'Literally everything' - Sheffield Wednesday promotion hero makes takeover plea and slams Dejphon Chansiri
Former Sheffield Wednesday striker Lee Gregory has blasted former chairman Dejphon Chansiri for not investing in the club’s infrastructure and has outlined what he believes must happen under the next regime for the club to move forward.
Former striker Lee Gregory is pleading with prospective owners to draw up a long-term plan to revolutionise Sheffield Wednesday, slamming former chairman Dejphon Chansiri for failing to invest in the club’s infrastructure.
Chansiri’s ten-year reign as owner came to an end last October when he relinquished control of the club by putting it into administration. Years of financial mismanagement and catastrophic decisions contributed to the Thai’s demise, meaning Wednesday are now facing another stint in League One after relegation became official just over a week ago.
Chansiri, after purchasing the club in 2015, set a two-year goal to take Wednesday to the Premier League for their 150th anniversary in 2017. After coming within a whisker of promotion in 2016, losing the Championship play-off final at Wembley, and then falling short in the play-off semi-finals the following year, it was downhill all the way from there.
Last year, of course, was a complete car crash after playing and non-playing staff were rarely paid on time, leading to mounting pressure on Chansiri to sell the club. Ultimately, his failure to do so led to the Owls going into administration for the first time in their history.
Just over four months on, and following the collapse of the James-Bord led takeover bid last week, Wednesday remain in administration and are waiting to discover who will secure the keys to Hillsborough.
Whether it proves to be former Newcastle United owner Mike Ashley, the Storch family or another interested party, the size of the challenge awaiting them is off the scale. And in the opinion of former Wednesday marksman Gregory, who played a key role in helping the club climb out of League One less than three years ago, both Hillsborough and Middlewood Road - the club’s training ground - require so much work that they ought to be pulled down.
“When you talk about what’s needed, it’s literally everything,” Gregory told The Football League Paper. “The stadium is awful. The training ground is awful.
“For a club that big, which has played in the Premier League, the state of the place has to be seen to be believed. And that’s coming from someone who played in Non-League.
“Don’t get me wrong, Hillsborough is an incredible place when it’s bouncing. I played in the 5-1 win against Peterborough, when we came from 4-0 down in the second-leg of the play-off semis, and I’ve never felt an atmosphere like it. It was amazing that night.
“But it’s been left to rot for years. When you look at it objectively - and I hate to say this - the whole thing needs knocking down and starting again. Same with the training ground. And how many people have the money to do that?”
Gregory slams Chansiri for not investing in Wednesday’s infrastructure
After purchasing the club from Milan Mandarić in January 2015, Chansiri, as already documented, set the target of ending Wednesday’s Premier League exile by 2017. To his credit, he put his money where his mouth is and assembled arguably the best squad the Owls have had since dropping out of the top flight in 2000.
However, his mission to get to the Premier League as quickly as possible - a mission which ultimately failed - played a massive role in the situation Wednesday now find themselves in with the club’s infrastructure having been neglected.
“Chansiri’s only plan was to get to the Premier League,” Gregory continued. “He didn’t invest in the training ground, the facilities, the ground, nothing. All he cared about was throwing money at players to get to the Premier League as quickly as possible.
“When it didn’t happen, everything came crashing down. Even though we knew it was coming, it’s been gutting to see. That’s why these new owners - whoever they are - can’t just come in and focus on climbing back up the leagues.
“Because putting money in at the top without building from the bottom is like pouring water in a bucket full of holes, isn’t it? It’ll stay full if you keep pouring. But the second that tap’s turned off, it’ll all come flooding out.
“You just hope that they go ‘Right, let’s concentrate on one thing at a time. Let’s think about ten years or 15 years down the line, not just a two-year fix. It doesn’t matter where we are in the leagues, how many points we’ve got - we’re just going to build this club back up one step at a time. Then, once we’ve got a foundation, we can go for it’.
“And they can, because it’s all there. The fan base, the city, everything - it’s got everything in place to go right to the top. But there has to be a move away from the sort of short-term thinking you had under Chansiri or they never will.”