Dejphon Chansiri to attend Sheffield Wednesday game after Danny Röhl January transfer talks
Dejphon Chansiri is set to attend Sheffield Wednesday’s Championship clash with Burnley this weekend.
The Owls chairman, who is approaching the decade anniversary of his ownership of the club, has been photographed at the club’s training ground this week and on Wednesday evening shared dinner with Wednesday manager Danny Röhl. It is believed to be his first visit to Sheffield since a UK trip that took in ultimately successful May talks with Röhl over a new contract - though he retains a firm steering hand on matters Wednesday from afar.
There seems to be less cause for intense conversation this time around and Röhl was in jovial mood when asked of the nature of conversation between the two. Outline plans for the January transfer window have long since been discussed - the German coach spoke some weeks ago about the club planning ‘two windows in advance’ - though Röhl remained relaxed when discussing the needs and wants going forward. His arrival last October - and that of recruitment chief Kevin Beadell in December - left little time for winter window planning. This time, there is more confidence in what needs to be done.
“Last year it was not so easy to prepare everything for January but now we are in October and we have a clear idea and mindset,” Röhl said. “We have a clear overview of what we need, what we don't need maybe, what we must change. This is helpful, you work from having one year here and you have a feeling for the situation. I had a good conversations with our chairman and with Kevin. It goes in the right direction. In January you know what is possible and what is not possible, but we will try.
“It is on the market, last year we did well with good loans and it was very helpful for us. It could also be the way in January to make a good impact. But we are at the moment too far away to speak about January, you can start at the end of December on this topic! What is important is that we know what we want to do, what we want to improve, what I want to see. But we have to be realistic on what is possible and what is not possible.”
The Star expects Wednesday to do business in January and with the club making successes of loan deals for the likes of James Beadle and Shea Charles, it seems likely this is a market the Owls look to tap into heading into the turn of the year. While focus remains for now on league action, Röhl remains ambitious in terms of pushing the quality of his squad - which he believes has been improved considerably in his two windows in charge.
“This is for me just a start to improve the squad, to achieve bigger goals,” he said. “We know this is not the end for the improvement of our squad and I think it is really important that we have at the top level more and more impact players. We are working on this and this will be the next step. So far we did a good job in the summer, a good step forward and we have a clear idea of what we want to do.
“You cannot do everything in one or two transfer windows and this is a message for us, where we want to go and on this we are working hard. At the moment we have a squad that is very competitive in some positions and this gives me a good feeling.”
Asked what the nature of conversation between chairman and manager has been in the last few days, Röhl described a fairly relaxed couple of meetings. The hope is that the pair - who stay in regular contact when Chansiri is out of the country - are reading from the same menu when it comes to January and beyond. More so, perhaps, than at their Wednesday evening restaurant trip.
He said: “It was a nice meal, some Thai food. I liked it - maybe a little bit spicy! In the morning he was in the training ground. These are normal things, hopefully I can give him a good game on Saturday while he is here. This is what we want to do as a team, to show him how strong we are at the moment. It is good he is here, but we always are still in contact. Nearly every week we speak, sometimes a call, sometimes Zoom. It is normal stuff, sometimes he will ask what is in my mind or my opinion, it all goes in the right direction.”