“He’s Unpredictable”- Former Sheffield Wednesday Manager Discusses His Time At Hillsborough

When Sheffield Wednesday was acquired by Thai businessman Dejphon Chansiri in 2015, promotion to the Premier League within two years was the aim. 

The following nine years have seen the chairman go through seven managers, with the eighth and incumbent Danny Rohl battling to keep the side in the Championship.

Under his guidance, The Owls have gone from challenging in the playoffs to relegation and two seasons in the third tier before a thrilling playoff victory last season. 

Chansiri has also been no stranger to controversy, stating at the start of the season that he will no longer be putting money into the club and even went as far as suggesting the supporters raise the £2 million owed to players, staff and HMRC.

One man who has had first-hand experience working with Chansiri is experienced manager Tony Pulis. The Welshman was appointed in November 2020 following the departure of Gary Monk with the club sitting one from bottom in the Championship.  

Pulis, who has since stepped away from management, was only in charge for 10 matches and insists the move was a wrong one on his behalf. 

“I think that was most probably a wrong move on my part and not on the chairman or the football club’s part.”

“It was Covid, I’d spoken to the chairman as me and you are talking now (video call) so I had never met him personally for the interview.”

The former West Bromwich Albion boss admitted Mr Chansiri was not like other chairman but was keen to point out his investment. 

“He’s put a hell of a lot of money into that football club and yes he’s different, he’s unpredictable but the bottom line is he has invested a lot of money.”

Despite the appointment not working out how either party would have hoped, the 66-year-old spoke highly of the football club and reiterated his error in taking the job. 

“It’s a fantastic football club, I spoke to lots of people before I went up there. It just wasn’t right for me, after a couple of weeks everything that I would expect for me to be successful and to turn things around I couldn’t find.”

“It’s no fault of the chairman’s at all it was more me than anything else.”

Tony Pulis was speaking to The Real EFL courtesy of OLBG.

Writer’s View

It is, perhaps, something of a surprise to hear positives from someone involved with Sheffield Wednesday about the chairman but he has invested in the club, particularly in the early years of ownership.

As a football club, Sheffield Wednesday should at least be challenging at the top end of the Championship and for that not to be happening, suggests something drastically needs to change behind the scenes.

 

RELATED ARTICLES

BE THE FIRST TO COMMENT

Leave a Reply