So over 5 years ago Sheffield City Council offered me a dilapidated, falling-down Grade II listed building in Hillsborough Park for Age UK Sheffield and, despite having £0 to spend on it, I said yes. Today the finished building was handed to me and I feel a bit emosh 1/5
I’ve spent much the past few years raising £1 million and managing a project to restore this derelict Grade II listed building and bring it back to life. It’s almost surreal to think it’s finally going to be open on Monday and I know
@TheDepotBakery
are going to do us proud 🥲
A vital part of designing a strategy is to honestly evaluate the current status of your organisation, and how it compares to its competitors. In the case of
#swfc
, this process is akin to a drug or alcohol user who can’t get better until they admit they have a problem 1/12
There are a few things I think will eventually persuade Chansiri to look seriously for a buyer - the inevitable financial and football consequences of his appalling decision-making and increasing fan hostility being obvious…but 1/6
So this is the beginning of the end. At a loss of £2m per month it will pretty quickly be administration, bankruptcy, or a cut-price sale. If Adam Shaw or anyone else really has any proper money, now is the time to show it
Dejphon Chansiri has released a statement: “I will not put additional money into the club. If you say you are the owner and I am the custodian, then show me how to be the good owner and help save your club.”
Calls fan protests a “waste of time”.
#SWFC
I can’t tell you what a big thing it is for a Star reporter to do this. Local sports reporters totally rely on excellent relations with the clubs they cover. This piece shows (1) how bad things are at SWFC and (2) that The Star feels it probably doesn’t have much to lose with DC
Accounts, embargoes, managers, tickets, Alonso, Shaw.. relegation. The list goes on and on and on. Sheffield Wednesday has been a shambles for too long, lurching from off-field crisis to off-field crisis.
Enough.
This week's column👇
#SWFC
🦉🔵⚪️
Let’s assume he finally does pull the trigger on Xisco. What manager in his right mind is going to come knowing his salary requests are going to be made public and the chairman is not putting any money in for new players or, possibly, to pay the ones we’ve got?
He is an idiot who has shown appalling decision-making and failure to learn lessons over and over again, but that’s not what makes me cross. What most gets me, and what I think may get to him in the end, is the shame his behaviour brings on our club, himself, and his family name
Thought this was well-judged and well-executed.
✅Visual impact
✅More take-up than I expected
✅Over before the game
Needs to be sustained and built-upon to keep momentum and impact
The right decision. You have to wonder, though, whether it would have been cheaper and all-round better in so many ways just to pay DM what he was asking for
Trying to be objective, and we’ve definitely had the easier draw. But if Italy or Spain had done that tonight and had yet to concede a goal in the tournament, we’d be deeply fearful of them
Of all the things I want to say about what I’ve read about that fans forum, there is one common thread - it’s just his total naivety.
On every topic relevant to owning a football club, it’s as though in over 8 years of near complete failure, he has learned precisely zero
Any relegation hurts. Some can be partially understood - eg. small budget, players not good enough, run of injuries, or generally punching above your weight. But a team without enough heart, on top of money without a soul, is inexcusable
For all of August, September and October, I literally couldn’t see how we were going to score a goal. But now, win, lose or draw, I enjoy watching us play
The puzzling thing for such a successful businessman is that he has literally talked his way into losing his entire investment through administration because any new owner with any sense will wait for that now and pick the club up for nothing in a few months
Chansiri is not going to appoint a CEO. He has made someone up to a COO for appearances’ sake. I’m a CEO. The first thing I want to do is choose my top team, not have them chosen for me
I’m always one for giving managers time. In another place, at another time, maybe it could work for Xisco. But it ain’t ever gonna change for him at SWFC and he needs to be put out of his misery now
Due to the early kick-off my girls can’t get to the
#swfc
game tomorrow so I have 2 spare U18 tickets in the Grandstand. I’m happy to give them away free, hopefully to 2 young people who may not usually be able to afford to go. DMs are open
A few things I learnt from 6+ years working at SWFC, simple tests failed by DC last night
❌Never put a timeline on making key appts. You losing negotiating power and the price goes up
❌Never let a key player or manager go without already having a replacement lined up. Ditto 1/2
Darren Moore looks a decent appointment in the circumstances. Can we all agree we want him to do great and keep us up? And that even if he does that, it doesn’t paper over the cracks of the wider changes that we desperately need?
@JaneEarle87
It has been derelict for decades and there were no public funds or private businesses able to rescue it. We got a Lottery grant to restore it - the project has cost £1 million in total
Amidst all this, if it’s pay day today, my thoughts are with all the club’s office staff, many of whom are on minimum wage with mortgages and bills to pay. I hope they get paid, at least
2/2
❌It's better to under-promise and over-deliver on the pitch than the opposite
❌In a free market, you optimise income by charging what people will pay, not always what you'd ideally like
❌Never criticise supporters. It always ends badly
This is a good piece except there is one thing that I keep seeing written but have never found any evidence for - that DC is a businessman. Apart from his father being worth a reported $575m, I’ve never seen anything to suggest DC knows anything about business in his own right
Looking forward to the architect's tours of this place this morning. I will be with
@timearchitects
showing 120 people around the building this morning and another 120 tomorrow
I feel ashamed every time he issues another petty 2,000 word statement and it is hugely dishonourable the way he has allowed good servants like Darren Moore and Marvin Johnson to be treated 5/6
Nothing will ever beat the in-the-moment feeling of Peterborough and Wembley last season. But if we stay up this season it will be by far the greater achievement. We were dead and buried. From 0 wins in 13 to 13 wins in 31 with almost the same players
A plea about Tom Lees. His form is absolutely horrific. But:
1) He’s been a really good player for us for most of his 4 years
2) His confidence is obviously absolutely shot. It’s not a lack of effort
3) No amount of us slaughtering him is going to improve his confidence
1/2
It is dishonourable to price fans out of going to games and then blame them for not being good enough supporters. I feel ashamed when away fans find out how they they will need to pay to come to Hillsborough 4/6
Sheffield Wednesday held a press conference to unveil Xisco Munoz as their new manager.
Instead, it ended up being the owner, Dejphon Chansiri, ranting about Carlton Palmer for several minutes.
Accepting that’s a dreadful score today:
1)Losing at home to Watford (Brum) and Preston (Plymouth) are both worse results than ours
2)Two wks ago, I fully expected us to be 4pts+ off the pace after Leeds/Ips. I’m taking being 2pts off as a bonus
3)The GD was dead before today
I see a lot of posts and disagreements between fans about what sort of protest to organise - tennis balls, boycotts, etc. I think it’s important to understand that regime change will only happen with a sustained and co-ordinated campaign of action over a long period of time 1/8
That really, really inadvisable Clive Tyldesley video moaning about being replaced as ITV lead commentator by Sam Matterface gets more and more credible every time I’m forced to endure Sam Matterface’s commentary
I’m not saying INEOS will succeed at Man U but it must completely blow Dejphon Chansiri’s mind that after investing £1.3bn their first two moves inside a month are to go for a high quality CEO and then a Sporting Director to entrust their money to
#swfc
Just wanted to put out a short thread after seeing some (understandable) comments about
#swfc
being rotten from top to bottom and everyone being at fault. My overall message - please be kind to the staff 1/x
Some of our
@ageuksheffield
staff are canceling leave and walking for miles between appointments to ensure older people get their shopping today
#proud
Immediate feedback after our first 60 food bags went out today: “The basket this morning has made my day. It has brought tears to my eyes.” Massive thanks to
@CFOAlexJohnson
and
@SYFR
for the donations and
@ageuksheffield
volunteers who delivered
We’ve been so excited about the Coach House but, you may ask, what does a cafe in a heritage building have to do with an older people’s charity? Well, the Coach House is only 1/3 of the story. It’s time to introduce you to Gathering Ground. 👀for more on this excitement next week
I just voted in the
@SWFCTrust
ballot of its members about applying to register Hillsborough stadium as an Asset of Community Value. This is great work, and the Trust has also published some excellent research on ticket prices
“Experts don’t know more than me.” This is a big problem for any organisational leader. I’m a Chief Executive. Every day I make mistakes. I learn from them. They make me better. Things will never get better for Chansiri while he believes he’s always right
#swfc
#swfc
DC on FFP: “Some don’t try to believe what I say. Experts don’t know more than me. Every club in the Champ, if you spend money and you stay in the same League then you’ll eventually break FFP rules. If I don’t spend you run the risk of relegation.”
About a third of the way through the international break and our new manager, whoever it’s going to be, has already lost hugely important days of training to get to know the squad and get his intended playing style drilled into them. What is the delay?
For anyone who blanket criticises the club’s communications, this and other similar recent stories shows the comms team is totally on it with things they can control
Wednesdayite Richard Parker is soon to undergo a procedure to remove the lower part of his right leg. It’s a result of an injury during his time in the army in Iraq
But first, on Richard’s bucket list is to score in front of the Kop! See how he got on 👇
#EFLDayofAction
|
#swfc
1. Chansiri will never change
2. He will never want to sell without getting his money back
3. A credible buyer needs to be found for £20-30m
4. Once 3 happens, fans are going to have to create such an unpleasant, hostile environment that he has no option but to sell
Genuine Questions: Are the majority of fans agreed that we need major change at our club? What change needs to happen? How do we make that change happen?
#swfc
Welcome to all my new followers who are interested in the
@ageuksheffield
Hillsborough project. We’re opening our 2nd and 3rd
#Dementia
Wellbeing Centres there and at Botanical Gardens in Feb, and are now recruiting LOTS of roles. Please spread the word:
I can forgive making terrible decisions and trusting the wrong people, these are human failings. What I can’t forgive is the huge dishonour he has brought, and continues to bring, on our club and our fans 3/6
Time for calm heads on and off the pitch at
#swfc
. 10 more points is enough as long as we beat Wycombe. Tomorrow will help but it isn’t a deal breaker if we lose. It’s the last 4 games that really count
Yep some credit for the second half goes to Röhl. But that first half abomination and the overplaying from the back is on him too. He has worked a miracle for us and has plenty of credit in the bank but he isn’t untouchable. Beadle was our best player BTW.
We must have signed around 100 players during my time at SWFC. Only once did I get an email from the supporters club of the side a player had left, asking me to pass on their thanks and best wishes to the player we’d signed
Sheffield Wednesday have lost a good football man in Lee Bullen. But they’ve also lost a great human being.
Spoke to the man who brought him to S6 and two people who - in their own words - he helped save their life.
An ode to Bully👇
#SWFC
🦉
This is precisely the dilemma facing Wednesday and why I would still prefer the improbable scenario of Chansiri finding a way to bring himself back from the brink
It was a real pleasure to show Sheffield Council Leader
@CllrTerry_Fox
and CEO
@katejosephs
our
@HeritageFundUK
Coach House and Bradbury Makers Shed development this morning, along with local Councillors
@CllrGeorge
Josie Paszek and Christine Gillian Kubo
An exciting day in store, showing prospective building contractors around the Old Coach House in Hillsborough Park. We’re expecting work to start in the New Year
3) My criticism has always been that he has wasted all this spending thru horrific decision-making & failure to entrust professionals with football and business operations
4) His ongoing failure to learn this (exhibit 72479 the Jan transfer window) will be his undoing in the end
The sad thing that has hit home with me this morning was that thoroughly abject performance in an important game was only the second-worst thing to happen to our club yesterday
I would love it if, just one time after a referee was called to the monitor, he would watch it in real time and then tell the VAR to fuck off and never be so stupid ever again
A bit of personal news. I am delighted to say my Trustees at Age UK Sheffield have agreed to second me, part-time (2 days a week) to the national charity Age UK from next week 1/3
There is an important factor which I think needs some focus - the concepts of honour and shame which, in my experience, are especially important to SE Asian family cultures 2/6
Absolutely wild that the Hillsborough Park Coach House was highly commended against some amazing competition in the Sheffield Design Awards last night
#sda2022
Not quite the most important election of the past week...but I’m honoured to have been elected Deputy Chair of the Age England Association. Important times for the Age UK network. We need to be in the best place to serve older people in the coming decade
Kids, treasure these times. The first two World Cups I remember are 1986 (QF) and 1990 (SF). I thought it would be like that every time. It isn’t. We might have a very long wait for the next one
Exclusive: Sheffield Wednesday players have been stunned by a request from the club to be furloughed following their relegation from the Championship |
@mcgrathmike
&
@JPercyTelegraph
4 comments on these numbers:
1) The argument that he hasn’t put in enough of his (dad’s) money is wrong. They have put in huge sums
2) It can’t be any surprise that he (his family) is turning off the taps based on what that spending has(n’t) achieved 1/2
As requested by Owl
@davidhaslehurst
a summary of Sheffield Wednesday's finances over the last decade...ish. Club now has accuumulated losses of £132m despite selling the stadium to the owner at a £38m profit
#DejphonChansiriFootballGenius
To be clear, I’m not in the camp which wants DC to sell. He has proven he has access to genuine money, unlike most other chancers who want to run a football club. I just wish he would learn lessons and trust his money to senior staff who can help him to use it wisely
We're super-excited to announce that our partners who will be operating The Old Coach House cafe in Hillsborough Park will be
@TheDepotBakery
. Read more details here:
For player recruitment, we need to sign younger, hungrier players who are desperate to run through walls to fight for our shirt. And as supporters to we need to get behind them 100%, and help them to make us better, even though they’re not as skilful as we want them to be 10/12
Graduated today from the excellent
@BayesCCE
, achieving an MSc Charity Accounting and Financial Management with Distinction. I would highly recommend their charity Masters degree programmes 👍
Shocked and saddened that John Lewis
#Sheffield
is closing. Aside from the retail impact, they have provided an amazing amount of support to my charity and others in the city. This goes unnoticed by most but will be a sad loss to our community
Amazing news! Our Coach House Project in Hillsborough Park has been given the go ahead! We are so thrilled! A big thank you to
@HeritageFundUK
&
@SheffCouncil
for the incredible support & a huge thank you to the public who have supported this project!
A Gofundme has been set up and already has £580 raised from 11 donations.
I urge you not to pledge your money to this.
If Chansiri is asking for money from fans this needs to be done legitimately… not via a Gofundme setup by an individual.
#SWFC
•
#WAWAW