Sheffield Wednesday need to adapt to Danny Rohl, not the other way round

Regular readers will know this column has never attributed recent tension at the top of Sheffield Wednesday to cash backing alone. I think it’s been much more to do with a way of working, a better way.

If the much-publicised difficulties between owner and manager have now brought them closer together then at least some good has come of it.

Let’s now see it continue to the next window in the summer - that’s the important thing and the acid test of their relationship amid fears of an end-of-season parting.

That’s certainly been my takeaway from both the Owls eventual deadline business and an interesting chat with Danny Rohl following last weekend’s draw with Luton.

The manager’s comments strongly suggested that he regards a closer decision-making rapport with Dejphon Chansiri as vital. Even more significant, I felt, was that he raised the subject rather than being asked directly, albeit that he probably also wished to redress the balance on previous remarks.

Rohl chose to make the point that in recent days there’d been “a good process at the club with the chairman very close.” He added: “We spoke together, I think we made some good decisions and we carry on.”

My theory, for what it’s worth, is that Rohl has wanted the approach streamlined to ensure that transfer calls are thrashed out in tandem by the two top figures at the club. Together.

If the two have compromised to bring each other closer then so much the better. Many voices are involved in transfers. The two most important need to be speaking regularly and calling the shots. Lamentably, we all know that didn’t happen until deep into the January window.

It seems reasonable to speculate that this wasn’t simply to do with how much funding was available. Logically, for better or worse, Rohl needed knowledge of it, or at least to discuss how separate pieces of business would impact on how the window would shape in the round.

This has perhaps proved problematic because of Chansiri’s case by case methods. If you don’t know your budget you don’t want to be blowing that hidden figure on one approved signing if you need four or five.

Again, how can you construct a plan without a budget? Rohl himself publicly floated the possibility of departures and yet once more there was a typical lack of churn, which nearly every other club operates.

In the event, they have made some sense of it all. Even if, as a personal view, I don’t believe this has a bearing on wider general issues on the running of the club, subjected to understandable fan protests.

On the one hand, neither apparent priority - centre back and striker - was resolved. On the other, Stuart Armstrong and Ibrahim Cissoko look quality additions and the outlay to keep Shea Charles represented a major piece of business.

With Rohl so far, the Owls have had an undreamt of relegation escape and now a totally unexpected promotion attempt. It makes sense to adapt to the manager rather than the other way around. He is the leading football expert at the club. Operating in a way that maximises his effectiveness is a no-brainer for the club and everyone involved.

Read more from Alan Biggs: Unprofessional, astonishing fall-out at Sheffield Wednesday could be fixed with one simple appointment