Continuing in opposite vein to Chansiri can only hold Storch group in good stead at Sheffield Wednesday
Alan Biggs on potential Sheffield Wednesday owners and the early positive signs
Football club owners come in various guises and sometimes disguises.
Some are out there, very transparent; more often they are back there, almost invisible. Both physically and metaphorically, that is, running clubs by remote control and distanced for accountability.
Local stewardship is the wistful, sentimental preference. If only it could be afforded, where once it was standard.
But foreign ownership, the prevalent form these days, need not be all bad.
Indeed, the Storch group closing in on Sheffield Wednesday from the United States seem to be making a genuine and concerted effort to prove that it can be all good.
Time will tell but first impressions are important. Fans rightly want an anti-Chansiri regime and Arise Capital Partners are scoring heavily on that front. By being;-
* Personable and likeable.
* Acknowledging the need for a definite plan.
* Accepting they need outside help on gaps in their own knowledge by consulting “a wide range of experts.”
* Pledging a professional executive structure for day-to-day operations.
* Admitting the club needs a revamp off the field as well as on.
* Owning a responsibility to “deliver” on “promises made.”
Then there’s the favourable impression made on manager Henrik Pedersen who described the prospective new owners to me as “very positive, very exciting … great humans, interesting people.”
Along with all this has come openness and an already long-running engagement with the Wednesday Supporters Trust.
Nothing not to like, even if welcome communication by David Storch on X needs handling with some care further down the line. It’s fine when the message is popular, hazardous when difficult decisions have to be made.
Overall, a great start, including Storch’s personal visits to embrace the club and city. From here, the most vital requisite is not just taking the right professional advice but acting on it.
Dejphon Chansiri made various pretences of doing the same, beginning with a rapidly disbanded football committee, but the only voice he seemed to listen to was his own.
And the respect he sought, nay demanded, for himself was obliterated by the disrespect he emitted towards others, not least the supporters.
The Storches and Tom Costin will find that if they continue in the opposite vein they will gain all the help and goodwill they need to create a football club to be proud of again.
Knowing the fans ARE the club is definitely the way to go.