Sheffield Wednesday: Togetherness on the pitch is being matched off it - Alan Biggs' Column

Whether the promotion push succeeds or not, financial uncertainties abound at Sheffield Wednesday and we have no way of knowing whether they are well founded or not.

Or whether the owner is open or not to selling up.

But what I think we can be sure of from observations behind the scenes on match days is that the club still has a strong beating heart, perhaps more than ever.

If supporters are the most important people around any club then the rank-and-file staff who work for it come a very close second.

There’s been this perception that at Hillsborough they’ve become as disillusioned as the fans and certainly there has been a high turnover in key positions under Dejphon Chansiri.

But many of them are Wednesday fans themselves and my recent impression has been very different to the above.

Whether Chansiri has changed his modus operandi we can’t be certain, although Darren Moore would appear to have had a more decisive influence on team affairs than previous managers.

And there has been no hint of any underlying dissatisfaction from Moore, which again is different.

But, while the club’s fortunes remain in a precarious state, I’ve detected an energy and enthusiasm from staff that can’t be false.

There has been much to criticise, and rightly, from this regime. Right now, though, the onus from staunch backing is on the team and manager to deliver.

I think it’s a responsibility shared by many people behind the scenes at what is their football club.

People like Liam Dooley and James Todd, who lead on the business and commercial side, come across as energised figures, clearly optimistic for the future.

The bigger issues cannot be controlled. You couldn’t exactly blame Chansiri if he wanted to cut his losses, running into hundreds of millions of pounds, and sell the club, albeit that his valuation of it might prove challenging or even prohibitive.

However, my feeling is that he is fully invested in this promotion push. Were it to succeed, I’d be surprised if he didn’t want to have another shot at reaching the Premier League, personal resources permitting.

Falling short could tip the balance the other way. But that won’t be for the want of trying by those in the dressing room and the offices at Hillsborough.

And certainly not by remarkable average support of over 20,000.

There’s a lot of will, on and off the pitch, to find a way. And I’d include the owner in that