Sheffield Wednesday have seemingly somewhat turned a corner on the pitch under Danny Rohl as they won their first Championship match of the season on Sunday at the 14th time of asking.
The Owls dispatched their South Yorkshire neighbours Rotherham United at Hillsborough, with ex-Millers striker Michael Smith scoring both goals in a 2-0 win.
Wednesday are still bottom of the table despite their first success, but the gap has been closed to Huddersfield Town in 21st, and they could now do with a smooth, uncomplicated few months up until the January transfer window.
Unfortunately though, their owner Dejphon Chansiri has conspired to stick his foot in proceedings once again by doing something that has been ridiculed by the footballing world.
Dejphon Chansiri’s latest Sheffield Wednesday scandal
Chansiri has already been criticised in recent months for his way of handling the situation of Darren Moore and saying that he was not going to put a penny more into the club after being slammed by fans, but he has managed to one-up himself this week.
In the early hours of Tuesday, an interview published by the Sheffield Star saw the Owls custodian ask fans who had criticised his running of the club to chip in to the tune of £2 million to satisfy an outstanding tax bill to HMRC, as well as to pay the players and staff’s wages for October.
Cash flow issues from Chansiri’s other businesses meant that he could not pay at the time, and his message to the fanbase brought much understandable derision as a reaction.
However, just a day later, Chansiri confirmed that his cash flow problem had been resolved and all payments had been made, ending the somewhat surreal saga between himself and his own club’s loyal fans.
Prominent EFL pundit Jobi McAnuff has slammed Chansiri for his actions despite the fact that it never came to the fans needing to pay anything towards the tax bill and wages, and he has argued that it is the worst thing that the Thai businessman has done since his arrival in 2015.
“I’ve got to say this is the latest in the long line – and the worst for me,” McAnuff said on the BBC’s Football Daily Podcast.
“It’s all well and good saying you’re not happy with the way that fans have been responding to you, whether that’s on social media and certainly for me, this is the latest in a long act of just things that for me would aliente a fanbase that has been so loyal to that football club.
“They’re having an absolutely wretched season, they’re still turning up in their numbers, 20,000-plus every time they get into Hillsborough, a massive away following, and then you turn around and say ‘actually, I’ve got a financial problem, can you lot bail us out of it?’
“And I’m thinking ‘that’s what they’re doing week in, week out’ – they’re trying to help the club and keep putting their finances into it and you just turn around and basically say everyone’s got to stump up £100.
“It’s just absolutely ridiculous. I think it’s making what is a fantastic football club look very, very silly, it’s making him look silly I’ve got to say.
“And I think the fans are certainly losing patience with him very, very rapidly despite the amount of money that he wants to tell everyone that he’s put into that football club over the years.”
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