"Definitely a concern" - Big Sheffield Wednesday transfer fear raised ahead of January | OneFootball

Our Owls fan pundit is unsure if Danny Rohl will get to spend what he wants to in the new year

This article is part of Football League World's 'Terrace Talk' series, which provides personal opinions from our FLW Fan Pundits regarding the latest breaking news, teams, players, managers, potential signings and more...

Concerns have been raised about the potential lack of funding that Danny Rohl will be given to change his Sheffield Wednesday squad in the January window as the Owls look to push for the play-off places in the second-half of the season.

Wednesday have been inconsistent, if anything, so far this term, but are currently sitting in a respectable ninth place in the Championship right now, just five points off Blackburn Rovers in sixth.

Rohl has done a brilliant job at Hillsborough since he took over, and their rise from almost certainly facing relegation when he was appointed, to now being comfortable in the second-tier, has rightly been very well-documented, with the German boss earning plaudits from across English football as a result.

With that said, Dejphon Chansiri is still the Owls' owner, and he has certainly had his issues at the helm over the years, with the most recent being when the club was placed under aregistration embargo by the EFL over amounts owed to HM Revenue and Customs for two weeks last month.

Wednesday need to make some adjustments to their squad in the new year, but whether Rohl will be given a decent budget to do so remains to be seen.

Owls fan pundit explains worries over potentially uncertain January

The situation last month saw Wednesday sort their registration embargo by paying off the outstanding debt that they owed to HMRC just in time, as they avoided the threat of a three-window long transfer embargo that they faced had they failed to make the payment before the end of the 30-day period.

That sort of close call has been a regular occurrence over the years under Chansiri's stewardship, with a similar situation happening last year, and Wednesday fans have grown to expect such circumstances every now and then, as a result.

The Owls' have also not been able to compete in terms of finances with other Championship clubs over the years too, but Rohl was able to spend transfer fees on the likes of Ike Ugbo, Olaf Kowacki and Yan Valery in the summer, yet the extent of his budget for the new year is unclear right now.

Our Wednesday fan pundit, Patrick McKenna, has raised concerns about the erratic nature of the club ahead of the January window, and the funds that Rohl will be given to spend, after we asked him what his biggest fear is regarding his club in the lead up to the new year.

“In regards to the January transfer window, my biggest fear is the unpredictability of it all,” Patrick told FLW.

“We’ve seen again recently that we are just off the back of another transfer embargo, so it’s really making me think that there won’t be the funds available in January that Danny Rohl thought there would be, or was promised.

“If it’s the case that Rohl has his plans derailed by funding he thought might be there, but it turns out that it’s not and he’s really having to rethink his plans…yeah, that does worry me.

“I just wish we had more stability around the club, but it’s just the erratic nature of our club.

“The worry that funds won’t be there is definitely a concern, and Danny Rohl is doing his utmost to turn the club around.

“People only have so much patience, and I don't want us to be going through the January window with the manager limited and denied by the chairman.

“That fear is also born from past experiences. It doesn’t leave me going into the window with any sort of great confidence, unfortunately.

“We’ve been here before. I imagine if I was to be asked the same question again next January, that root cause of the problem will most likely still be there, and the answer will stay the same.”

Wednesday look set to focus on loans in the January window

The Owls have sought out loan players from Premier League sides and free transfers to bolster their squad over the years, with the likes of Shea Charles and James Beadle both impressing at Hillsborough after being signed for the season from Southampton and Brighton & Hove Albion respectively in the summer.

While boss Rohl's current budget is uncertain as the new year nears, he recently explained to The Star that the club will likely look for more players in the loan market in the January window, but will only look for loanees that will push for starting berths in his side.

He said: “If you’re looking for a good player then of course a lot of clubs would fight for this player.

“We can influence a lot of it with our position in the table. I said this many times now, the situation last year was different to this year. It makes us more attractive to the players, we are playing more up than down and this is helpful.

“The example of some loan players from last year and this year shows we can develop and improve players and this will be helpful. We have to look for players that can really make the difference to us.

It makes no sense to bring a squad player in, it must be a real upgrade. We will try to find some players that really help us to achieve some goals this season.”

It is clear that Rohl places a lot of importance on Wednesday's position in the table to attract the players that he wants to in the new year, and so their current top-half exploits could be a huge selling point to potential new signings in January.

Whether he will be limited by the possible lack of budget remains to be seen, but it is clear that he has plans of his own to explore the loan market, and so he may well already understand that permanent signings for fees are unlikely in the January window.

This means that Rohl may not be too perturbed by the uncertainty over new permanent additions, which is good news for Owls supporters going forward.