Sheffield Wednesday fans group reveal how they’ll protest against Dejphon Chansiri for their upcoming game versus Birmingham City.
The 1867 Group are organising a fundraiser to help fund the cost for the protest, in which they plan to hold up a banner and flyers.
They have currently collected almost half of their initial target towards the raising of funds for the planned protest against Birmingham City on the 9th February.
Times up. Sell up and go. #swfc pic.twitter.com/L6r60boHcq
— The 1867 Group. (@The1867Group) February 1, 2024
— The 1867 Group. (@The1867Group) February 1, 2024
STATEMENT:
Following concerns that any further protests would disrupt the January Transfer window or ‘poke the bear’, we respectfully placed our planned protest on hold.
During this time we have provided the chairman and the club ample opportunity to back Danny Röhl. With the transfer window now closed, it is clear from our perspective that Danny has been hung out to dry.
As you will be aware, Mondays season ticket announcement was quite rightly met with a largely negative response. Increasing prices and the pressure of narrow purchasing timeframes simply show that the club hasn’t implemented any changes following previous fan concern.
As a protest group that wishes to continue to grow and influence, naturally we need some form of financial support. We would like to thank many of our supporters for realising this and our previously funded banner will make appearances at all future demonstrations.
We are now beginning to plan future protests. Our next show of continued disapproval will be with our game against Birmingham on 9th February, which is live on Sky. We feel this is a perfect time and place to get our message across to the owner.
The protest will include flyers in the stands. We plan on getting as many flyers produced and handed out before kick off as possible. These will be displayed in the stands to convey our simple message.. Sell up and go.
We’re also giving you the option to vote on which design.
The group knows that this time of year is tough for everyone and therefore any contributions toward our efforts would be gratefully appreciated.
Like our previous fundraiser where we donated £50 to the Poppy Appeal, any left over money after purchasing the flyers will be donated to the S6 Food bank.
As a fanbase, we need to make our feelings known, that Dejphon Chansiri is no longer fit to run our club.
Out of touch, out of time.
Chansiri, sell up and just go.
Should you feel the same please use the link provided to donate.
The 1867 Group
What ‘The 1867 Group’ stand for
“It’s more than winning or losing”
To the superficial mind, or those who don’t understand our passion, a football club is an outfit that gets 11 men together on a Saturday afternoon and boot around a bag of air. They think that, of those who follow a club, the only thing that matters to them is if their team wins or loses. However, a football club is more than that. It is a community institution, a means for some of the most isolated in society to socialise, a sense of purpose for those who don’t have much, a break from our problems for 90 minutes once or twice a week. To quote the late, great Sir Bobby Robson:
“What is a club in any case? Not the buildings or the directors or the people who are paid to represent it. Its not the television contracts, get-out clauses, marketing departments or executive boxes. It’s the noise, the passion, the feeling of belonging, the pride in your city. It’s a small boy clambering up stadium steps for the very first time, gripping his father’s hand, gawping at that hallowed stretch of turf beneath him and, without being able to do a thing about it, falling in love’
Unfortunately for people like us, supporters of Sheffield Wednesday FC, it has been clear for quite a while that this pride has been slowly but surely stripped from us by an owner who, to put it bluntly, should not be allowed anywhere near the boardroom of a football club. For too long, mistake after mistake made at an executive level has dragged the club’s name through the mud and reduced one of English football’s most revered institutions into a mere laughing stock. As supporters of this club, the club which our mother/father’s and grandparents before them taught us to support, the club which we devote countless time and money travelling the lengths of the country to support, we can’t let this happen any longer.
Since the day Dejphon Chansiri took over as owner/chairman on the 29th January 2015, the self-proclaimed “football novice” has overseen an era at the club of complete chaos. Record-high ticket prices, managers sacked without sufficient explanation, countless changes at executive level, points deductions, run-ins with the EFL/PFA, late payment of player wages, fake ‘sponsors, spats with club legends and figures in local/national media, radio broadcast bans, splashing his name across the stadium/playing kit, decreasing commercial presence, money haemorrhaged buying not-fit-for-purpose players, under-investment in the youth academy. The list goes on. His reluctance to accept outside help from trusted figures with the clubs best interest at heart has exacerbated these problems further. Instead of learn-ing from his mistakes and being honest, he chooses to stick with his ego and keep the ‘advisers’ (Paixao and co.) who are only in it for themselves. As supporters, we’ve given him countless benefits of the doubt for him to learn after every fiasco but we are at the end of the tether with him. Chansiri, for the sake and future of Sheffield Wednesday Football Club, must sell up and cede control of the club.
Which brings us on to us.
Especially this season, we have seen a clear divide in the supporters over the issue of Chansiri’s ownership, and how to go about bringing a change. We were formed by a set of supporters who took a look at how fans of other clubs in crisis (Southend, Reading, WBA, Scunthorpe) unified together to rise up and demonstrate against their respective poor owners in an organised and efficient way. Now we acknowledge our previous effort to demonstrate and show our distain with the ownership were in no way organised or efficient, and for that we apologise. We have since reformed ourselves with a new board of members who agree that everything we do must be done with upmost professionalism. We aim to be a united voice for all Wednesday supporters who are concerned about our clubs future. We aren’t here to argue with those who disagree, instead we aim to educate and engage so supporters can make informed decisions in their position on this issue.
Our Aims:
Now, it would be lazy for us to say our sole purpose is to force him to sell up. Technically, that is the end goal but we can’t do that without a proactive plan for action. Therefore, we aim to carry out our campaign through various means:
– Protests. Now, unlike last time, we aren’t going to go full guerrilla and organise spontaneous pelting of tennis balls from the get go. We are aware that didn’t go down too well with quite a few sections of the support. We also understand the reluctance of many to participate in such kinds of protests as they risk club bans which may not be pardoned should the ownership change. Instead, we are focusing our initial efforts of planning non-disruptive protests well in advance to show our displeasure with how the club is being run. This will consist of marches on matchdays, demonstrations outside the ground and acts inside the stadium such as banners/flags etc. All protest ideas are decided firstly by the board and then by our members, 100% democratically
– Propaganda. There is unfortunately still a segment of our fanbase which seem reluctant to see a change of ownership despite how bad things are currently. Therefore, we aim to educate to clear the air and state the facts about the true state of the club. This will be done through our primary social media outlet, the X page @The1867Group, our instagram @The1867Group, our website (coming soon), as well as producing stickers, information leaflets and banners.
– Engagement. As mentioned earlier, the previous custodians of this group did not leave us with the best reputation in the eyes of the support. Therefore, we are changing tact. Gone are the days of us arguing with every nay-sayer who places a negative comment on one of our posts. Instead, we aim to use our voice to unite the various factions in the support. We are working hard on trying to engage with those in our support with significant voices already (Wednesdayite, the Women’s Supports Group, official supporters trust, Owlstalk, the podcasts etc.) so we can be the united front our club needs in order to drive change.
– Finding outside help. As supporters, we know our end goal can’t be achieved without those fans and people with a high profile. Therefore, we aim to talk to local MP’s and Councillors etc. to see if they have any means to help us. After all, they are serving their community that elected them and this is a community issue.
We aren’t at the moment in a position to engage with outside investors looking to buy the club; that power is currently held by louder, more established voices in our support. However, we will gladly help if called upon for this.
Our policies:
Upmost professionalism – in order for us to get the masses on our side, we need to be professional. Every decision we make is shortlisted by the board and voted for by our members, 100% democratically. Any protest is also planned well in advance for us to read the room should something go amiss in our plans.
Respecting opinions – the main reason for the previous incarnation’s downfall was the admins at the time were too easy to bite at naysayers which lead to a lot of clashes and therefore contributed to our poor reputation with the supporters. We aim this time round to do the complete opposite. Instead, we aim to use such comments as feedback to improve on our approach. Everyone who we have butted heads with in the past, we are willing to wipe the slate clean and start afresh. Like we said, any feedback is appreciated.
Open door policy – our DMs are always open, anyone can join us. If anyone wants to have a conversation with us, do not hesitate to message the X page or our email. The website will also have a section where people can ask questions, and we will be aiming to reply to these as soon as we can.
Engage and educate, rather than argue – arguments, as we said before, waste time and lower our reputation within the community. We will always choose to discuss respectfully any issues rather than trade insults.
Be a force for good – some time in the future, we want to expand the work we do into the wider community around Hillsborough and Sheffield itself. We could potentially do charity work. Again, any suggestions are appreciated.
Donations:
We don’t want to be the type of fan group which begs for money, however, on our website and our social media pages will be a link for donations should you feel you want to donate anything towards the cause. We will announce the treasurer in due course, that way you know exactly where your money is fully accounted for.
Anonymity
Yes, the big one, last but not least. For now, we are staying anonymous for a couple of reasons. Firstly, whilst the fanbase is divided, revealing our faces opens us up to a vitriol of personal abuse/threats of violence (which our members have had because of their views). Secondly, and most importantly, whilst we are still at a grassroots stage, we leave ourselves vulnerable to potential litigation from the club. Now whilst we aim to stay straight, there is always the possibility that the club may send in lawyers to scare us. Some of you may remember Dave Allen doing the same when we had issues with him way back when. Now, we aren’t legal experts whatsoever. Nor do we have the means to hire our own lawyers to fight any case that may arise. We’re just a bunch of ordinary working class people wanting to make a difference to save our club. Should more people come on board, and our rep within the community improve, we will be happy to identify ourselves.
If you have any questions, feel free to talk to us. Our DMs are always open.
The 1867 Group
Twitter users reacted as Sheffield Wednesday fans group reveal how they’ll protest for game against Birmingham…
@GoalShort: I’m afraid there are far bigger problems to come at this club than having a poor transfer window. I fear we’ve not even seen the tip of the iceberg yet. Just look at the shady way people are being asked to pay for season tickets. If that doesn’t set of alarm bells nothing will.
@jojo395852: Fair play to you lads the only people trying to save out club
@WednesdayRetro: Chansiri can not take Wednesday any further, he’s tried, he’s failed miserably. Mistake after mistake. Takes supporters for granted, high prices for a poor product.Problem is he doesn’t want to sell, it’s a play thing for his lad. Going down again under his ownership. IT WILL GET WORSE
@stur_chy: Only people trying to do somet fair play lads 👏
@Mart30y: Boring, it’s an assumption the club hasn’t backed Rohl the reality is we are in a relegation battle and we are probably trying to not get screwed by profit and sustainability again. The targets we went for might’ve been tempted by clubs in a better position in the league
@SwfcGurny: State of the replies what’s it gonna take for this fanbase to turn against chansiri. Genuinely think it’s going to take admin before they even consider it. We deserve everything we get the Sheffield Wednesday of old will become a yo-yo club between L1 and the Champ at best.
@DomJames92: It’s baffling how quick people are to pounce on these guys for trying to instigate change, whilst Chansiri seemingly gets a continuous free pass.
@TomMatthews_: People moaning in the comments but these lot are the only ones trying to do anything while the rest stand and twiddle their thumbs
@growlers6: Group complaint is that Chansiri has no money. Complains that season tickets are released when fans have no money. Group has no money. Asks fans with no money for season ticket to donate money to print flyers that ask a bloke with no money to leave the club with no money 😂😂😂🙈
@BreeseCallum: 😂😂😂😂😂. What a movement. Literally clutching at straws. Goes quiet for a few months to only come back and ape on some fans frustrations. Such a joke protest movement who are cowardly to show their face
@Owl400x: All these people taking the piss out of this group you obviously don’t care you say you’re chansiri out yet you won’t support anyone that tries to do something about it #ChansiriOut Enough is enough
@FMLekaj: I’d like to take a moment to say, that I predict Chansiri sell only when he wants and anything you do is meaningless. I’d rather we support the team and push them to survival.
@davegurd33: Seriously, from some of these comments on here, some fans get the club they deserve. Don’t come bitching and moaning when we get in the same position as the likes of Reading and you can’t be arsed to stand up for your club, instead choosing to ridicule those that are.
@drew_valls: Who should he sell to? Expensive club to run. The facilities and stadium are very old. The pitch needs replacing (again). Middlewood Road needs an upgrade. The players are mostly League One standard and we’re in the bottom three. It owes him £100m+. Write the advert for me…
@zak_SWFC: Really can’t wrap my head around some of the replies. I don’t see why these lot get battered every time they plan something but Chansiri makes continued mistakes and gets a free pass again and again 🤯🤯 #chansiriout #swfc
@tsav1867: Some of the replies just show what a disgrace some of our fans base are. You can no longer just be Chansiri Out, you have to be Chansiri Sympathises Out also. #swfc
@KivoLee: The replies to this scare the hell out of me. Our club will go down the shitter if certain fans hold much sway.
@Greeny_1867: Another transfer window lacking vital financial backing, sell the club Dejphon you rat
@elhow5: This is my problem… not the statement , not the protest but the comments. We’re happy as a fanbase to be led down the road to relegation and potentially worse
@owlsaboutthat1: Flabbergasted by some of the replies to these guys. Some fans are so blind to Dejphons mistakes it’s unreal. “what’s the alternative” is such a cop out question! Okay let’s sit back, get robbed yearly, be ran like a joke cause he says “I try my best”
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