The chairman's record

[billyblack]

8 hours 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.

All going well then......

[billyblack]

8 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. 

Agreed. It was just an ego project to him. Now its turned into a face saving project.

[billyblack]

4 hours ago, Blue and white said:

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.

 

Yep. Thats about right.

[Mr Farrell]

26 minutes ago, billyblack said:

Agreed. It was just an ego project to him. Now its turned into a face saving project.

 

Doesn't feel like he's trying to save face to me.

 

Feels like he's going through the motions, and burying his head in the sand.

[Hack-Abusi]

 

8 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. 

Could not have said it any better myself .. this all round.

 

You would think a man that had his financial output would have been able to take us to the next level and beyond .. instead we've píssed up a shed load of money down the karzy and are in a right old fix .. proper naivity from someone that may turn out to be the worst chairman that we've had for a long time .. Venky-esque ..

 

You had hopes this was only heading one way .. just frustrating and angry thats its the wrong way we are heading. South .. not fúcking upwards!

 

He needs to get wise real quick and get someone in fast to sort out this shít show because we are a shambles ON and OFF the pitch ...

 

1 hour ago, mkowl said:

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. 

Another post that hits the nail on the head ..

 

For me though the missed opportunity was the semi final against Huddersfield that would have set up a potential final against Reading. The easiest route we were ever gonna have and Carlos and his cohorts completely f*cked it up ..

 

Since then its been calamity after calamity after patch up after mess after quick fix after papering over the cracks after farce after error after debacle after embarrassment etc its upsetting

 

[billyblack]

1 minute ago, Mr Farrell said:

 

Doesn't feel like he's trying to save face to me.

 

Feels like he's going through the motions, and burying his head in the sand.

Maybe, to make a change on his behalf means him accepting he has been wrong, I dont believe he has the capacity to reflect and criticise himself. Perhaps hes waiting for someone to wonder along with £200 mill to waste to take it off his hands (im sure thats likely to happen), or he could walk away in shame back to his family as a tragic failure and a massive dent in the family coffers. Either way, I don't see a way out for him quickly

[GMOwl72]

Can’t wait for the movie!!!

[bazapeps]

Great OP but genuinely believe that puts it nicely.

 

complete neglect of the commercial side of the club. Making boxes so expensive that no companies bought any. Completely neglecting links to businesses, schools and the community.

 

long drawn out rants at fans forums, spouting utter nonsense. Trying to tell fans he invested so much as it was needed to avoid relegation.

 

zero thought and plans as to long term strategy. No player sales. No thought behind any transfer policy.

 

blaming fans for transfers

 

Refusing to take any sort of advice and falling out with pretty much every single person he appoints 

[Owls-Fan]

14 minutes ago, GMOwl72 said:

Can’t wait for the movie!!!

£40 cinema ticket 

 

[bazapeps]

Also causing the biggest fan divide I’ve ever known. The club is toxic and soulless. Games are a chore. 

 

I’m at a point I never thought was possible - at the stage where I’m totally unaffected by results (good or bad). And after years and years seriously considering not renewing my ST

[Mr Farrell]

7 minutes ago, Owls-Fan said:

£40 cinema ticket 

 

 

10 year ticket for 5k

[Animis]

I wonder if he'll be here for the Reading game at the weekend, or conveniently be prevented from travelling due to Coronavirus restrictions.

 

It could be very stormy - literately as the clouds darken from the West and the wind gets up. Reading with Pele and Puscas could be a daunting prospect in the rain and should we lose, I expect a revolt from the stands, or from those still there at least.

[Steelman]

9 hours 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.

Absolutely superb post mate.

 

The man has ruined this club, big-time.

 

Anyone can look back at my posts if they can be bothered (and I have some stalkers and neggers who will, they know who they are) to see I've been saying it for years now.

 

I even commented on Carlos/the Club's scattergun approach to recruitment in the early days.

 

The success of any organisation, no matter what it's size is, or the sector it is in is determined by the people at the top. This has got nothing to do with Monk. It's Chansiri's fault there's no direction or leadership, Chansiri's fault fans are staying away in their drove and becoming disenfranchised. It's Chansiri's fault we're a laughing stock, Chansiri's fault that the fan experience on match days is stuck in the 80's - toilets and catering etc. I could go on but we all know what the issues are.

 

There's only one  solution to our current demise.

 

#Chansiriout

[Hirstys_12th_Pint]

I like many am at my lowest ebb with regards to Chansiri's ownership.

 

In the past I have overlooked his bizarre schemes, lack of realistic commercial nous, ridiculous pricing policies and general understanding of the running of a football club.  However I am now at the point of realisation that we have gone backwards and are in serious risk of damage for many years.  

 

OK we would probably not have this feeling if we were say in the top 6 and would continue to take the peculiar running of the club with the glimmer of clinging onto the possibility of progression.  

 

Hillsborough is as grim a place to attend as it ever has been and that is after being a season ticket holder since 1990.  We don't even do the simple things correctly and would say fans are as far removed as they have been in the past. 

 

I have personally deferred my season ticket until 6th March as we were given the option to do so.  Not really from not being able to pay for it but I just could not bring myself to do it earlier this week.  The early deadline really was the tipping point for me in the Chansiri reign and once again shows no thought for the average fan.  

 

Appreciate it is a crock of poo on the pitch but the general malaise around the place is a lot down to our leader and owner and unfortunately cannot see much changing anytime soon.

 

 

 

 

[Mr Farrell]

2 minutes ago, Steelman said:

Absolutely superb post mate.

 

The man has ruined this club, big-time.

 

Anyone can look back at my posts if they can be bothered (and I have some stalkers and neggers who will, they know who they are) to see I've been saying it for years now.

 

I even commented on Carlos/the Club's scattergun approach to recruitment in the early days.

 

The success of any organisation, no matter what it's size is, or the sector it is in is determined by the people at the top. This has got nothing to do with Monk. It's Chansiri's fault there's no direction or leadership, Chansiri's fault fans are staying away in their drove and becoming disenfranchised. It's Chansiri's fault we're a laughing stock, Chansiri's fault that the fan experience on match days is stuck in the 80's - toilets and catering etc. I could go on but we all know what the issues are.

 

There's only one  solution to our current demise.

 

#Chansiriout

 

It was pretty obvious fairly quickly that he didn't know what he was doing.

 

The Paxo signings and influence was the first clue.

[Matt_1]

Unsure how anyone can possibly support Chansiri and the current setup.

 

Sell up, or get a team in. Get some advice from your fellow countryman at Leicetser (forget the George Hirst stuff).

 

You need to turn this around now.

[Animis]

5 minutes ago, bazapeps said:

Also causing the biggest fan divide I’ve ever known. The club is toxic and soulless. Games are a chore. 

 

I’m at a point I never thought was possible - at the stage where I’m totally unaffected by results (good or bad). And after years and years seriously considering not renewing my ST

 

I actually laughed at some of the play in the last 5 mins; Bannan's midfield 'tackle', Iorfa's mis-control to go out for a throw and Borner's simple clearance which went onto the stand roof.

 

I wonder if DC was watching from Thailand on the red button? I wonder what he and his family make of it all - I wonder what he made of the cameraman cleaning the lens with an old cloth - probably thought don't bother.

[bazapeps]

Mods can we have a poll on if you will / won’t be renewing your ST? And reasons for the same?

[Nero]

Is it the Thai national anthem? I think I heard it once...

[upperwinngardensowl]

Doesn’t matter what he does there are people who defend him to the hilt, continue to say, after all this time, “he is badly advised”, and point to the play off final. 

He is slowly killing this club with his vanity project