What Lee Gregory has said about Dejphon Chansiri's Sheffield Wednesday reign - Hillsborough concern raised | OneFootball

Lee Gregory has spoken out on the situation at Sheffield Wednesday and has placed complete blame on the shoulders of Dejphon Chansiri.

Sheffield Wednesday have now lost 12 consecutive games in the Championship, and with every passing week, they grow closer and closer to their final match in the second tier for at least the next year following their relegation to League One.

It's been an incredibly tough season for the Owls, and their 3-1 defeat to Southampton on Saturday afternoon was yet another day to forget for a side whose only focus now is on finding a new owner following James Bord's failure to complete a takeover last week.

The South Yorkshire outfit remain on -7 points, and are looking more and more likely to end the campaign on negative points. Nevertheless, it's a situation that supporters have taken less and less notice of as the season has gone by, with their attention only on the situation off the pitch.

Now, a former Sheffield Wednesday hero has spoken out about the club's position, and the problems that were created by Dejphon Chansiri in the years before he left them in administration.

Lee Gregory hits out at Dejphon Chansiri as Sheffield Wednesday seek new owner

Lee Gregory spent three years with the Owls between 2021 and 2024, helping them to promotion from League One to the Championship in his second campaign at Hillsborough, before departing for Mansfield Town just a year later.

He witnessed first-hand Chansiri's ownership of Sheffield Wednesday, and he has now explained why it went so wrong at Hillsborough. He said to The Football League Paper's print edition: "Chansiri’s only plan was to get to the Premier League. He didn’t invest in the training ground, the facilities, the ground, nothing. All he cared about was throwing money at players to get to the Premier League as quickly as possible.

"When it didn’t happen, everything came crashing down. Even though we knew it was coming, it’s been gutting to see. That’s why these new owners - whoever they are - can’t just come in and focus on climbing back up the leagues. Because putting money in at the top without building from the bottom is like pouring water in a bucket full of holes, isn’t it? It’ll stay full if you keep pouring. But the second that tap’s turned off, it’ll all come flooding out."

Gregory continued: "You just hope that they go ‘Right, let’s concentrate on one thing at a time. Let’s think about ten years or 15 years down the line, not just a two-year fix. It doesn’t matter where we are in the leagues, how many points we’ve got - we’re just going to build this club back up one step at a time. Then, once we’ve got a foundation, we can go for it’.

"And they can, because it’s all there. The fan base, the city, everything - it’s got everything in place to go right to the top. But there has to be a move away from the sort of short-term thinking you had under Chansiri or they never will."

Gregory also discussed the ongoing state of Wednesday's Hillsborough stadium, which remains in dire need of investment and renovation and has been a long-term sticking point among Owls supporters.

The ex-striker added: "When you talk about what’s needed, it’s literally everything. The stadium is awful. The training ground is awful.

“For a club that big, which has played in the Premier League, the state of the place has to be seen to be believed. And that’s coming from someone who played in Non-League.

“Don’t get me wrong, Hillsborough is an incredible place when it’s bouncing. I played in the 5-1 win against Peterborough, when we came from 4-0 down in the second-leg of the play-off semis, and I’ve never felt an atmosphere like it. It was amazing that night.

“But it’s been left to rot for years. When you look at it objectively - and I hate to say this - the whole thing needs knocking down and starting again. Same with the training ground. And how many people have the money to do that?”

Lee Gregory was a part of the most successful Sheffield Wednesday team of the last decade

It's been a frustrating 11 years for Sheffield Wednesday since Chansiri first got involved, and they have gone from a side fighting in the Championship play-offs, to one that looks likely to spend an extended time in the third tier.

However, Gregory knows all about how to get promoted from League One, having done so with the Owls in 2022/23. He was a part of the team under Darren Moore that won the play-offs, with Josh Windass scoring in added time of extra-time to send the club back to the Championship.

It was one of the only successful moments under Chansiri, but credit lies with those on the pitch and in the dugout on that day at Wembley.

Nevertheless, due to Chansiri's actions in the years prior, this is set to be the biggest rebuild for Sheffield Wednesday in their history and it is vital that they get it right to ensure that they have a fighting chance in League One next season.