Man who knows says Sheffield Wednesday crisis will be 'part of equation' in Hull City battle
Hull City boss Ruben Selles believes the off-field crisis at Sheffield Wednesday will go ‘one of two ways’ in the minds of Owls players this weekend.
The relegation-threatened Tigers will make the trip to Hillsborough to take on an Owls side hoping to grab their first home win in over three months and potentially inject some life into their outside-chance play-off bid. Wednesday sit five points from the top six with seven matches remaining but have half a dozen teams to chase down if they are to pull off a third remarkable end to the season on the spin.
Danny Röhl’s side head into the clash to backdrop of financial trouble that has seen senior players left unpaid for the month of March. It is not the first time cashflow issues have disrupted the story at S6 this season and with supporter unrest growing against Wednesday chairman Dejphon Chansiri, the story surrounding the club is not centred on football at current.
One man who knows all about the difficulties of steering a squad through off-field distraction is Hull boss Ruben Selles, who made the switch from crisis outfit Reading earlier this season.
"Those things can always go in two different ways," Selles said, speaking in his pre-match press conference. "The way that you get that one per cent of attention less, but it's also the way that you want to prove even more that you are a true professional and you want to do things right. I expect that part of the equation and I expect a really good team.
“I understand that the situation with the news that we have from the outside looks difficult, but I also have seen a team that has worked really well during the season, and I expect that team in front of us on Saturday."
In his own pre-match media engagement, Wednesday boss Röhl admitted the situation ‘is not helpful’ with regard to the Owls’ on-field ambitions and spoke about the challenge of channelling energy in the right way heading into the Hull clash.
“Since I’m here we have had this sometimes, and we try to turn it as a team with good performances on the pitch,” Röhl said. “Sometimes we can bring the emotions down… I want to bring positive energy. That’s my challenge, there are different challenges sometimes, but this is part of the job. It’ll be sorted as soon as possible.
“Of course I can understand everyone who is thinking about it and wondering how it is possible. But sometimes there are things we cannot influence, it’s more important that we solve the problem as soon as possible. We have to carry on, make good signals, and since I’m here we’ve had a lot of positive things. We’re a good address for players to come here, and hopefully we can keep growing like this - it’s important for the development of the club.”