of money into the club but that has dried up recently so the club are likely to be looking at the Luton Town model of being successful in the second tier. Darren Moore, it would seem, will need to look at the loan or free agent market to bolster his squad ahead of the new campaign as he bids to shape his squad.
This article is not intended to downplay the importance of the experienced players in the squad, and I would imagine you would have to look pretty hard to find someone who doubts the impact that Barry Bannan has on the club but the age of the squad does further add to the questions around how Moore will recruit during the summer. How many of those over 30 who are nearing the end of their deals will be afforded new ones? What will the age of the squad look like come the 2023-24 kick-off? I wonder if the club may look at younger, hungry players from the lower divisions to add to their squad either for immediate first-team action or with an eye to the future.
The owners and I am sure the supporters want the club to push towards promotion to the top division but the manager will need to construct a squad capable of this whilst keeping within the tighter financial restrictions operated by the board over recent seasons and the desire to ‘break even’ so I wonder if his realistic hopes for the first season at least will be more of consolidation. It is remarkable now to think that there were rumours of Moore leaving the club after the disastrous first leg against Peterborough as he is now tasked with preparing his team to compete against the millions being spent in the Championship.
The fans will no doubt continue to turn out in force to back their side, providing wonderful atmospheres like the one witnessed in the playoff second leg but also adding weight to the comments made by Stockdale that there is great pressure to play for this huge football club and players who can handle that weight are vital.
I would love to be able to predict where the club will finish next season but the beauty of the Championship is that no one knows! Clubs spending big have struggled and others operating on a shoestring have reached the Promised Land. Wednesdayites may need to get strapped in for the Championship rollercoaster that lies ahead.
