Sheffield Wednesday boss ‘honest’ with Owls players even if it needs a ‘difficult meeting’

The German has had to make some tough decisions during his time in charge of the Owls, with one of those being his choice to leave Lee Gregory and Jeff Hendrick out of his squad for the second half of the season despite them being fit to play.

Both of those, as well as Callum Paterson as he returns from injury, are expected to be back in before next week’s registration deadline, and Röhl has spoken previously about how great their attitude has been despite not being in contention to feature.

The Wednesday boss says that being up front about the situation helped matters, and believes that everyone is on the same page.

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"It's about being honest with the players, this is what I've always tried to do, even if it's a difficult meeting with them," he told the media. "You have two ways - you can explain or look for excuses, you can say what they want to hear or you can be straight and say this is the situation, I feel as a human for you but as a manager I have to take this decision. Over five months we've built a spirit.

"When you do this as a manager or as a coaching group, the players know what we demand… If I say something it means the same as when my assistant coach says something because they know we are on one page. The spirit has been great to see but for this you also need the players. They have been open-minded and we are all working in one direction. As a team we want to move forward as a club and achieve our goals. Everybody is committing.”

Röhl also insisted that his door is always open for anyone who wants to discuss matters, and he’s made it very clear that everyone still has a role to play for the remaining games of the campaign.

"There's different ways to lead a group,” he went on to say. “You can make a difficult decision and you say nothing to the players or you speak with respect to the players, give them your opinion and your honest decision and they know where they are. Sometimes this is not easy for a manager because you have to speak in a lot of meetings but I think every human wants to have a bit of feedback or value.

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"When you give them this feeling they will appreciate this much more and they go again. My players know my door is always open. They can come in and for me it's a step forward that the players are brave enough to come to the manager and speak honestly instead of saying nothing. If players just say things to other people, nobody knows what is happening. For me it's about using communication as a leader."

Wednesday are back in action next week when they play host to Swansea City once the international break has come to an end.