This new, measured Dejphon Chansiri at Sheffield Wednesday is just what Owls now need - Alan Biggs
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So it’s only fair to highlight that, in this column’s eyes, the running of Sheffield Wednesday, for a year and more, has made sense; a big statement compared to some previous articles.
Must admit, though, I put my head in my hands and covered my ears when I started to see calls on social media for words from the Owls’ owner.
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Hide AdLet’s face it, this has not gone particularly well in the past, and I mean for him most of all.
Yes, I feel he has a duty to speak periodically, but I feared - on past form - that it might do him and the club more harm than good if there was a risk of stirring up a, for once, fairly settled fan base.
Nobody’s too bothered about hearing from chairmen when things are going well and, while promotion was missed, the Owls are clearly progressing on the field.
That said, it was important to know whether this could continue via the person who shoulders all the financial burden.
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Hide AdBut I still waited with baited breath for the outcome of Dejphon Chansiri’s latest media session - to which I’m not invited as one who, putting past friction aside, is now away from the news coalface and only contributes views from here.
Well, I needn’t have worried. On the football side, there was much clarity and commonsense - without the somewhat cantankerous edge that, allied to language and cultural factors, has cast Chansiri as a poor communicator in the past.
He:
- Held steady on supporting manager Darren Moore.
- Recognised that some approaches for players might be too good to refuse.
- Revealed that the recruitment team had prepared two lists of targets, depending on which division the Owls would be playing.
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Hide AdWhile the first of those has been a constant - Chansiri has always supported his managers financially - I’m not sure about the other two. Certainly, he has been a very reluctant seller, shunning the essential trading nature of football.
It all struck me as very measured. And particularly that he had learned from mistakes.
In the past, Chansiri has appeared to resent being advised to do what he is doing now.
As one of those who incurred his irritation, I am delighted to see the change and now, as then, wish him well. It’s not a competition.
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Hide AdHe was unlucky in his first two big-spending years not to deliver the success everyone wants. It was in the following two or three, probably through inexperience and failure to heed warnings, that it went wrong.
But Chansiri is clearly more attuned now and crucially it appears his commendable commitment is unwavering.
He may not admit as much, in terms of mistakes, but that doesn’t matter. There is a rising and justifiable confidence that they will not be repeated.