There has rarely been a quiet time at Hillsborough under the ownership of Dejphon Chansiri, with many ups and downs since taking charge of the club in 2015.
After Saturdays 1-0 win home win against Peterborough, Chansiri was seen standing tall and waving a flag whilst being serenaded by Owls fans, a sight that no one would have been able to contemplate just 18 months ago.
Adam Eccles, a leading member within the Sheffield Wednesday Armed Forces Supporters group has helped explain the complicated relationship that the once much loved owner has with the Wednesday fan base.
Eccles said: ‘’Chansiri was recommended by Milan Mandarić, the owner at the time, after he decided that his ownership couldn’t take us where the club deserved, on paper it appeared great.
“He controlled between 60-75% of the China sea tuna fishing industry, and I think we all suddenly got dollar signs in our eyes and thought it was going to be a great time to be a Wednesday fan.”
The Chansiri era got off to the best of starts with a 2-0 opening day win against Bristol City in August 2015, shortly followed by a 3-0 drubbing of Arsenal at Hillsborough in October, with Eccles explaining that: “The players we were bringing in had an instant impact which really allowed the fans to get behind the club.”
However, after 2 consecutive failed playoff campaigns in 2016 and 2017, including a 1-0 loss to Hull City at Wembley, Eccles says things started to turn: “After we bottled the playoffs, Chansiri was having his decisions influenced by some pretty poor advisors, most notably Amadeu Paixao.”
The signings of players such as George Boyd and Jordan Rhodes in 2017 resulted in millions being taken out of the Wednesday coffers, with little return on investment. This led to transfer embargos and points deductions which concluded in a relegation to League 1.
“He was massively hated,” says Eccles, “there were points where he was attending games where he would be chastised outside the ground and he would regularly argue back.”
But things have slowly started to change at Hillsborough, with The Owls sitting in 1st place in League One and on a 21 match unbeaten streak. The Wednesday season ticket holder believes that this is all down to a change in approach:
“Now the recruitment plan is in the hands of the manager, whereas before we had players like Lewis McGugan, who turned up to training and was told he didn’t fit the managers system. The proof is in the pudding, we aren’t promotion favourites for no reason.”
The message from the Owls faithful is that Chansiri has been forgiven but his actions have not been forgotten as Eccles explains that: “He’s redeemed himself in my eyes, but he’s still got a long way to go to get back to the love we had for him in 2016, as the reason we are in League One is still down to him.”
