This article is part of Football FanCast’s Pundit View series, which provides opinion and analysis on recent quotes from journalists, pundits, players and managers…
Sheffield Wednesday manager Garry Monk has spoken about their recent EFL charge for the first time this week as the side prepare for Saturday’s Championship outing.
What’s he said?
The Owls face league leaders West Bromwich Albion at the Hawthorns as they look to get back into playoff contention having slipped to eighth in the league, some three points from the top six.
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But last week, the club were charged for financial misconduct following the £60m sale of their Hillsborough stadium to owner Dejphon Chansiri.
In his pre-match press conference, the 40-year-old was asked about the situation, and he said:
“In terms of myself, the staff, the players, we have to control what we can which is the football and producing performances. The club will work with the EFL on those issues and we have to focus on our jobs.
“My job and duty is to focus on football. Nothing can stop us working hard every day on the training pitch. We all have to stick together, more than ever, it’s key that we all overcome every hurdle thrown at us.”
Worrying times ahead?
This level of uncertainty will surely have some sort of impact on the players as they have no solid idea on whether or not their season will be scuppered because of this, if it is, you’d imagine motivation levels would drop unless Monk has some sort of superpowers to stop that from happening.
According to one football finance expert, the Owls are likely to face a 12-point penalty at the very least while another transfer embargo or even expulsion can’t be thrown out of the occasion until the EFL say otherwise.
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Such repercussions would almost certainly derail their season as if a deduction was taken right now, Wednesday would go from playoff contenders to being in a relegation dogfight.
But what Monk says is right, there’s nothing he can do other than try to secure results on the pitch because, at the end of the day, it was Chansiri’s decision that has seen the club fall into this worrying situation.
Meanwhile, this is how Garry Monk can get the best out of one failing Wednesday favourite…