Sheffield Wednesday’s Danny Rohl limbo could be damaging but there is little Owls can do..
Sheffield Wednesday are locked in a limbo that only other people can release them from. We can only hope it does not last long.
It is pretty clear to anyone with a passing interest in the Owls that Danny Rohl clocked off long ago but until ties are formally severed, there is a limit to what his club can do. The longer the uncertainty goes on, the more damaging it will be.
WAITING: Sheffield Wednesday manager Danny Rohl (Image: Steve Ellis)
WAITING: Sheffield Wednesday manager Danny Rohl (Image: Steve Ellis)
When, on December 20, Rohl committed to Sheffield Wednesday amid widespread rumours about a return to then and now again managerless Southampton, it was cause for great celebration. In hindsight, it might have been better had he gone.
Rohl staying was only a good thing if his chairman, Dejphon Chansiri, justified it with transfer-market backing. Instead, the two stopped talking until late in the window.
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CHAIN REACTIONS? The departures of Marco Silva (left) and Oliver Glasner from Fulham and Crystal Palace respectively could offer Danny Rohl the opportunity to manage in the Premier League (Image: Warren Little/Getty Images).
CHAIN REACTIONS? The departures of Marco Silva (left) and Oliver Glasner from Fulham and Crystal Palace respectively could offer Danny Rohl the opportunity to manage in the Premier League (Image: Warren Little/Getty Images)
The manager was far from blameless, and has been lobbing hand grenades into press conferences ever since, to the point where his position is close to untenable. But football being football, neither he nor his chairman wants to blink first and pay to bring his expensive contract to an end a third of the way through.
The table since tells its own story.
But until it becomes officially clear, we are in stasis.
Modern clubs can easily sign players without the trivial matter of a manager, but it makes life an awful lot easier if you know his identity, or at least footballing “philosophy”.
The tail can wag the dog, recruiting players to play a certain way before finding a manager who thinks the same, but it certainly limits the field. And even then there are always nuances, always different opinions on certain players.
The risk of throwing money down the drain is even greater than usual.
Not being ready for the start of 2025-26 can have dire consequences at an already unhappy football club.
“If you want to improve as a club, you have to do a lot of things right in the summer, otherwise next season will be a big, big fight to stay in this league because we have a big group of players that are not able to play at this level with my football,” warned Rohl in April. “I do not demand special things, these are basics.”
If that sounded over-dramatic, look at that post-December 20 league position. Is it?
Or look at Hull City, who finished 2023-24 seventh in the division.
Their new coach – Tim Walter – started work on his new approach July 1 and had only made four signings by the time a winless pre-season ended. The Tigers avoided relegation on goal difference after sacking the German in November, after a defeat to Wednesday.
Players signed without proper pre-seasons picked up serious injuries which made the job that much harder for Walter and his successor Ruben Selles.
Granted, the Owls have far more of their key players under contract than the Tigers did 12 months ago, but it is a warning.
Maybe a better example is the disruption after Darren Moore decided in mid-June 2023 he could no longer work with Chansiri. The new campaign started so spectacularly badly under Xisco Munoz it took a manager as good as Rohl to rescue it.
But the frustration is that this is not Wednesday’s fault, or even a situation realistically in their powers to change.
Despite the last five months of damage to his reputation, Rohl is still undoubtedly an outstanding coach who will be greatly in demand this summer.
Chansiri would therefore be daft not to hold out for a hefty compensation package to help fund the post-Rohl rebuild, particularly given how many “cashflow” problems his club has had in recent years. Cutting and running may not be clever.
In his recent interview with RB Live, a website closely linked to RB Leipzig, Rohl “dreamt” out loud about managing in the Bundesliga or Premier League.
Germany’s top division has a weekend left to play, and Leipzig – who have a caretaker coach in Zsolt Low – head straight off on a post-season tour of Brazil to flog some more Red Bull. The Premier League finishes a week on Sunday.
Crystal Palace and Fulham have been linked with Rohl if their own highly-rated managers get poached. Just to confuse matters, Oliver Glasner has been linked with Leipzig. The Owls could get stuck in a chain.
Southampton and Leicester City are known admirers and joining the Championship’s parachute regiment would be a step up from Wednesday, but one short of where Rohl wants to be. Hastily jumping to either of them might seem unwise.
All of which is no good for the club who pays his wages.
The Owls have had 14 really good months and five iffier ones from the 36-year-old but the longer the inevitable is delayed, the more damage risks being done.
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