Sheff Wed’s dramatic improvement under the brilliant management of Danny Rohl has had two torpedoes put in its side by the latest explosion of insanity from the club’s mental chairman Derek Chansiri – Jon Hore (@j_ho9) despairs.

How's the season gone for Sheff Wed?

I was pretty optimistic and predicted we’d finish tenth when I spoke to you at the start of the season so, from that perspective, I guess it’s gone about as I expected. Overall, I’m pleased with the progress we’ve made under Danny Rohl this season and it’s nice to be sat here in late January still with an outside shot at the playoffs. One of the most impressive things has been the number of points we’ve picked up from losing positions and there’s been a clear improvement and shift in mentality from previous Championship seasons when it was almost game over if we conceded first. He sets us up well and we’re always hanging in games, although we’re really really bad at defending crosses and just generally lacking a bit of quality in both boxes. We’ve also got an annoying habit of not winning at home against teams below us.

Sheff Wed in the league so far…
Sheff Wed 4-0 Plymouth Lowe 35, Galloway og 52, Windass 82, Smith 90
Sunderland 4-0 Sheff Wed Cirkin 11, Mayenda 15, 47, O’Nien 24
Sheff Wed 0-2 Leeds Aaronson 24, James 48
Millwall 3-0 Sheff Wed Coburn 58, Watmore 71, Cooper 88
Sheff Wed 1-1 QPR Bannan 90 – Lloyd 90
Luton 2-1 Sheff Wed Morris pen 77, 88 – Bannan 52
Sheff Wed 3-2 West Brom Furlong og 9, Windass 23, Musaba 86 – Maja 65, Mowatt 84
Bristol City 0-0 Sheff Wed
Coventry 1-2 Sheff Wed Rudoni 26 – Gassama 45, Charles 90
Sheff Wed 0-2 Burnley Anthony 37, Brownhill 50
Sheff Wed 0-0 Swansea
Pompey 1-2 Sheff Wed Oglivie 44 – Windass 55, Smith 70
Sheff Wed 2-6 Watford Smith 32, Valentin 82 – Porteous 29, Ince pen 52, Bayo pen 58, 67, 85, 88
Sheff Wed 2-0 Norwich Windass 12, Irofa 34
Sheff Utd 1-0 Sheff Wed Campbell 50
Sheff Wed 1-1 Cardiff Bernard 36 – Tanner 34
Hull 0-2 Sheff Wed Windass pen 37, Smith 81
Derby 1-2 Sheff Wed Adams 9 – Bannan 64, Lowe 90
Sheff Wed 1-1 Preston Smith 76 – Riis 14
Sheff Wed 0-1 Blackburn Gueye 68
Oxford 1-3 Sheff Wed Leigh 17 – Windass 28, Lowe 49, Gassama 61
Sheff Wed 2-0 Stoke Windass 52, Paterson 76
Boro 3-3 Sheff Wed Doak 5, Azaz 15, 30 – Ingelsson 47, Windass 54, Valery 61
Preston 3-1 Sheff Wed Riis 29, 79, Greenwood pen 64 – Windass 59
Sheff Wed 4-2 Derby Bannan 8, Windass 61, Gassama 63, Musaba 74 – Yates 68, Adams 90
Sheff Wed 2-2 Millwall Valery 6, Otegbayo 85 – Honeyman 65, Wintle 83
Leeds 3-0 Sheff Wed Solomon 3, Ramazani 88, Tanaka 90
Sheff Wed 2-2 Bristol City Gassama 16, Bernard 53 – Wells 51, McCrorie 86

One win in six coming into this, although that Leeds score was harsh on the balance of play, how are you playing? What can we expect this Saturday?

Our general play hasn’t been that bad but we've been all over the place defensively and conceded so many soft, avoidable goals from lapses in concentration, goalkeeper errors and a massive weakness against crosses, both from set pieces and in open play. Any ball into the box causes havoc and I can’t see any reason that will change on Saturday. Probably worth a fiver on a Jimmy Dunne goal. Shape wise, we’ll set up in a fluid 5-2-3/4-3-3 and defend narrowly. We’re really going to miss Shea Charles though - he’s been recalled from his loan and we have absolutely no-one near his level fit to come in. He’s a pretty complete all-round player and the difference he makes to this team is ridiculous so I’d expect you to be able to dominate the midfield.

Derek's big six-hour fan forum then, what on earth?

Classic Derek. By Wednesday’s standards things were very settled and going very nicely thank you - three points of the playoffs, great young manager, optimistic fanbase, no real dramas - but he’s always got something up his sleeve to rock the boat and this was a classic of the Chansiri disasterclass genre. Quick wrap up of the highlights for anyone who hasn’t read about it:

- Fans have no right to protest, and if they’re not happy they should just not bother coming to games.
- Happy to sell, but it’s not his job to find a buyer.
- Not spoken to Rohl since December. Not his job to make the first move, Danny should come to him.
- No one has given him a list of transfer targets so how can we sign anyone.
- Undermined Rohl at every turn and refused to give him any credit for anything.
- Said he had no concerns about Shea Charles being recalled by Southampton because he wasn’t what they needed. Later disappeared to take a phone call and re-emerged to tell the fans Charles had been recalled.
- Labelled the forum as ‘strange’ because ‘I’m not allowed to say anything’ when the director of comms had to stop him blurting out confidential details of Southampton’s approach for Rohl.
- Told fans they don’t need to know the plan for the future as it doesn’t impact them.

It’s since come out that when approached over a sale last year he wanted £250m for a 70% stake. Rohl was very classy and dignified in his response at the subsequent presser and it’s been reported they met after the Leeds game. Hopefully Danny took his list of targets with him.

What does this mean for Danny Rohl's future? Keeps getting linked with other clubs. Presume you all still love the guy?

Love him to bits, but it looks inevitable to me that he will leave in the summer. The reality is that he’s a very good young manager at a club with limited resources, a squad with bottom six value, no off the field structure, crap training facilities, and a mental owner. Given what he’s achieved already at Wednesday keeping us up last year and kicking on this, and his elite-level coaching background, it’s inevitable that other clubs will be sniffing around and I just can’t see him not leaving in the summer, especially now his relationship with Derek seems broken. Southampton feels like a great fit for both him and them, and they’re one of the clubs that will have the resources to pay his rumoured £5m release clause, so if I had to put a quid on it I’d say that’s where he’ll probably end up.

And January? Feels a bit of a disaster so far. Where to from here?

We’ve definitely had better months and it’s hard to remain optimistic with all the off field stuff that’s been going on and how visibly down Rohl looks and sounds recently. On the field a lot is obviously going to depend on what business we do before the deadline. Rohl and Chansiri have now sat down so hopefully they’ve patched things up temporarily at least and things can get moving in the market. Shea Charles coming back on revised terms hasn’t been ruled out yet, that would be amazing, but if it doesn’t happen we need a replacement for him and we’re also desperate for at least one centre back. If we don’t get at least one of those I’m expecting us to slide down the table.

Longer-term I’m afraid that everything is built on sand and Rohl’s managerial abilities are masking the deficiencies of the squad and the club as a whole. Everything is built on sand, take him and his coaches away and we’re left buying a ticket for the next round of Chansiri’s manager lottery that sometimes hits, but also very often misses (hello Xisco).

Summer Ins >>> Ike Ugbo, 25, CF, Troyes, £2.7m >>> Olaf Kobacki, 22, LW, Arka Gdynia (Poland), £500k >>> Yan Valery, 24, RB, Angers, £350k >>> Max Lowe, 27, LB, Sheff Utd, Free >>> Jamal Lowe, 29, CF, Bournemouth, Free >>> Nathaniel Chalobah, 29, CM, West Brom, Free >>> Svante Ingelsson, 26, AM, Hansa Rostock, Free >>> Ben Hamer, 36, GK, Watford, Free >>> Charlie McNeill, 20, CF, Man Utd, Free >>> James Beadle, 19, GK, Brighton, Loan >>> Shea Charles, 20, DM, Southampton, Loan

Winter Outs >>> Sean Fusire, 19, CM, Carlisle, Loan

Where is the team strong?

Shea Charles has been our best and most consistent player this year but was recalled from his loan and played his last game against Bristol City. There’s apparently still a chance we could get him back, but he leaves a massive hole in the team. Outside of him I’d give honourable mentions to Barry Bannan who still isn’t showing his age, Josh Windass and Djeidi Gassama. Max Lowe has also done really well slotting into the left of a back three, not the role he was brought in for but has really grown into it and added much needed balance on that side.

If the chairman and manager do ever get round to speaking to each other, where does the team need boosting?

Not to keep banging on about it, but Shea Charles recall is a massive blow and we really need some quality in to replace him in centre midfield, someone in the same mould who is mobile and can get around the pitch breaking things up and springing forward. We’re also crying out for a big, nasty, dominating, leader centre back type as we look like a disorganised mess every time a ball goes into the box. To be honest we really need two centre backs but I don’t want to be greedy. Thirdly, goals. We spunked all our summer budget on Ike Ugbo who was brilliant on loan in the second half of last season but has been completely ineffective this, with no goals and no assists in 26 league games. He looks completely shot and devoid of any scrap of confidence. Michael Smith has chipped in gamely but it looks like Rohl doesn’t really fancy him, so ideally we need someone more mobile who can press and link with Windass and our wingers.

Revised expectations for the season?

Boring answer, but it’s very much dependent on how recruitment goes in the next week. With either Charles or a competent replacement, about where we are now. With either of those and a new centre back or two, flirting with the playoffs. Without any of those things, a bit of a slide down the table without ever really being in danger of getting dragged into something at the bottom, despite how condensed the table looks at the moment. It’s been a while since we’ve had a relaxing season without any real jeopardy.

Links >>> Sheff Wed Official Website >>> Sheffield Star — Local Paper >>> London Owls — Blog >>> Owls Talk — Message Board

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Pictures - Ian Randall Photography

Hugey added 15:14 - Jan 24 No goals and no assists in 26 league games you say..?
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DavieQPR added 16:13 - Jan 24 Shea Charles has returned in time to play Saturday.
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TacticalR added 14:06 - Jan 25 Thanks to Jon. Sounds like a madhouse and reminiscent of our time under Briatore and Paladini. Despite this, perhaps due to some miracle-working by Rohl, it seems the team have remained on an even keel and are sitting in mid-table.
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