What Michael Vaughan said about Sheffield Wednesday's situation in 2020 still rings true | OneFootball

What the all-time great England cricketer and Sheffield Wednesday fan said on the club's situation back in 2020 still rings true today.

One of England's finest ever cricketers and a lifelong Sheffield Wednesday supporter, Michael Vaughan, has never shied away from speaking his mind about his beloved Owls.

Captaining England in over 50 test matches, and to the famous 2-1 Ashes victory over Australia in 2005, Vaughan has unmistakably left his mark on the game of cricket.

However, throughout his playing career and after his days at the crease were over, he's always maintained his love for Sheffield Wednesday.

But, what he said when discussing the club's ownership and direction back in 2020 still rings particularly true in 2025 - highlighting just how frustrating times have been in recent years at Hillsborough.

"I don't see leadership" - Michael Vaughan's 2020 words on Sheffield Wednesday remain valid today

The 2019/20 season marked the beginning of numerous years of decline at Sheffield Wednesday.

Wednesday had just finished 16th in the Championship having placed 12th the year before, and come the conclusion of the 2020/21 campaign, the Owls would be relegated to League One after finishing rock-bottom of the second tier - which was accompanied by a six-points deduction that year too.

Vaughan saw it coming too, as he made clear when speaking in an interview for the Alan Biggs Show in May 2020.

Vaughan said: "It is difficult with the infrastructure of the club. From afar, it just doesn't look right.

"Ownership is difficult. People have got to put a lot of money into running these football clubs so I completely understand that the owner has a huge amount of investment in the club.

"But I look at infrastructure and I look at leadership. I look at the kind of drive of the process of making sure that you have got youngsters coming through your system.

"I look at the blueprint for the way that you play and I don't see that at Sheffield Wednesday at the minute.

"I don't see the leadership. I don't see the blueprint. I don't see the conveyor belt of local talent that have the opportunity to come through and play for the club."

Vaughan will still be asking the same Sheffield Wednesday questions in 2025

That same lack of leadership among the Sheffield Wednesday hierarchy that Vaughan was talking about over five years ago now remains frustratingly relevant come the summer of 2025.

Indeed, this summer is proving to be one of the most turbulent and disappointing in the club's history.

Reports of players revolting against Danny Rohl's position as manager after his summer of courtship with other clubs, numerous first-team stars handing in their notices relating to wages going unpaid - and that's just the start of it.

Owner Dejphon Chansiri had reportedly accepted a bid from an unnamed party to buy the club, only to see that takeover light at the end of the tunnel vanish after talks stalled, with a deal now off.

The club's North Stand appears set to close for the start of the new season over safety fears, the club were hit with transfer restrictions over the next three windows relating to unpaid wages, the club's training ground was not ready to welcome players back for the start of pre-season due to construction work being delayed.

Pre-season friendlies have proven a real struggle to arrange, players are having to be sold to raise vital funds necessary to pay bills, and the potential for a points deduction is looming too.

So yes, it's safe to say that Vaughan's fears over a lack of boardroom leadership, club infrastructure, a lack of a blueprint for the future and a conveyor belt of homegrown players coming through the academy and into the first-team at Sheffield Wednesday, all ring alarmingly true to this day.