A large Sheffield Wednesday fan group has planned a protest against the club’s owners for tonight’s match at Hillsborough against Birmingham City.
Tonight’s protest aims to keep mounting the pressure on unpopular owner, Dejphon Chansiri, who they said should “sell up and go.”
The 1867 Group say that they have had 15,000 of their “Chansiri Out” flyers ordered and plan to distribute them in pubs and other locations around the ground before tonight’s 8pm kick-off.
The 1867 Group was created with the purpose of removing Chansiri from his position as custodian of the club.
Rob, 32, is a member of the group and said that the hope that fans had when Chansiri arrived is now non-existent.
“We were all on the same page when he came in. I’ve never seen money flow like that. When we didn’t go up and he kept spending money, we knew he’s being poorly advised. He spent £10m on Jordan Rhodes. Everyone was happy when he came in but now he’s got nothing to show for it other than relegations and point deductions.”
Rob said that the financial peril that the club finds itself in consistently is the responsibility of Chansiri and his advisors. Tonight’s protest aims to highlight the financial mishaps the multimillionaire owner.
“The game’s on Sky, so it’s a great platform for more media attention against the chairman. We want to highlight that he isn’t fit or proper. Parties are interested to buy but he won’t sell. The season tickets, the transfer window, it’s error after error after error. He’s holding the club to ransom. For the club, it’s a disaster. Year on year the finances are gone. We believe there will come a point this season when staff and players aren’t getting paid”, he said.
Despite being a Wednesdayite his whole life, Rob won’t be renewing his season ticket next year due to the mess that has been made of them for next year.
Rob said, “I’m not renewing. It kills me but it is what it is. What I’ve been told is that it’s cash only in store or through PayPal. We think the club’s been suspended or banned by a transactional company. His current losses are something like £132m since taking over, how can that continue? And with the tax bill he asked 20,000 fans to pay £100 to cover the tax bill and two days later, finds £2m down the back of the sofa. We knew it was a bluff.”
However, fan behaviour at recent games has brought attention for all the wrong reasons. The Owls’ play-off semi-final home leg last year saw the club fined £50,000 for crowd misconduct.
Wednesday fans’ sentiments aren’t without reason however – Chansiri’s ownership has baffled fans after his acquisition in January 2015.
One fan, who wished to remain anonymous, said he’s stopped watching matches despite being a fan for more than 60 years.
“If someone offered me a free ticket, £50 and all the beer I could drink, I still wouldn’t go. Because the team that he’s got, I don’t like to say it, are … not good enough.”
The fan claimed his disillusionment is purely a result of Chansiri’s poor stewardship of the Owls and can’t foresee any improvement while he remains in charge.
“All he’s gonna do is ruin us. None of this was a problem when Dave Vitters were down there or Bert McGee was down there. There’s no money left. He expected us to be in the premiership in 2017, now we’ve got no money.”
Sheffield Wednesday put out a statement yesterday concerning the protest, reminding fans that they may be prosecuted if they are found to be chanting racial or indecent chants, pitch invading or throwing objects onto the pitch.
Sheffield Wednesday were contacted for a comment concerning the protests but did not reply.