Transfer window exposes Sheffield Wednesday’s lack of structure, direction and transparency under Dejphon Chansiri - Stuart Rayner

Structures are not everything. Huddersfield Town have one and a clear, if austere, idea of how they want to do things, but it did not get them the senior centre-forward they so badly needed on transfer deadline day. Bradford City have interim managers and a chief executive and head of recruitment who only started in December, and still signed nine players.

That in itself does not make it a good window – judgement will have to wait. If anything you can sign too many in the middle of even a normal season where integration is much easier – but first impressions are encouraging.

Having people in key positions is only useful if they have the necessary skills, and the clout to go with their titles. Cash helps too. Not having them at all is unlikely to get you very far.

Gone are the days when you needed a manager to sign players. Coaches like Huddersfield’s Carlos Corberan seem from the outside pretty incidental to the process.

But the Owls have no manager/coach, director of football or chief executive. They are 100 per cent owned by a Thai businessman who through the misfortune of a global pandemic is marooned in his own country. Little wonder the two players they signed were unemployed, one they only released in the summer.

Leeds United could probably have done with a specialist left-back and back-up for Patrick Bamford but their start to the season meant there was no need for panic signings. Mid-season windows are for sticking plasters, summers for longer-term planning.

For those who have the luxury, January is best avoided but stuck in the Championship relegation zone, Wednesday could not afford to stand still as teams around them such as Rotherham United shuffled their packs.

Lavish spending would have been utterly irresponsible – this is a club which has failed to pay its players on time and in full three times during the pandemic – but a Millers-style rejig in search of marginal gains would have been appreciated by the club’s anxious fanbase. Does Andre Green and Sam Hutchinson in for the loss of Aden Flint’s cancelled loan represent that? Time will tell.

There appears to be a lack of football expertise in the Hillsborough hierarchy. “Appears” because as big a problem – the Owls’ opaqueness – means we cannot be sure who is shaping owner/chairman Dejphon Chansiri’s decisions.

To judge by caretaker-manager Neil Thompson’s comments, his input has been minimal. Giving a caretaker undue influence is risky but Thompson is steeped in football, respected at the club and certainly one of its three managers this season – probably the best. In a vacuum of football knowledge, his nous would have helped.

As it is, Chansiri surrounds himself with often anonymous “advisers” whose precise involvement is unclear. His bemusement at the fans’ curiosity is misplaced. This is a club which, particularly after breaching financial fair play regulations, must be more transparent. The 2018-19 accounts remain unpublished. When Chansiri addressed the media in November, they were apparently just around the corner. Ditto December.

“I have many advisers to help with football, commercial (operations), and some both commercial and football when I have questions,” he explained then. “In football they’re going to help with the coach, what type of player the coach wants, and at the end they give information to the coach (about potential signings), like a committee, and it is the coach who chooses (signings).” When there is one.

The money Chansiri has generously propped his club up with is welcome but without football expertise, too much is wasted.

He is more communicative than an increasing number of owners. Those two end-of-year interviews and a recent one-on-one with a local journalist he trusts may not be much but is at least something. However, they often muddy the waters. Unkept promises (a new manager soon, accounts soon) and criticism of supporters are not helping.

Chansiri recently refuted reports he offered Paul Cook the manager’s job, saying he had not even been interviewed. Cook claimed he spoke to the club. It could all be semantics.

Chansiri claimed in December Erik Alonso had been advising him for “over a year”, but Alonso called it “a brief period” when announcing the end of his involvement. References to “forces around the club” and “irreconcilable differences” came with no details, only more murk.

Chansiri needs knowledgeable, accountable football men to hand, and the fans need a clearer idea of how their club is run.

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