Sheffield Wednesday: This is not about Dejphon Chansiri
Enough has been written about Dejphon Chansiri and his mess at Hillsborough. So this piece is about Sheffield Wednesday Football Club.
Right now the football club remains in crisis. Their embargo has been lifted, but how long until it’s back again? Wednesday aren’t in minus points in the Championship – though that’s likely to change. New signings are limited due to months of financial debacles that have seen players and staff paid late time and again. The North Stand, left neglected, very nearly didn’t make the first home game of the season. Dejphon Chansiri is at the heart of it all. But this isn’t about him.
This is about the thousands of fans who sold out Leicester City away and showed solidarity against the current owner. It’s about those that made the trip to Bolton Wanderers to watch a group of academy lads run their socks off. It’s about the tens of thousands who support the team, not the regime, in whatever way they can – no matter where they are.
It's about Barry Bannan, sticking around despite it all, his love for the club too strong to leave in such a mess. And Liam Palmer, going to bat for those behind the scenes – many of whom he’s known practically his whole life. It’s about Max Lowe, and others like him, withdrawing his notice to stay and fight for a club after seeing what it means to those in the stands.
It's about Henrik Pedersen, turning down offers at fully functioning football clubs because he’s fallen in love with our team, our city. He’s sold it to others, too, in an attempt to keep the group as whole as it can be. “Like our Viking ancestors,” he said. “Stormy seas don’t bother us too much.”
It’s about the staff. Andy Holdsworth, Giles Coke and so many more, stepping up into positions that aren’t theirs in order to help out. The countless others running sessions, putting in the work, often while not getting paid for it. Often not even sure when that money would come.
It’s about those in the ticket office, the megastore, the training ground. Those doing their utmost to keep things ticking over at a club that they love, where what they do is more than job – it’s a passion. Working class people who can’t afford to have their wages go unpaid for one, two or three weeks. Working class Wednesdayites.
It’s about the media team, the guys who run social media, who get battered by the faceless on a daily basis for things out of their control. Who care deeply about their football club, and put in as many miles as any fan. Who are doing their best to make the best of a bad situation, and doing so – like everyone – knowing that little praise will come their way.
It’s about those kids. Those kids that got thrown into the mix against Bolton Wanderers, asked to do a man’s job when half of them haven’t finished growing up yet. Ernie Weaver barking orders, Gui Siqueira finding the top bins, Reece Johnson running himself into the ground. Bruno Fernandes quite literally putting his body on the line for the cause and Pierce Charles simply doing what Pierce Charles does. It’s about Ike Ugbo, captaining them, and Yisa Alao making his debut at 16 – a lifetime younger than teammate, Palmer. It’s about every single smile and fist pump shared between those kids and that away end at the Toughsheet.
It's about us, and our football club.
No matter whose name is listed as owner, ours it will remain. It was here long before Dejphon Chansiri, and will be here a long time after his reign comes to an end. Because what we have can’t be bought, sold or lost. So we’ll wait, and one day the sun will shine on S6 again.
And all we care about, is Sheffield Wednesday.
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