Sheffield Wednesday captain Barry Bannan issues fresh plea to "unseen" owner Dejphon Chansiri | OneFootball

The Owls captain has spoken honestly about the club's dismal off-pitch situation

Sheffield Wednesday captain and modern-day icon Barry Bannan has issued a brutally honest assessment regarding his lack of communication with controversial owner, Dejphon Chansiri.

The Owls are, unarguably, one of the biggest clubs outside the Premier League, yet have rarely threatened to end their hiatus from the top level of English football ever since suffering relegation at the end of the 1999/00 season.

As such, at least two generations of Wednesdayites have only known the Steel City side as a Championship or League One side, with many predicting the club to fall back into the third tier at the end of the season due to several instances of mismanagement in recent years of the Thai businessman's tenure in the Hillsborough boardroom.

Many of the club's key performers departed the club for cut-price deals or free transfers in the summer after the continuation of delayed wage payments, as well as Danny Rohl confirming his anticipated departure from S6 just nine days before the beginning of the season amid the cancellation of pre-season friendlies.

Henrik Pedersen has since attempted to galvanise a threadbare squad with a handful of senior professionals, such as Bannan, under the backdrop of individual worries when it comes to wages, transfer and registration embargoes and the looming possibility of administration due to the required repayment of a £7.3m loan.

The 35-year-old has been the constant link between two strong seasons at the start of Chansiri's reign - although both would end in play-off heartbreak - and the present, where Wednesday's existence remains in jeopardy.

Since joining on a free transfer in the summer of 2015, Bannan has pulled on the blue and white stripes 455 times across the decade, scoring 36 times and posting a further 72 assists, with his latest strike being a sublime free-kick in Saturday's surprise 2-0 win away at Portsmouth - a first in the league this season.

The Airdrie-born stalwart echoed his commitment to the club by signing a new contract extension on August 2nd, and has since started all six Championship games, which included a red card for a second bookable offence on the opening day at Leicester City.

Yet, when revealing what goes on inside the Hillsborough walls on a day-to-day basis in such a crisis, Bannan admitted to Alan Brazil and ex-Aston Villa teammate, Gabby Agbonlahor, on talkSPORT, that he has had very little communication with Chansiri in recent times.

"We've not seen the owner for a while. He obviously lives in Thailand," Bannan said. "It's quite difficult.

"As I've touched on in previous interviews, there's no real middle person to get to the chairman. I have to speak to the secretary if I want to ask the chairman questions that need to be answered," the 27-time Scotland international stated.

"We've not really got a job role for somebody that should be the middle man between us and the chairman. We have to go through the secretary, but it's not her job either.

Agbonlahor, who featured eight times on loan at Hillsborough in 2005/06, then referenced how the fans have been deprived of relative success in recent times, with Bannan responding: "That's the issue here. The fans, as you've spoken about, are unbelievable.

"It's a massive, massive club. The fans have sold out every away ground so far this season. Obviously, at home, it's different because there are protests, and they're trying to get their point across.

"They don't deserve this, they definitely don't. Us as a group of players and the staff don't deserve it either. Something needs to get resolved and soon, because it can't keep going on like this," the Wednesday skipper added.

Barry Bannan will hope to spearhead Sheffield Wednesday survival against the odds

It was a morale-boosting success at Fratton Park last time out, with Bannan and George Brown striking either side of the break to get the Owls off and running in terms of league wins for the campaign, after previously earning a credible 2-2 away draw at Wrexham.

As he alluded to, the club has one of the most passionate, loyal and vociferous sets of away supporters, which has certainly played a part in the accumulation of four points from three away trips, whilst the apathetic atmosphere has been reflected in three defeats without reply at the hands of Stoke City, Swansea City and Bristol City.

Whatever happens this season will not change Bannan's legacy at the club, having stood by Wednesday in thick and thin, but it would only elevate his status if he was to captain the side to a relegation escape against all the odds.