Sheffield Wednesday fans protest against owner at first match of season
The Owls lost to Leicester 2-1.
A "proud" performance for Sheffield Wednesday yesterday, on and off the pitch. Fans gathered to protest against owner Dejphon Chansiri after a summer of turmoil.
Fans went to their seats 5 minutes after kick-off, putting up a banner that read "SWFC for sale - enough is enough". They also chartered a plane with "Dejphon Chansiri Out" which flew over the Leicester ground.
The club have had a very turbulent off-season and are under a number of Football League-imposed embargoes for various financial breaches, including the payment of wages to players and staff being delayed for the last three months.
But the players delivered an impressive display at the King Power Stadium, stunning Leicester when Nathaniel Chalobah's deflected effort gave them a shock 1-0 lead at half-time.
Jannik Vestergaard's close-range equaliser levelled things up after the break and things were made even harder when captain Barry Bannan picked up a red card with 14 minutes to go before Wout Faes broke Wednesday hearts three minutes from time.
New boss Henrik Pedersen handed full credit for a spirited performance to both fans and players.
He said:
"I'm sitting with a very proud feeling for the performance from the boys. It has been some tough few weeks.
"When you have a little squad and play a lot of training against your under-21s and then come to Leicester, one of the best teams in the league. It was a big challenge today.
"How the boys competed I'm really proud of this and we need those games now to get the intensity so we can take the next step.
"I think our fans are a big inspiration for our players and in an away game like today at a really good team, where you have many difficult phases in a game, and then the fans are pushing, they are helping."
Wednesday only had 15 senior players available before the match and saw both Yan Valery and Nathaniel Chalobah come off through injury.
Pedersen admits he may have to switch the team around for the midweek EFL Cup tie against Bolton and is looking to bolster his squad.
He added:
"We will look tomorrow, it was a tough lesson for the boys. Let's see the reaction, what we can do with the Stoke game in mind on Saturday.
"We're also searching for new players. We need to have new players, but still we need to do it with patience.
"We need new players otherwise you cannot play a championship with 46 games. We need some guys very quickly, but still, we need to have the right feeling when we we sign someone."
Well owner Dejphon Chansiri says he is trying to sell the club.