A Thai approach to awakening South Yorkshire's sleeping giant - interview

Monday, 19th Oct 2015 21:57 by Clive Whittingham LFW welcomes back Sheff Wed regular Jon Hore for a swift lesson on who the club’s new owner is, who the club’s new manager is, and what Rangers can expect from their visitors on Tuesday. Assess Sheff Wed’s start to the season for us… JH: It was an indifferent start (one win in the first seven league games) as our new players bedded in and the manager fiddled around with the shape and personnel, but things have been a lot better since the end of the transfer window. We've now got a much more settled starting XI and it's showing on the pitch with four wins on the bounce in all competitions as I write this. We're currently tenth and I think we've got to be happy with that at this stage. There's also been a nice little cup run, including a win at Newcastle, which has given us a chance to give most of the squad some decent game time.



Educating QPR fans part one. Who’s the new owner, how rich is he, what grand promises has he made, what do you make of him so far… JH: Dejphon Chansiri, Thai businessman who's earned a hell of a lot of money from tinning tuna. Since taking over from Milan Mandaric he's made a few promises and delivered on them all so far, spending £1m on a new pitch and a bit more to install a shiny new big screen. He's also said he'll do 'whatever it takes' to get us back to the Premier League by the end of next season - it's a big ask but you can't fault the ambition. It remains to seen if he can deliver on that one but the club seems to be in good hands and there is a real stability off the pitch now. His appointment in the summer of a three man 'footballing committee' to handle matters off the pitch didn't seem that popular with the fans (mainly because it included Glenn Roeder), but with the dramatic improvements seen in the strength of our squad you can't really argue with the work they've done so far.

An apparent big bid for Ross McCormack suggests there’s money to spend, or was that just a bit of PR? JH: It looks like there is definitely money to spend if the right player becomes available, and I don't think we'd be afraid to spend big if required. I think the McCormack 'bid' was all just a bit of PR though, it was public knowledge we were in the market for a striker but we're struggling to get one over the line - the Gary Hooper loan saga dragged on for a good couple of weeks - the deadline was approaching and the McCormack news came out of absolutely nowhere. It looked to me like an attempt to show some apparent intent and appease the fans who were clamouring for a 'marquee' signing.



Educating QPR fans part two. Who’s the new manager, where did he come from, what’s he like, what do you make of him so far… JH: When Carlos Carvalhal was appointed I think most people would have been lying if they said they'd ever heard of him, and a look at his CV didn't really inspire much confidence - 12 clubs in as many years in Portugal and then a short stint in Turkey with Besiktas. It was a left-field appointment but the chairman had obviously decided to go down the continental route rather than look for someone with proven championship experience. Carvalhal arrived promising the aggressive attacking football which Chansiri had demanded after he'd been forced to snooze through half a season of Stuart Gray football, and we've definitely been a lot better to watch at home. It's taken a while for him to put his stamp on the team and after our patchy start there were already murmurings that he was out of his depth. But it just shows the fickle nature of the game because four games later everyone loves him and he's got his own song. A very suave operator, he looks cracking in a suit. And loves mountain biking apparently.

Summer transfer activity… Who left and any you were sorry to see leave? Who came in and how are they doing? JH: It's been a very busy summer. Eleven players left but no one you'd find many fans losing any sleep over. Lewis Buxton was one of our better players on his day but couldn't stay fit. Stevie May arrived with great expectations last August but left for Preston on deadline day and I think we did well to get £1m for him. He looks a little bit lightweight for this league and hasn't got the pace to compensate. We've brought in fifteen new faces and counting, and so far most of them have been pretty good. Barry Bannan looks to be a great little signing on a free, and Fernando Forestieri has got obvious class. He's torn us a new one at Hillsborough more than once in the last few years so it's good to have him on our side now, and he's provided the link between midfield and the striker that we were lacking in the first few games. Our bench is much stronger than at any time since our Premiership days.



Best players and weak links in the side? Who’s the boo-boy target of choice? JH: Tom Lees is consistently excellent at the back (the best thing ever to come out of Leeds), and Kieron Westwood deservedly got into the Championship team of the year last year. Kieran Lee has been fantastic this season, he gives us real legs in midfield and is comfortable on the ball, and Bannan has looked very similar. It's difficult to pick a real weak link at the moment, Sam Hutchinson loves a lunging tackle and is a walking yellow card but does a good job shielding the back four whilst trying desperately not to get sent off. It's likely there'll be some rotation of the side for our game though as we've got four games in ten days so you could see a few of the fringe players getting a game. Adthe Nuhiu is the ultimate marmite footballer. He's taken a load of stick over the last couple of years but slowly seems to be winning more and more of the boo boys round. He's got a habit of looking Champions League one minute and Sunday League the next, but in my opinion we're a better side with him in it. Without him we struggle to make the ball stick up top. Short, medium and long term aims for the club? JH: Short-term we need to keep ourselves within touching distance of the play-off places until January, then hopefully strengthen to make a genuine push for the top six. We're still short of a genuine goal scorer. Medium/long-term the goal has got to be to get promotion. It's easy to say and not so easy to do in such a crazy league, but it's what the chairman has demanded so it will be interesting to see what happens over the next couple of seasons. The Twitter @j_ho9 Pictures – Action Images Photo: Action Images



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simmo added 08:44 - Oct 20

Thanks, lovely Jon. It sounds as if Sheff Wens are made for beating us to be honest, I can't see it being much fun tonight... 0

TacticalR added 20:26 - Oct 21

Thanks to Jon.



It feels like Wednesday have been drifting along for ages. I thought Stuart Gray was a stabilising influence, but it sounds as though the fans got bored with him. 0

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