We asked AI to see where Sheffield Wednesday would be in 5 years under John Textor’s ownership | OneFootball

ChatGPT determines where it thinks Sheffield Wednesday could end up after five years of John Textor's ownership.

Sheffield Wednesday are in a very difficult situation at the moment, with the Owls heading into the 2025/26 Championship season unsure of their overall existence within a few months’ time.

Wednesday head into the campaign on the back of a summer in which manager Danny Rohl arrived late for pre-season after being linked with several jobs, eventually stayed but then departed a week after holding ‘clear the air’ talks.

Players like Josh Windass and Michael Smith have opted to terminate their contracts, too, after they were paid late, with those players joining Wrexham and Preston North End respectively.

A transfer embargo is restricting Wednesday from being able to do any meaningful first-team business, whilst the north stand may well have to be close due to safety concerns.

Dejphon Chansiri remains in place as the owner, but there is talk that American businessman John Textor may well be interested in taking over at Hillsborough.

Football League World has therefore used AI chatbot ChatGPT to weigh up how Wednesday will look in five years’ time, should Textor take charge of the club.

How Wednesday could look under Textor ownership

According to ChatGPT, there are five clear parts to how Textor will seek to change the operations of the club during his five years in charge at Hillsborough.

The first of which being around improving the club’s infrastructure in terms of facilities and analytics, as well as showcasing his financial muscle to ensure Wednesday remain liquid.

‘Overcoming immediate challenges’ would be another thing, and this would involve relieving them of their current transfer embargo, which is in place until January 2027, and rebuilding the squad.

The aim for Textor at Wednesday, according to the AI chatbot, would be to steadily build Wednesday towards a promotion challenger within three seasons and then seek to be in the top-flight by 2030.

AI then believes that there would be a proposal to build a new 55,000-seater stadium to widen their fanbase and appeal to supporters in North America, with an emphasis on data-driven recruitment strategies and improved sports science systems.

AI does acknowledge the risks of Textor’s potential ownership, recognising the backlash against him from supporters of Botafogo, Lyon and Crystal Palace as something to be wary of.

There is also an outline of multi-club ownership issues, with supporters of clubs becoming alienated and how this would require consistent dialogue with Wednesday fans in order to be accepted and to work.

Overall, ChatGPT believes that Wednesday could well be in the Premier League, with a new more modern stadium, having expanded their visibility in US and global markets, whilst boasting a squad full of academy graduates and smart data-led recruits.

Textor is criticised by other clubs

At Botafogo, Lyon, Crystal Palace and Molenbeek; Textor is often heavily criticised and appears to be generally disliked by supporters.

Even at Botafogo, where he has delivered success and silverware, the Brazilian supporters are often quick to criticise the American, and that will always be a cause for concern for other clubs linked with the American.

He is also not particularly well liked by another club he owns, Racing White Daring Molenbeek, of whom he wants to change the name of, following their relegation from the Belgian Jupiler Pro League last season.

Lyon were handed an administrative relegation by Ligue 1 earlier this summer, having been warned for much of the last year or so about the way in which they have presented their finances to French footballing authorities.

On appeal, they have been reinstated into the French top-flight, but will now surely have to begin adhering to the rules, and that will require some extreme changes to their operations.

His involvement with Lyon, and them winning their appeal, now means that Crystal Palace have been demoted from the UEFA Europa League and into the UEFA Europa Conference League, because Textor is deemed by UEFA to have a controlling interest at both clubs and they cannot both compete in the same competition.

There isn’t really a set of supporters, and there are quite a lot of them, that are happy with Textor, but Sheffield Wednesday find themselves in a desperate situation - and AI believes it would be actually be a good thing for the club.