The chairman's record

[Bez]

Wednesday aren’t a draw for a big money, savvy investor. 
 

In today’s footballing reality we are either the pet project of a Chansiri, owned by a shady consortium and used in their profit stripping scheme or we go bust. 
 

Choose your poison @kivo owl

 

tl;dr - Football is broken and completely to blame - Chansiri is the best option of a very bad bunch 

[0114]

2 minutes ago, TheEnchanter said:

I wholeheartedly don't think Chansiri has anything othet than the best ambitions for the club. But he can't run a football club at this level and he certainly can't so it alone like he believes he can. Until he realises that then we will never be able to build successfully towards a promotion. 

I wholeheartedly disagree. We are nothing other then a roulette table to him.
 

Just a quick gamble. He hasn’t come to improve anything off the field, no interest in sponsors, no interest in the community side of it, no interest in building something sustainable, no interest in making it affordable with tickets and merchandise for his target customer. 
 

He’s come in with a 2 year plan to get to the Premier League. Failed. Put us in a terrible financial situation that has resulted in 2 summers of embargo’s (possibly a 3rd), points deduction pending, no longer own our stadium and unwillingness to sell players to sort the situation. 
 

He hasn’t brought anything good to this football club. Being in the Premier League isn’t the be all and all of supporting Sheffield Wednesday like he makes out. 

[BARMYARMY2010]

38 minutes ago, KivoOwl said:

Things started off well enough. His first involvement was the signing of three players during the January 2015 transfer window. In the summer, he re-signed Lewis McGugan, at the time a huge statement of intent as the player had been a revelation during his loan spell.

 

In May 2015, after acknowledging that he didn’t know enough about football, he announced his intentions to have a five-man management set-up consisting of a three-man ‘Sporting Director Committee’ (Adam Pearson, Glenn Roeder and Paul Senior), a Director of Football and a Head Coach. After Mark Cooper rejected the chance to take the latter job, the relatively unknown Carlos Carvalhal was appointed instead, with the Director of Football role laying vacant. Two weeks after joining, Pearson left for Leeds United, and Roeder left in December. None of the vacated roles were filled, leaving Carvalhal in sole charge of first team affairs.

 

Chansiri turned to agent Amadeu Paixao for transfer recruitment advice, with a raft of unknowns such as Modou Sougou, Lucas Joao, Marco Matias and Darrly Lachman joining Ross Wallace, Fernando Forestieri and Barry Bannan through the door.

 

The first major backlash from fans came after the announcement of ticket prices for the 2015/16 season - £39 to sit on the Kop for the game against Bristol City, and season ticket prices up across the board – the cheapest adult ticket going from £360 to £395. Chansiri was forced to explain his reasoning behind such a steep rise in prices, saying that levels of income had to be raised across the board to help pay for a promotion push. Initial scepticism gave way to acceptance when the team on the field started doing the business and looked set for top end finish.

 

In January 2016 Chansiri decided to ditch the ‘70s Owl’ logo and designed a modern version of the older club emblem. Again, any murmurs of discontent were pushed to one side as the team surged up the league table – who cares what the badge looks like when the product on the pitch is better? Eventually, the team lost in the play-off final at Wembley. The same month, losses of £11m were announced in the club accounts.

 

On top of the increase in POTG prices (the average price of the cheapest POTG ticket for the 2015/16 season was £31.11, up from £23.57 a year earlier), season ticket prices for the 2016/17 season went up again – the cheapest adult ticket going from £395 to £415.

 

The summer of 2016 saw the arrival of Daniel Pudil, Steven Fletcher and Almen Abdi – all three popular signings, but the latter two struggled to get going. Fletcher took nearly three years to hit decent form, while Abdi proved a waste of £4m. Also incoming were Vincent Sasso, Adam Reach and Urby Emanuelson. Transfer outlay for the season would near £20m, though previous favourite McGugan was mysteriously frozen out.

 

The next big talking point was the decision to ditch stripes from the club’s shirt for the first time in over 40 years. But the controversy soon died down. Who cares about what shirt a side is wearing when they’re doing well? The production of replica kits went to an unknown Australian firm, to help save the club and fans money. The shirts didn’t arrive until well after the start of the season, and then they were priced at £59.

 

A raft of bizarre occurrences at the start of the season included the chairman choosing the squad numbers (goalkeeper Joe Wildsmith famously given the number 2 shirt), golden elephants installed outside the South Stand to give us good luck, a two-minute silence held for the recently deceased King of Thailand and the ‘SWFC’ lettering in the North Stand seats replaced with ‘CHANSIRI’. All received some negativity, but the majority were again in support of the chairman as long as he continued to provide a good product on the pitch.

The free-flowing football of 15/16 disappeared and Wednesday toiled throughout the season, though they eventually finished in fourth place, before falling short in the play-off semi-finals against Huddersfield.

 

Ticket prices rose further in the summer of 2017. The cheapest adult ST was now £455, up another £40. The average price of the cheapest POTG ticket rose to £33.36. Membership prices also rose from £30 to £50. Jordan Rhodes was signed permanently for £10m after a pretty average loan spell. Also incoming were George Boyd, Joey Pelupessy and Joost van Aken – all three turned out to be terrible signings. Losses of £20m announced in the club accounts.

 

In July 2017 young starlet George Hirst was frozen out of all playing action over a contract dispute, to be joined by Sean Clare later in the season. Both left on free transfers. Kit production again hit problems – stripes returned (albeit pinstripes), but two companies created by the chairman – DTaxis and Elev8 were revealed as kit manufacturers and sponsors. They were again late in arriving. A new scheme, Club1867, was announced. £1,500 would get a supporter a bronze plaque on their seat and a ‘free’ 3-year-season ticket upon promotion to the Premier League.

 

In September 2017 the club celebrated its 150^th anniversary with a fireworks display and a world record attempt at producing a ball-shaped cake.

 

On the pitch, results dipped further, and Carlos Carvalhal was eventually shown the door. Another relative unknown – Jos Luhukay – was appointed manager. Around the same time, controversial ex-Charlton CEO Katrien Meire was installed in a similar position at Wednesday. She left after 12 months. Increased fan unrest at the downturn in form was challenged by Chansiri, who set up a poll asking fans whether they wanted the same ticket prices and levels of investment in the squad, or lower ticket prices and a turn towards introducing younger players into the squad. 70% voted for the former, favouring to continue paying higher ticket prices in return for continued investment in the transfer market.

 

In March 2018 further losses of £21m were announced in club accounts, but by the end of the season the side had managed to avoid relegation to League One.

 

In the summer of 2018, season ticket prices were frozen, but membership packages went from £50 to £90 – a decision that was reversed after supporter backlash. Replica kits were again not ready for sale until after the season had started. For the first time since pre-WWII, no players signed for the club during the summer, with youth players instead integrated into the side. Instead of ticket prices being lowered, the average price of the cheapest POTG ticket over the 2018/19 season rose further, to £33.17. One bright note in the summer of 2018 was the lifting of the club’s transfer embargo, though fans had never been informed that the club was in one to start with.

 

On the pitch, Wednesday looked set for a relegation dogfight after a poor start to the season which cost Luhukay his job. Steve Bruce took over the reigns eight weeks later and eventually the side again managed to stave off relegation.

 

In the summer of 2019, the club announced a profit of £2.5m in the club accounts, though this was helped by the sale of the club’s home of 120 years to the club chairman for £60m – an attempt to circumvent Profit & Sustainability rules. Eventually, the EFL caught wind of the ploy and brought charges against the club, with a large points deduction the likely penalty. Steve Bruce controversially left for Newcastle United after just four months in the Owls hotseat, but it wasn’t for another eight weeks that his successor was appointed, Garry Monk.

 

In January 2020 the club announced another new ticket scheme, selling 10-year season tickets in another hope to drum up much-needed income.

Its like De Ja Vu,don't,in fact can't argue with any of the more salient points you've stated,but for crying out loud who gives a shiny shyte about golden elephants,squad numbers,a two minute silence out of your time,changing the SWFC to CHANSIRI on the north,none of those things have impacted the cost to you,cheap dig for cheap digs sake.

[Morepork]

7 minutes ago, TheEnchanter said:

I wholeheartedly don't think Chansiri has anything othet than the best ambitions for the club. But he can't run a football club at this level and he certainly can't so it alone like he believes he can. Until he realises that then we will never be able to build successfully towards a promotion. 

I agree that he has only the best intentions. That said, being inept as opposed to malevolent it’s more or less the same end result....

[Samurai Blue]

This is the chairman’s record.

 

[pat blondeau]

21 minutes ago, TheEnchanter said:

I wholeheartedly don't think Chansiri has anything othet than the best ambitions for the club. But he can't run a football club at this level and he certainly can't so it alone like he believes he can. Until he realises that then we will never be able to build successfully towards a promotion. 

He’s as dangerous as some of the owners at Portsmouth, Coventry, Sunderland etc. 
 

But there’s still a proportion of our fans that don’t see it.

 

I don’t see building towards a promotion as being realistic in the next few years, stabilising as a championship club would be an achievement from where we are now

[Taximark]

5 minutes ago, Samurai Blue said:

This is the chairman’s record.

 

 

[Samurai Blue]

3 minutes ago, TaxiMark said:

 

 

Still no discount, I noticed.

[manicowl]

22 minutes ago, 0114 said:

I wholeheartedly disagree. We are nothing other then a roulette table to him.
 

Just a quick gamble. He hasn’t come to improve anything off the field, no interest in sponsors, no interest in the community side of it, no interest in building something sustainable, no interest in making it affordable with tickets and merchandise for his target customer. 
 

He’s come in with a 2 year plan to get to the Premier League. Failed. Put us in a terrible financial situation that has resulted in 2 summers of embargo’s (possibly a 3rd), points deduction pending, no longer own our stadium and unwillingness to sell players to sort the situation. 
 

He hasn’t brought anything good to this football club. Being in the Premier League isn’t the be all and all of supporting Sheffield Wednesday like he makes out. 

The two year plan thing is exactly correct. He thought by throwing enough money at it it would be easy. The signings of Rhodes and Abdi are probably the two most disastrous transfers in the club's history, and we're rapidly going the way of Charlton, Portsmouth, Sunderland etc. The attitude now sadly has to be to write the next three or four seasons off, ship out the high earners and has-beens and concentrate on building from a solid base. If we get relegated this season we're not coming back.

[Dexter Morgan]

1 hour ago, KivoOwl said:

Things started off well enough. His first involvement was the signing of three players during the January 2015 transfer window. In the summer, he re-signed Lewis McGugan, at the time a huge statement of intent as the player had been a revelation during his loan spell.

 

In May 2015, after acknowledging that he didn’t know enough about football, he announced his intentions to have a five-man management set-up consisting of a three-man ‘Sporting Director Committee’ (Adam Pearson, Glenn Roeder and Paul Senior), a Director of Football and a Head Coach. After Mark Cooper rejected the chance to take the latter job, the relatively unknown Carlos Carvalhal was appointed instead, with the Director of Football role laying vacant. Two weeks after joining, Pearson left for Leeds United, and Roeder left in December. None of the vacated roles were filled, leaving Carvalhal in sole charge of first team affairs.

 

Chansiri turned to agent Amadeu Paixao for transfer recruitment advice, with a raft of unknowns such as Modou Sougou, Lucas Joao, Marco Matias and Darrly Lachman joining Ross Wallace, Fernando Forestieri and Barry Bannan through the door.

 

The first major backlash from fans came after the announcement of ticket prices for the 2015/16 season - £39 to sit on the Kop for the game against Bristol City, and season ticket prices up across the board – the cheapest adult ticket going from £360 to £395. Chansiri was forced to explain his reasoning behind such a steep rise in prices, saying that levels of income had to be raised across the board to help pay for a promotion push. Initial scepticism gave way to acceptance when the team on the field started doing the business and looked set for top end finish.

 

In January 2016 Chansiri decided to ditch the ‘70s Owl’ logo and designed a modern version of the older club emblem. Again, any murmurs of discontent were pushed to one side as the team surged up the league table – who cares what the badge looks like when the product on the pitch is better? Eventually, the team lost in the play-off final at Wembley. The same month, losses of £11m were announced in the club accounts.

 

On top of the increase in POTG prices (the average price of the cheapest POTG ticket for the 2015/16 season was £31.11, up from £23.57 a year earlier), season ticket prices for the 2016/17 season went up again – the cheapest adult ticket going from £395 to £415.

 

The summer of 2016 saw the arrival of Daniel Pudil, Steven Fletcher and Almen Abdi – all three popular signings, but the latter two struggled to get going. Fletcher took nearly three years to hit decent form, while Abdi proved a waste of £4m. Also incoming were Vincent Sasso, Adam Reach and Urby Emanuelson. Transfer outlay for the season would near £20m, though previous favourite McGugan was mysteriously frozen out.

 

The next big talking point was the decision to ditch stripes from the club’s shirt for the first time in over 40 years. But the controversy soon died down. Who cares about what shirt a side is wearing when they’re doing well? The production of replica kits went to an unknown Australian firm, to help save the club and fans money. The shirts didn’t arrive until well after the start of the season, and then they were priced at £59.

 

A raft of bizarre occurrences at the start of the season included the chairman choosing the squad numbers (goalkeeper Joe Wildsmith famously given the number 2 shirt), golden elephants installed outside the South Stand to give us good luck, a two-minute silence held for the recently deceased King of Thailand and the ‘SWFC’ lettering in the North Stand seats replaced with ‘CHANSIRI’. All received some negativity, but the majority were again in support of the chairman as long as he continued to provide a good product on the pitch.

The free-flowing football of 15/16 disappeared and Wednesday toiled throughout the season, though they eventually finished in fourth place, before falling short in the play-off semi-finals against Huddersfield.

 

Ticket prices rose further in the summer of 2017. The cheapest adult ST was now £455, up another £40. The average price of the cheapest POTG ticket rose to £33.36. Membership prices also rose from £30 to £50. Jordan Rhodes was signed permanently for £10m after a pretty average loan spell. Also incoming were George Boyd, Joey Pelupessy and Joost van Aken – all three turned out to be terrible signings. Losses of £20m announced in the club accounts.

 

In July 2017 young starlet George Hirst was frozen out of all playing action over a contract dispute, to be joined by Sean Clare later in the season. Both left on free transfers. Kit production again hit problems – stripes returned (albeit pinstripes), but two companies created by the chairman – DTaxis and Elev8 were revealed as kit manufacturers and sponsors. They were again late in arriving. A new scheme, Club1867, was announced. £1,500 would get a supporter a bronze plaque on their seat and a ‘free’ 3-year-season ticket upon promotion to the Premier League.

 

In September 2017 the club celebrated its 150^th anniversary with a fireworks display and a world record attempt at producing a ball-shaped cake.

 

On the pitch, results dipped further, and Carlos Carvalhal was eventually shown the door. Another relative unknown – Jos Luhukay – was appointed manager. Around the same time, controversial ex-Charlton CEO Katrien Meire was installed in a similar position at Wednesday. She left after 12 months. Increased fan unrest at the downturn in form was challenged by Chansiri, who set up a poll asking fans whether they wanted the same ticket prices and levels of investment in the squad, or lower ticket prices and a turn towards introducing younger players into the squad. 70% voted for the former, favouring to continue paying higher ticket prices in return for continued investment in the transfer market.

 

In March 2018 further losses of £21m were announced in club accounts, but by the end of the season the side had managed to avoid relegation to League One.

 

In the summer of 2018, season ticket prices were frozen, but membership packages went from £50 to £90 – a decision that was reversed after supporter backlash. Replica kits were again not ready for sale until after the season had started. For the first time since pre-WWII, no players signed for the club during the summer, with youth players instead integrated into the side. Instead of ticket prices being lowered, the average price of the cheapest POTG ticket over the 2018/19 season rose further, to £33.17. One bright note in the summer of 2018 was the lifting of the club’s transfer embargo, though fans had never been informed that the club was in one to start with.

 

On the pitch, Wednesday looked set for a relegation dogfight after a poor start to the season which cost Luhukay his job. Steve Bruce took over the reigns eight weeks later and eventually the side again managed to stave off relegation.

 

In the summer of 2019, the club announced a profit of £2.5m in the club accounts, though this was helped by the sale of the club’s home of 120 years to the club chairman for £60m – an attempt to circumvent Profit & Sustainability rules. Eventually, the EFL caught wind of the ploy and brought charges against the club, with a large points deduction the likely penalty. Steve Bruce controversially left for Newcastle United after just four months in the Owls hotseat, but it wasn’t for another eight weeks that his successor was appointed, Garry Monk.

 

In January 2020 the club announced another new ticket scheme, selling 10-year season tickets in another hope to drum up much-needed income.

this is an absolutely brilliant post 

for me that’s summed up everything

thanks for taking the time to put that together 

appreciated 

[Blue and white]

2 hours ago, BRADDO said:

I totally agree. There is a cancer running through the club and Chansiri is right at the heart of it. 

Don't know about cancer more chancer if you ask me. He has chanced his hand at throwing a few quid at it to get to the promised land and cash in on the riches, the one floor in the plan is it failed and he hasn't a fecking clue what to do now.

[Morepork]

It's almost as if 35000 people simultaneously, knocked over a salt shaker, received a chain letter and opened an umbrella in doors, all whilst placing their shoes on the table.......you could not make this sh!t up.

 

It's a long OP but well worth a read if you need reminding of the ineptitude of DC and shambles that has been his tenure.

 

Despite plenty of fans showing him way more patience than he deserved.

 

What a sorry state of affairs.

 

 

Edited February 13, 2020 by Morepork

[Blue and white]

22 minutes ago, Morepork said:

It's almost as if 35000 people simultaneously, knocked over a salt shaker, received a chain letter and opened an umbrella in doors, all whilst placing their shoes on the table.......you could not make this sh!t up.

 

It's a long OP but well worth a read if you need reminding of the ineptitude of DC and shambles that has been his tenure.

 

Despite plenty of fans showing him way more patience than he deserved.

 

What a sorry state of affairs.

 

 

There is a real chance of this going South and us going under big style yet some so called fans laugh and think it's funny and that this is an over reaction.

Let's put it this way, for the 1st time in our long and proud history we do not own our ground, we have no fall back plan.

We have flaunted the league rules and we have fudged our accounts, DC can threaten all the legal action he wants the sad truth is we are being propped up by 3 companies that don't exist and have used a dodgy inflated ground sale to balance the books, that isn't going to go unpunished and we will be docked points, god knows how many but anywhere from 9 to 25 have been mentioned.

We are under performing on the pitch and we are heading for a relegation dog fight which this team isn't up to, throw on a points deduction and we are up shitcreek without a boat never mind a paddle, this maybe a worse case scenario buts its perfectly feasible and a very realistic possiblity.

Best case scenario is we limp through until the end of the season, lose half our squad and be in little position to replace the out going players as we are relying on selling 10 year season tickets to take the club forward.

The very sad truth is we have an owner who is out of cash, out of ideas and has nowhere left to go but down.

We will see who finds it funny when this goes belly up.

 

Edited February 13, 2020 by Blue and white

[trumbullowl]

4 hours ago, 0114 said:

I wholeheartedly disagree. We are nothing other then a roulette table to him.
 

Just a quick gamble. He hasn’t come to improve anything off the field, no interest in sponsors, no interest in the community side of it, no interest in building something sustainable, no interest in making it affordable with tickets and merchandise for his target customer. 
 

He’s come in with a 2 year plan to get to the Premier League. Failed. Put us in a terrible financial situation that has resulted in 2 summers of embargo’s (possibly a 3rd), points deduction pending, no longer own our stadium and unwillingness to sell players to sort the situation. 
 

He hasn’t brought anything good to this football club. Being in the Premier League isn’t the be all and all of supporting Sheffield Wednesday like he makes out. 

Mandaric knew football and was a very savvy operator, and he was in it for, and got a payday. By finding a rich impressionable rube, who knew nothing about football,

but could be sold on the dream of getting to the PL and being  lauded for it. That didn't work out and now we're down a big hole with that clueless owner. It wont get

better any time soon. Blackburn are above us.......

[Jim]

6 hours ago, KivoOwl said:

tl;dr - Wednesday fans are far too patient.

 

It’s not that IMO. We have a fan base who probably couldn’t agree on the colour of the pitch? So trying to get them behind a protest or a movement to try and effect change will never happen?

 

The Blades Fans get laughed at on here for their shoes off protest. You would probably get some of our lot insisting they keep theirs on or saying I’m wearing trainers so that rules me out? 

[The Night-Owl]

Why the hell did we not bring in a DOF after the casting aside of the committee plan? Apart from Carlos' first two seasons, especially his first and briefly under Bruce, we've appeared directionless on and off the pitch for a large part of DC's reign so far. At present a DOF and/or a hard nosed experienced manager is needed to turn this mess around. We're paying the price of the players not turning up at Wembley and for the lack of a long term sensible plan and generally poor recruitment thereafter.

[Guest mkowl]

What's the old adage fail to plan then plan to fail.

 

My biggest disappointment in all this is that when DC came in all the right noises were made about building a sustainable model. Decades of ineptitude at Board level that left us on the High Court steps and here was my hope of real change. Indeed tbf work on the pitch, training ground etc were indicators of this and I bought into the ethos with a 3 year season ticket. 

 

The Wembley defeat I took badly because my fear of this being the missed opportunity. That summer was the disaster zone in terms of change of emphasis and is what is costing us now. Short termism in terms of throwing money at it without a strategic emphasis. A house built on quick sand.

 

I now feel more disengaged with the Club at any point in my watching history. Yes I have seen a lot lot worse but it's the lack of direction, what is the plan, all the peripheral issues of the stadium, pricing, EFL have killed that inner passion. It is a horrible feeling because SWFC has been intertwined with my entire existence on the planet, some would say far too much. 

[kobayashi]

The only thing he has been proven right on was being so glum the day he appointed Monk. 

 

His is financial mismanagement has gone past hopeless and clueless and has become dangerous and toxic. I doubt any sane or decent person would now come anywhere near SWFC.

[Mr Farrell]

Unfortunately he's totally clueless in terms of being qualified to run a club in my view.

 

What's really frustrating is how people like him pass the fit and proper test and end up running clubs into the ground.

 

It's great he had loads of money, but he's wasted the lot and took us backwards.

 

His silence is also deafening.

 

 

[Cpt_Hatstand]

@KivoOwl you missed the first part where he sacked the manager who got us to mid table on a budget of buttons and good wishes...