LCFCJohn

Agreed. For the wages he will want and how few games he will inevitably be available for, it’d be bad business for anyone spending £9mill on him.

First paragraph is obviously referring to Mandaric. Although he was Serbian/American. Although we were relegated to L1 in his time, the damage was done before 2007. He took the club on the down and ended up stabilising it and bringing in Pearson which is the best move ever done by an owner of ours. That is where you can trace all the success back to, the summer before the L1 campaign. The biggest criticism I have of Milan is who he sells his clubs to. Portsmouth and Sheff Weds were awful and we are now going that way. Second paragraph I am discarding as I specifically referred to the big money clubs so I acknowledged them. There are loads who have invested in clubs in the football league who are doing a good job. Third part, yes of course they are keen on investment but in many cases, they are good at it. They don’t run clubs into the ground like the examples I gave of South Asian owners. I’m aware Reynolds is Canadian. You miss the American half of that partnership in McAlhenny though? I’m not saying I want American owner. I was just pointing out that there are good ones and they aren’t all Glazer and Boeley types. I just think it’s interesting that they get tarred as all being asset strippers as a nation when it comes to football ownership whilst Asian owners seem to get a free pass despite an appalling record of football ownership in this country.

So Sheffield Wednesday haven’t paid staff for the second time in 3 months. Chansiri is also refusing offers to sell the club. Why are the EFL not stepping in here? What about their so called but clearly BS ‘fit and proper owners’ rules! Whilst our problems are of our own making, this does show that the EFL aren’t fit for purpose. It also shows they don’t actually care about the survival of clubs and this is not what the rules are about, regardless of their narrative.

The factor of him working under Chansiri is as much of a plus for us as it is that I am questioning the decision from his point of view. He can clearly get a team operating higher than the individual parts, plays a good style, knows the Championship and can work in a really dysfunctional environment. I know a couple of people have suggested he hasn’t played much youth at Wednesday but I don’t think you can judge him at his time there in terms of him having to do what he can with what he has. As a young manager you’d expect him to want to play younger players. Why would you want to deliberately sign and play loads of guys as old or older than you even are? But to be sure, it’s the kind of thing that can easily be established during the selection process and even put as a performance measure if that is done by…competent people (ah)!

Yeah I agree with all those reasons provided on both counts. As I say, it was more Rohl specific given he has already been working for Chansiri to then go from that to the polo playing one. But as I say, and as you said, if he does well he knows he can probably move on pretty quickly and so he should. Clearly as bad as we are, Sheffield Wednesday are the pits.

I’d like Rohl but I am cautious as to why he would want to come to us. Obviously Chansiri is different level, not getting paid and Chansiri is a gobshite in the stuff he says. But to come here, where we are run by someone cut from the same cloth even if less extreme, would ring alarm bells for me. Unless it is just a case of get out of Sheffield Wednesday, and he fancies his chances of doing a good job despite our ownership and then getting a better job before long maybe.

There was a post further up about south-east Asian owners. Us Sheffield Wednesday - Chansiri Reading - Dai Yong or whatever his name is Cardiff - Vincent Tan Wolves - they seem to be increasingly dissatisfied with Fosun Then further back you had that Shinawatra crook at Man City, now in prison I think. People say careful what you wish for, referencing American owners due to this perception of them being asset strippers out to ruin our game. That might be the case with a few at the top but a lot of the American investment is because they actually love the way British sport operates. And yet nobody labels south-east Asian (you would even just say south Asian and add Venky’s at Blackburn to the list) ownership despite incompetence being displayed in nearly all cases. And as well as incompetence, you have this thing summed up in your last part of you post of dictatorship type behaviour when it comes to fans expressing of views and paying the media to not show this.

I know you were about the first to call it and got absolute pelters from many. I just read the forum for a long time before I actually joined but I agreed with your every word and felt the same in conversations I had with people in my life. One that sticks to mind was a 3-0 defeat to Chelsea in the November. I just looked at results from around that time and actually, there were a mixed bag and by all means not a consistently bad run of defeats. I think it was just the way we were playing and the body language of the players and Rodgers, and the manner we were not just losing the games we did but any results we were getting, that had me suspecting a downwards curve. I still couldn’t tell you if I really expected us to go down or if I was just being overly dramatic but the fact we did, and sooner than I had even suggested, shows what a decline this is. A few more people seemed to turn in the new year (2022) with the Forest defeat in the cup and the 3-2 defeat to Spurs when we were leading with second to go! Far too many still didn’t think anything of it until the horrific start to the 2022/23 season though.

What annoyed me on the road, well yesterday not today now. Me. I was heading to a hospital appointment which I was worried about having been called the previous week to attend an in person appointment following a routine scan I have. Turns out there was nothing wrong and it should just been a letter. The consultant didn’t know why an appointment had been made so an admit error. Anyway, I spend the days up to it worrying about what this appointment was and as I was setting off in the morning, I can only think my head was more over the shop than I thought. I pulled off my drive straight into the side of a neighbour who was driving past. There was a mitigating factor in cars being parked up on the road and her coming from behind one of these but I still should have seen her. I am an experienced driver and look carefully all the time before pulling off my driveway. Obviously caused decent damage to both cars and an insurance claim. I feel bad for the lady I went into as she is lovely. I just hope both cars can be repaired (neither car is new by any means). It’s just made me feel so embarrassed, particularly happening outside of home. People are kind and say these things happen but it has really worried me how this has happened. Like should I be better at recognising when I have something on my mind and consider whether I should not drive on these occasions. I don’t know. Anyone else had a similar scenario in the sense of such a stupid error?

Well my exact words to my Newcastle supporting mate when their takeover happened (I think it was October time 2021), was ‘I hope you take Rodgers off us as if we keep him we’ll be relegated inside 3 years’. I think it only actually took 18 months which exceeded the timeframe I expected! But he only couldn’t be sacked due to the incompetence already unfolding so I see him as more of a symptom.

It might or might not happen (League 1). But, answer truthfully, if someone had said 5 years ago, when we were just back from the lockdown break and going for top 4 that in 5 years time we’d have just been relegated for the second time in that time, on sub 30 points, would you have believed it possible? I wouldn’t have and I would recall first thinking relegation was possible in autumn 2021 (when Newcastle’s takeover happened and talking to a Newcastle mate). This decline is sharp. You may not care to admit it but where we are now was not comprehensible 5 years ago. Until we see changes made, I would be cautious of ruling out any such lows.

Regardless though, Southampton have already brought in their new manager and a first signing before the season has been done a week. They are being proactive. Our lot still haven’t acknowledged we got relegated!

I would say the last part of representative of what else we have! Hmm Faes….. I think he’s a poor player. Not terrible. But as I say, while he might look tidy on the ball, 14 bookings at Championship level still shows a player who was absolutely not in control. I thought that Championship season we were quite suspect defensively generally to be honest so I have never bought into the narrative (not that you are saying this), that Vestergaard and Faes were great. For players of their standing, we should have had a much better defensive record in my view.

I think it comes down to, most young CBs now are brought through being good with the ball, Vestergaard’s strength. Could we find a centre back who is younger, equally good on the ball whilst being more athletic and basically much stronger all around and on less wages. Hell yes we could if we could be bothered to look. Same as Winks. We are paying these guys so much more than what they are worth.

Wow, way to write two young, improving players off. That type of attitude probably deserves the other types on your list! And pretty sure Alves signed a new deal until 2028 so sorry, will have to put up with him for a while longer! Also, given the downwards trend we see on, we will probably be battling with Stoke and Hull before long…

He’s definitely not. Souttar is much better and Nelson is better already. He got what, 14 bookings at Championship level last time. A player getting booked that often shows they are out of their depth and unable to keep up with play fairly. Bottom half Championship standard at best with a crap attitude.

There was the Thai guy at Man City as well who was dodgy. Before the current owners.

Yeah this is what I mean. Purely from a point of view of ability respective to the level and attitude on the pitch, there’s many I’d move before him. He’s versatile as well. But, anyone that is on wages above their ability needs to be open for offers and he is pure profit.

I agree with this other than I imagine his wages are probably higher than his ability but that is the case across the board for us. If someone (Sheffield United) want to give us a few mill of pure profit and his wages off the books, I’d say good business for us. But as you say, there’s a long list I would want out first.

Exactly. Obviously you always have to win a competition even if you are favourites and the game isn’t always played on paper. However, sometimes there is just an example of such financial disparity between a team and every other in the competition, no winning it is not only failure but winning it should be seen as the minimum achieved and nothing more. Chelsea in the conference league is one. Birmingham breaking the points record in League 1 given their spend is another.

Go on, what did he say?

Doesn’t really matter with this lot in charge though. They are clearly incapable of getting things under control. We sold Barnes and KDH, as well as Maresca and Castagne and still failed. They will spend on new shit anyway so if we are going to fail PSR every season, I’d rather at least see Nelson and others play for us.

Some good derbies as well. South coast, Steel City and East Anglian/Old Farm.

But we aren’t privy to what has happened. Do you really think RVN would have demanded it if Winks performances were good? No. If he’s training badly and performing poorly and the manager deems that travelling from a way is a factor, if he is getting there late etc, he has the right to ask for more commitment. And if I earned that much and was asked to be away from home one night a week I’d damn well do it as well! It’s representative of the shit culture and entitlement that runs through the club from the owner down.

I’m sure you’re right. But posting on SM whilst the match is taking place is hardly a good look. It seemed calculated and deliberate. The Enzo sign in Copenhagen also. I would rather we move individuals like this out the club but when the culture is rotten from Top to bottom, people are probably right in saying Winks is not a major problem.