Who is Sheffield Wednesday-linked sporting director David Webb? What has Dejphon Chansiri has said on a potential role?

A surprise report by Sky Sports suggests Webb has been sounded-out by Wednesday as a potential director of football.

Little is known about the former Terriers man, whose joining Hillsborough would represent something of a change in policy by Owls owner Dejphon Chansiri.

We’ve done some digging so you don’t have to..

Who is David Webb?

An ambitious ‘behind the scenes’ type, Webb boasts an impressive CV, particularly for a 43-year-old, having worked in various roles at some of England’s biggest clubs.

Initially having set out to be a coach, he has a UEFA A License but veered off into scouting, player recruitment and has latterly director roles at Swedish club Östersunds FK and at Huddersfield Town.

His early years at the turn of the century were spent in scouting at Crystal Palace, where he discovered Wilfried Zaha among others, before moving onto a similar role at Spurs. By 2007 his achievements had seen him move on to become head of academy coaching at Millwall, during which time he completed a Masters in Sports Psychology at Twickenham University.

A move to a role overseeing talent ID at Southampton’s revered youth set-up followed, before his first first team role, with Eddie Howe as head of recruitment at Bournemouth, where they were promoted to the Premier League.

A switch back to Spurs was next, where as head of elite potential he worked closely with Mauricio Pochettino, before 11 months as technical director at Östersunds and a spell cut short working alongside the Cowley brothers, who he brought to Huddersfield just two weeks after his appointment as head of football operations.

He’s packed a lot in.

What’s this about Wilf Zaha?

Now here’s a story. Webb was working with the academy set-up when he was strong-armed by a young family member to watch a match in the Tandrigde Youth League third division; a level as ‘Sunday league’ as it sounds, muddy pitches and all.

“I was a coach in Palace's academy and my little cousin, who was in the same team as Wilf, badgered me to go and watch them,” Webb told the Daily Mail last year.

“I think he scored four or five goals. We invited him in for a six-week trial and for the first five he didn't play. The coach couldn't get him to do the sessions properly because he wasn't used to it.

“But he's not going to come in and pick up structured training sessions at 10. He won't understand. What he understands is being on a football pitch. He played against Tottenham's academy and scored all six goals.”

Zaha was signed and the rest, as they say, is history.

What other success stories has he had?

Having moved into first team football, he was instrumental in Bournemouth’s success, signing the likes of Callum Wilson, Andrew Surman, Junior Stanlislas and Dan Gosling ahead of their title-clinching promotion to the top tier in 2014/15.

His role in bringing these players to the club while building the philosophy that saw the Cherries spend five seasons in the Premier League has him tagged as the unsung hero in his two years there.

Brought back to Spurs by Pochettino, he was instrumental in bringing in the likes of Son Heung-min, Dele Alli, Toby Alderweireld and Keiran Trippier for rock-bottom prices.

He’s especially big on culture and character, of players fitting into a club’s ‘DNA’. He has been known to scour the social media profiles of prospective players before making a decision on their signing.

In persuading the Cowley brothers to join Huddersfield early last season, he spoke about the need for their profile having to match that of the club; young, up-and-coming, forward-thinking, and expressed the importance of a club’s manager being a good communicator.

Tell us the one about Rudi Völler..

Here’s another belter. When Webb was a student doing his MA while working at Millwall, he set out to write his dissertation on practices at European clubs.

It was an experience that he says began to turn him away from hands-on coaching and towards recruitment.

Having managed to get a placement observing at the German giants, Leverkusen sporting director and World Cup-winning legend Rudi Völler took him under his wing and instead of having him shadow one of the club’s scouts, sent him out on a scouting mission of his own.

On his return, he was asked to present his findings to the club’s recruitment department. His suggestion that character was as important as any key performance indicator prompted an impassioned debate and his life was changed.

What’s Dejphon Chansiri’s stance?

The appointment of a director of football at Wednesday would represent something of a u-turn by Owls owner Dejphon Chansiri.

Speaking just last year, the Thai businessman told Yorkshire Live: “My policy is that I do not believe in a director of football position, I believe in the team. So we have a team that equals a director of football or sporting director.

“I have explained how the recruitment works at our club, it is a collective from our team and I make the final decision financially as chairman. To involve one director of football in that process above the manager is not my policy as I believe the manager should decide who he wants to recruit.

“The manager works with the players every day and picks the team every week, so I believe the responsibility is his. Most clubs do not have a director of football and today it is not a role I will pursue.”

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