Marvin Johnson fires warning to prospective Sheffield Wednesday owner as he lifts lid on Dejphon Chansiri era
Marvin Johnson has warned the next owner of Sheffield Wednesday will need to have their “eyes wide open”.
A popular figure during his Owls days, Johnson was part of the Wednesday squad promoted from League One in 2023.
Between 2021 and 2025, the versatile wideman amassed a total of 169 appearances and registered 30 assists.
Off-field turbulence at Hillsborough only worsened following his exit, although Dejphon Chansiri was ousted as owner in October. Following a protracted process, American businessman David Storch has secured preferred bidder status and is working on a deal to take the club on.
Marvin Johnson on Sheffield Wednesday’s future
Johnson, who has been unattached since his Port Vale exit in January, told The Football League Paper: “I do think any investor needs to go into it with their eyes wide open. It can’t be about getting a return at this stage.
“For me, I’ve always said it needs a die-hard football fan that just wants to own a football club no matter what and has got so much money they can throw into the club without a care in the world and do whatever needs to be done. But that’s easy to say, isn’t it? It’s a lot harder to find.”
Chaos under Dejphon Chansiri
Johnson is all too familiar with the difficulties endured during the dying embers of Chansiri’s time at Hillsborough.
Wednesday were targeting the Championship play-offs last season, only for the wheels to come off their campaign amid off-field uncertainty.
Johnson said: “Even when the owner did have a chance to make money by selling players, he refused. He just let people see out their contracts, which didn’t make sense to anybody.
“The hardest bit for me was not getting paid. We’d have team meetings about it, saying, ‘lads, listen, if we don’t get paid by the next week, we need to make a stand’.
“But on the flip side of that, either we stand against one man, or we basically let 25,000 people down that are coming to watch the game. In the end, we always thought, ‘well, he’s not with us but the fans are, so let’s just try and ride through it’.”