Henrik Pedersen in passionate call to new Sheffield Wednesday owners after 'necessary' Dejphon Chansiri exit
Sheffield Wednesday manager Henrik Pedersen is looking forward to a bright future for the club after administaration brought about a ‘necessary’ end to Dejphon Chansiri’s failed management.
Wednesday have been in the clutches of crisis for months, with basic financial obligations having been left unpaid by Chansiri. The club’s immediate management and a subsequent sales process will be managed by a three-person team of administrators from Begbies Traynor LLP, with no further involvement from the Thai. A symbolic moment saw club staff begin to remove white seats bearing the former chairman’s name less than an hour after administration was confirmed.
Beyond the uncertainty of several off-field matters, the club had been hit with a 12-point deduction at the foot of the Championship table, leaving their survival hopes looking further stretched. Pedersen was in no mood to wave the flag on their efforts in a press conference that took place in the hours after administration and instead spoke with an enthusiasm about what the club can achieve going forward.
“I am 100 per cent convinced Sheffield Wednesday will have a bright future,” said the Dane. “It has been a tough period, but sometimes you have to come so deep that you can’t go deeper, you can change and then you can start to look forward. It was necessary what happened here. We couldn’t continue with the situation.
“I can feel the players, the staff, the coaches, everyone is looking forward to the future. Of course I hope and believe there will come some great owners, who have big respect for the club and the traditions of the club. Then we can build up a new and great Sheffield Wednesday.”
Prospective new buyers have already been in contact with administrators to lodge an interest in acquiring the club. Pedersen joked that he was hoping for ‘rich’ new owners to step in, but made absolutely clear that wealth alone will not turn Wednesday into the club it can be.
“When you take only from the fans, we are top of the Premier League,” he said. “We are fantastic here. But to dream big we also have to understand where we are now. It is so important for the future of Sheffield Wednesday that we do not work from day to day. It is about who we are today, who we want to be in the future and how to connect the two. We need to work with a clear, clear strategy.
“We have to work everyday to use the fantastic potential we have in this fantastic club. The potential is one thing, but with money alone is does not come. Hard work with strategy is better. We have to combine these things and I am sure we will do it and the future will be fantastic for Sheffield Wednesday.
“We have to understand where we are, there is a lot of work to be done now, not after January 1. We have to be top and keep on going with all the work we are doing. Hopefully we can get some players to support the group here now and keep going. Of course it will be tough to survive, but it is still possible.”
It’s generally accepted that Wednesday’s infrastructure requires a great deal of investment by the high standards of modern football, but both Pedersen and skipper Barry Bannan described an opportunity to build a new future for the club around its passionate fanbase. Speaking about the potential of a club that has not made a return to the Premier League since relegation at the turn of the century, the Dane smiled.
“I have only been here two and a half years, but many people have been here their whole lives,” he said. “The fans are number one, for sure. I have never experienced fans like this before in my life. Their support, everywhere we go, is amazing. My assistants tell me that it doesn’t matter where you go in England, there are Sheffield Wednesday supporters everywhere.
“I think the supporters and the humans in the club, there is a lot of quality here. There is a lot of quality in the small group of players, there is a lot of quality in the staff, coaches. This club, with this tradition, with this potential? It is so important. Money is one thing, but the strategy and the understanding and respect for Sheffield Wednesday? We have to be a new Sheffield Wednesday with our own heart.
“We have to keep this understanding because we have such a fantastic club. It deserves to grow now and I am really looking forward to this.”