Chris Powell speaks out on the state that Sheffield Wednesday is in after leaving the crisis club earlier this summer.
The former Sheffield Wednesday coach spoke of the chaos behind the scenes describing a severe lack of communication and clarity from the ownership, with no board of directors, CEO, or sporting director to bridge the gap between players, staff, and owner Dejphon Chansiri.
Powell noted that players and staff faced unpaid wages for months, causing uncertainty and stress, with no direct contact with Chansiri during his 20-month tenure.
The club’s dysfunctional structure, coupled with issues like the North Stand’s closure due to structural concerns and a lack of investment, has led to fears for the club’s future.
Players like Josh Windass and Michael Smith have left due to unpaid wages, and Powell expressed concern about the club’s stability, though he believes its stature may attract investment.
The lack of transparency, especially regarding potential sales or fixture fulfilment, has left players, staff, and fans in the dark, creating a sense of helplessness and frustration. Have a watch of the video below…
Mark Chapman: Chris, thanks very much for talking to us. How difficult individually and how difficult collectively have the past few months been?
Chris Powell: Well, to be honest, Chappers, I’ve got to start off by saying I’ve just left a wonderful football club in many ways. I’ve said it to many people that it’s the most functional, dysfunctional football club I’ve ever been at, ever. The support and what the football club means to the community is… I didn’t realise until I joined, what, just 20 months ago. But particularly the last few months, maybe from about March, when that was the first time players and staff hadn’t been paid. You just felt a little bit uneasy with what the future might entail. But we carried on. We didn’t play particularly well the last few months. But the players, to be fair to them, got through the season, finished mid-table. We could have. We had a real critical time in January where we maybe a little bit of investment or just, you know, I’m talking about investment when there’s no money, but we just needed a player or two to really enhance where we were. I think we were eighth or ninth at that time. Didn’t happen. And then I believe the relationship really broke down between Danny and the owner. And then it all pointed towards a sort of parting of the ways. But then I think what’s still coming out now, I haven’t been into the training ground for a number of weeks, is the lack of clarity and communication at the time. And to be honest, Mark, there’s no one to speak to. So this is the thing, the actual structure of the organisation doesn’t lend itself to actually having a layer of sort of communication between players, manager and the ownership. There’s no board of directors. There hasn’t been a CEO there for a number of years. There’s no, as it is these days, a sporting director.
Mark Chapman: So there’s none of that, Chris. There’s no kind of executive level between head coach and owner and chair.
Chris Powell: No, no. So the club… We brought in a consultant for head of recruitment, really, really good guy who helps out Danny and the coaching staff really well. But the actual, there’s no board of directors. So the club is run by the owner, Chansiri. And there’s a consultant who’s sort of his link and the club’s secondary. That’s it. That’s it.
Mark Chapman: So if there was a month and there were several months of not getting paid, who do you ring?
Chris Powell: No one. There’s no one to ring. There’s no one to speak to. Now, it all falls on the shoulders of maybe the club’s secretary. That’s very difficult for her. She’s very good. And HR. I mean, basically, people will get an email saying, We know times are hard and it’s very difficult. We’re trying to resolve the situation, but that’s it. Mark, I haven’t spoken to anyone.
Mark Chapman: And also, Chris, that club secretary will have their own issues with not being paid.
Chris Powell: Absolutely.
Mark Chapman: I’m guessing.
Chris Powell: Well, I would guess the same. But we eventually got paid, turn it back March, a few days into April. But then it was really when it happened in May and then June that then you actually realise that there’s something serious going on. He’s been there 10 years and the lack of communication. So going back to that, the players then, as you can imagine, they just want some answers to a few questions. And I suppose what they’re looking at is who do we speak to? But then normally, and I’ve been a player many years ago, you would speak to the manager who would then… I’ve been in it myself many years ago as a manager. Didn’t get paid when I was at Southend. And of course, then it was on me to speak to the owner and chief exec. But at Sheffield Windsor, you have no one. And the owner primarily, if he speaks to anyone other than the two people I mentioned, he would speak to the manager himself or the captain, Barry Bannan. Maybe Liam Palmer, who’s been captain, been there since he was seven. He’s now in his 30s. He’s a one-club man, for sure. But he wouldn’t speak to anyone else. I never spoke to him in 20 months. Not once. And I, you know, whether that’s culturally, whether that’s just his way of working, I don’t know, to be honest. But, it’s just very difficult. And you’ve got to imagine they’re young men and not sure where to turn to. And it’s been a stress for them. Even though my contract was over at the end of June, I popped in on the first day of pre-season with a number of other staff members just to lend some support. There wasn’t much we could do, but, you know, I said to them, we haven’t spoken to anyone. So come the 1st of July, we’re walking away. So it’s been a very stressful time for those players, for the support staff, for that football club. Brilliant people who embraced me from day one. But you feel helpless because you want to help them, Mark. But there’s not much you can do.
Mark Chapman: Are you fearful for the club?
Chris Powell: I am, but I truly believe it won’t get to that stage yet. I believe a club of their stature will be able to attract some sort of investment. I’m led to believe there has been some people trying to acquire the club, but I don’t know where that gets to. I believe the EFL have made a statement recently about they’ve made contact with advisors of Chansiri to almost force a sale through other reading in that sort of So I’m fearful when I see players leave because obviously when you’re not paid two months in a row, then you can hand in your notice. We’ve seen that with Josh Windass, Michael Smith. I believe you may see that again in a week or two that another player or players will leave, will do the same thing. They’re fearful for their futures because they’re not sure exactly what the future actually holds for the club. So they made a statement last week with the Burnley guy. But I know that the players that are there, they will play in the game against Leicester. They will turn up for sure because they feel they have to. They have to make a stand that actually we’re still going to play for the club and we’ll see what the future holds.
Mark Chapman: I mean, you mentioned the Reading situation. I mean, Reading, the fear, I would imagine, if you’re a Sheffield Wednesday fan, is that Reading went to the brink several times, didn’t they? And constantly had points deductions and wages not being paid. And it took the very final, very, very final chance, probably, to get that club sold. I mean, I was going to ask you, do you… But you haven’t talked to him, so you will have no idea, really. You know, the reports are that he’s willing to sell, but offers haven’t been accepted, have they?
Chris Powell: No. But no one knows, Mark. This is, I suppose, the real upsetting part of all this is that actually it’s the not knowing. It’s the not knowing. Not knowing if you’re going to get paid, not knowing if it’s going to be sold, not knowing if we can fulfil a fixture. It’s the not knowing for the players, staff and the supporters because they turn up in the droves, Mark. I mean, I’d be amazed if Sunday’s game is not sold out. Yeah. But maybe because it’s an away game, they feel that they can all go. I dread to think what the atmosphere will be like the first home game with the North Stand apparently possibly being closed. Yeah. Because it makes a noise, the fans there. So it’s still not going.
Mark Chapman: Just to give people an indication. So that North Stand is an enforced closure because of its, we are told, because of its structural integrity. Fans have bought season tickets in that stand, but they haven’t been told what’s going to happen to their seat. So there are fans in the dark there. It’s over 9,000 capacity stand. So that’s an important stand. If you just bring it down to football and support, it’s important for the players and the club. But it’s just another… I mean, that place would… will seethe with anger, I’m guessing, at the first home match. And also confusion.
Chris Powell: Yeah, I mean, I can’t speak for them all, Mark. But what I do know from my time there, it is an important stand. It’s very vociferous. They make themselves heard, especially at kick-off, but during the game as well. So they’ve partied with their hard-earned money to watch their team, but where are they going to sit? And you can imagine, Mark, a lot of people sit in the same seats for years. They sat with their dad, their parents, their granddad, other family members and friends. And now they’re going to move. But to where? Do you move behind the goal? Do they put you in the away stand? And obviously they’re trying to do that now. I’m sure they are. I’m not sure who’s leading that, but they’re doing that. But it’s just a real bizarre situation. And the lack of investment now over the 10 years. Initially, I know he definitely spent money to get in the playoff final and got in the playoffs very early on. But then I suppose when Darren Moore, when the team went down, when actually they should have stayed up, Darren Moore did a great job. But because the stadium was sold in the wrong tax year, financial year, and he sold it to himself, they had a points deduction, which invariably brought them down. But Darren Moore, again, got them back up. As we all know, the game against Peterborough, the semi, and then Barnsley. Two weeks later, he’s gone. Now, that in itself will tell you, well, the manager has brought you up. Surely, he’s got the club and the team and the supporters exactly where they should be. He leaves and you know, then the decline and the lack of investment into the training ground, into the stadium, obviously with the North stand, but countless issues just then slowly the lack of plan or vision really then has got the club to where it is now. It’s so, so disappointing. And I’m not even a supporter of 40 years.
Mark Chapman: You’ve been round the block a few times.
Chris Powell: Speak for yourself, Chappers.
Mark Chapman: Are you, and you mentioned Southend there, and we’ve mentioned Reading. Morecambe are on the brink in the National League at the moment. Spoken about Sheffield Wednesday. I recall the Shrewsbury owner last year under a lot of pressure saying football clubs can’t be owned by local businessmen or businesswomen anymore. I know Chansiri isn’t local in that sense. Are you… Are you surprised? And yet we’re told PSR is meant to be making… The Premier League is meant to make everybody financially responsible. It’s meant to be an independent regulator. Fit and proper persons, all of that. I can’t work out whether we should be surprised that this situation doesn’t happen more or whether we should be furious that this situation happens at all. Maybe it’s both, I don’t know.
Chris Powell: It’s a good point, Mark, because I think they know football in itself is quite a unique business in how it’s run, how it’s supported. It shouldn’t be supported by one person and you’re reliant on that person. I don’t believe that. Because as is happening now, the minute they say, I’m bored of this or I’m not prepared to put any more money into it and I’m in debt and I’m borrowing from Peter to pay Paul. It just shouldn’t happen. But we’ve accepted it. We have. Over the years, we have. Because of maybe the riches that could be earned, especially coming out of the Championship to the Premier League. But I think if you have a plan, and people may scoff at what Wrexham have done and what Birmingham are doing. I live in the Midlands, so I see it all the time. But both clubs have actually had a plan, and they’ve been hurt at the start. Wrexham missed out on the playoffs initially. Birmingham got relegated.
Mark Chapman: Yeah.
Chris Powell: They’ve both had a plan, whether it’s commercial, like Wrexham, and rightly so, and Birmingham have a billionaire owner. But obviously he has a plan to be at the very top. But he’s doing it that actually we’re going to invest in the team. We’re going to invest into the community, into the structure of the stadium, the training ground. So actually, when you see it, I think you buy in. I really do, Mark. I think the people of Birmingham would have been sceptical originally. But then actually, when they’ve seen all these changes, they’re actually seeing that someone is doing something for them. I think football has eaten itself a lot in respect of people come in, they flash the cash, they pass their test. And I know that the test has changed somewhat in the last 10 years.
Mark Chapman: Yeah.
Chris Powell: There’s now a regulator, but they really need to start banging heads now. They really need, because we can’t keep having every year. And Mark, let’s be frank. It’s Sheffield Wednesday and Morecambe now. It quite easily could be another Championship, League One, League Two club in six months’ time. Next season.
Mark Chapman: Oh, yeah.
Chris Powell: So, actually, for me, it’s a tipping point. It has to be. We’ve seen it too often with Bolton, with Reading. We’ve seen it too often with Wigan. It shouldn’t happen. It just shouldn’t happen. And we have to cut our cloth accordingly. But what happens is… when you’re allowed to spend, when you have PSR, when people get around it, when they sell hotels to themselves or do whatever they have to do to get around it, then there comes a point where you can’t do it anymore. So what’s next? You have contracts to fulfil and they’ve been signed. But then the minute you don’t pay someone to do their job, whether it’s on the pitch or off, you have a problem. Because you may not invest in the community. You may not be from there. But actually, I mentioned Birmingham and Wrexham. I know everyone, you know, there’ll be people that don’t like what they’re doing. But actually, they’ve gone, we need to buy into what this area means to the people, what this football club means. But Chansiri hasn’t done that, Sheffield. That’s quite clear. Quite clear.
Mark Chapman: Chris, not the greatest circumstances to chat, but it’s lovely to see you. Hopefully see you soon. Take care.
