Dejphon Chansiri slammed “unprofessional” manager after Sheffield Wednesday saga - Ipswich Town were burned in the end | OneFootball

Ex-Sheffield Wednesday owner Dejphon Chansiri was once involved in a war of words with Paul Cook, but Ipswich Town were the real losers of the saga.

After Dejphon Chansiri's departure from Sheffield Wednesday, supporters will be hoping that more stable times will be ahead under new ownership.

Chansiri's turbulent decade-long tenure at Wednesday came to a sudden end in October when he put the club and the company through which he owned the stadium into administration after months of financial and off-field turmoil.

The Owls were hit with a 12-point deduction after entering administration that all but guarantees they will be relegated to League One this season, but Chansiri's exit has been met by celebration from supporters, as well as optimism that brighter days could be ahead for the club, with a takeover deal potentially set to be completed before the end of the year.

Of course, the disastrous final few months of Chansiri's tenure will be his lasting legacy at Hillsborough, but his entire reign was filled with controversial moments, financial mismanagement and poor football decisions that left many fans calling for him to sell long before the recent summer of chaos.

Chansiri did not conduct many interviews during his time as Wednesday owner, but on the rare occasions he did speak to the media, he certainly did not hold back with his opinions, and current Chesterfield manager Paul Cook was one of those to attract the ire of the Thai businessman.

Dejphon Chansiri's bitter war of words with Paul Cook after Sheffield Wednesday snub

Managerial instability was one of the themes of Chansiri's time at Wednesday, with 10 different permanent managers taking charge of the team under his ownership, but the 2020-21 season was one of the most chaotic campaigns of his tenure.

The Owls were hit with a 12-point deduction at the start of the season for breaking spending rules, which was later reduced to six on appeal, and with the threat of relegation looming, Chansiri became more trigger-happy than ever, with Garry Monk and Tony Pulis both being dismissed in the first half of the campaign.

Pulis' departure had certainly been acrimonious, with Chansiri holding an extraordinary two-hour press conference in which he described the Welshman as "trouble" and a "mistake", and the search for his replacement proved to be equally explosive.

Many Wednesday supporters were keen to see former Wigan Athletic manager Cook, who had been out of work since leaving the Latics in the summer, succeed Pulis, and the early speculation seemed to suggest that he was indeed in the running to take over at Hillsborough.

Cook had overseen Wigan's relegation to League One the previous season, but had the club not received a 12-point deduction for entering administration, his side would have finished 10 points clear of the drop zone, and some believed his experience of navigating survival battles, as well as working in challenging off-field circumstances, made him the perfect fit for the Owls.

However, after Cook appeared on a national radio station and appeared to express concerns about the level of control managers were given at Wednesday, Chansiri hit back in a furious rant, questioning the 58-year-old's professionalism and suggesting he would not be able to trust him if he was to employ him.

"I have never talked with Paul Cook," Chansiri told Yorkshire Live.

"I think he is a good coach.

"My colleagues have told me that Paul Cook has been interviewed and was offered a short-term contract. It is not true.

"I think the way he has done things is unprofessional.

"How can I trust and believe someone who is unprofessional and then call them to interview? If you want me to interview, you can do it the correct way but that does not mean to say it outside.

"Paul Cook has never talked with me so how would he know that I do not allow managers to manage?

"You can ask all the coaches who have worked with me in the past and ask them if it is true or not that I don't allow managers to manage.

"If anything, I give the coaches too much authority.

"If they think like that, they should come out and talk to me face to face. It is not fair to me when all coaches have more time to talk to the media. They can say whatever they like. I don't have too much time to talk to the media. It is unprofessional and not fair," Chansiri added.

Ipswich Town were the real losers from Sheffield Wednesday fallout involving Paul Cook and Dejphon Chansiri

After failing to land the Wednesday job, Cook was seen as one of the most attractive managers on the market, and just two months after his Hillsborough snub, he took over as manager of Ipswich Town, with many regarding his appointment as a big coup for the then League One side.

Cook was unable to lead the Tractor Boys into the play-offs in the 2020-21 season as they finished ninth in the table, but with the club under new ownership, he was given strong backing in the summer transfer window as a staggering total of 19 new signings arrived, with many dropping down from the Championship to make the move to Portman Road.

After the influx of new additions, Ipswich were widely tipped to storm to the League One title, but they made a nightmare start to the season as they failed to win any of their first six games, and while their form did pick up a little after that, in truth, their promotion push never really got going under Cook.

It was, therefore, little surprise when the Tractor Boys parted company with Cook in early December after just over nine months in charge, with the Suffolk outfit languishing 11th in the table at the time of his departure.

While Cook undoubtedly underachieved during his time at Ipswich, he did sign many of the players who would go on to help the club win back-to-back promotions under his successor Kieran McKenna, including Christian Walton, Vaclav Hladky, Cameron Burgess, George Edmundson, Sam Morsy, Wes Burns and Conor Chaplin, so his reign cannot be viewed as a total disaster, despite the disappointing results on the pitch.

It would also be unfair to claim that Wednesday benefitted from not appointing Cook as they were still relegated from the Championship under Pulis' eventual replacement Darren Moore, but on the basis of his spell with the Tractor Boys, he would have been the wrong choice for the Owls.