Simon Jordan has described the current situation at Sheffield Wednesday as “the blind leading the deaf,” as more chaos continues to hit Hillsborough.
Everything appears to be falling apart for the Owls right now, and this isn’t just a metaphor. There are serious concerns with the club’s funding, which has left many players and staff personnel underpaid for an extended period of time, to the point where players such as Michael Smith and Josh Windass went without pay for two months before being allowed to give in their notice.
Danny Rohl, the manager, did everything he could over the summer to avoid Wednesday. Those attempts were fruitless, and he has now returned to Middlewood Road, after pre-season preparations had begun, with his tail between his legs, but this hasn’t helped his job security.
Not everyone is pleased with how he has behaving. A lot of the surviving players have been frustrated by Rohl’s activities, and his future is quite uncertain.
On top of that, structural difficulties with Hillsborough’s North Stand may force it to close for the start of the season, adding another crack to the once-great club that is now held together by the thinnest of threads.
Simon Jordan weighs in on Sheffield Wednesday state of affairs
All of these challenges arise from Dejphon Chansiri, the club’s chairman and owner, failing to provide the necessary financial means to run it. He is willing to sell, but recent progress toward a takeover of the Owls has halted.
Jordan, a talkSPORT announcer, has urged a number of businesspeople to consider buying the troubled club. He has now spoken on Rohl’s condition and some of the players’ dissatisfaction with the manager.
“I mean, this feels like the blind leading the deaf,” added the former Crystal Palace owner. “Are the players ultimately unhappy with the manager full stop? Because I remember seeing reports about Sheffield Wednesday and some of their performances last year when they really turned it round. There seemed to be this universal belief in the manager.
“Are they unhappy with the manager full stop, or are they unhappy with the fact that he took a sabbatical because there are other issues reverberating around?”
TalkSPORT reporter Alex Crook verified that the frustration stemmed from the latter point, adding that Barry Bannan, who is still training with Wednesday despite not being under contract with them, leads the group of angry players.
Sheffield Wednesday could be sailing towards oblivion at this rate
It must be disheartening for Wednesday supporters to sit and watch their club break apart in this manner. Even at its peak in recent years, following the Owls hasn’t been healthy for anyone’s heart rates or long-term health, but this is just too bad to behold.
It’s a rudderless ship, both at the wheel and in the engine room, and the only way to keep this Titanic of a situation from colliding with the iceberg that lurks somewhere in the dark distance ahead is for a competent captain to come aboard, someone who can try to change the course as soon as possible, before yet another football ownership-related disaster occurs.
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