Football League World
·20 dicembre 2024
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·20 dicembre 2024
The Wednesday boss looks set to stay at Hillsborough after reported talks with Southampton.
Josh Windass is expecting Danny Rohl to be in charge at Sheffield Wednesday for the "foreseeable" future.
This follows links between the Wednesday boss and the vacant managerial spot at Southampton which was opened up after Rohl's former club parted ways with Russell Martin last weekend.
The Saints were said to be confident about their chances of getting him, and he was reportedly open to taking on the role, as per TEAMtalk, but the compensation fee that Southampton would have had to pay the Owls - around £5 million, as per Alex Crook - proved to be too much for them to swallow, and they are now set to appoint former Roma boss Ivan Juric.
Wednesday will try to make it two wins on the bounce this weekend as they face Stoke City at home in one of the early kick-offs on Saturday.
There was some anxiety that the young German may not be in charge for this game because of the Southampton rumours, but he is now set to hold his position at Hillsborough; a position that Windass expects him to keep for a while.
The attacking midfielder admitted to Football Heaven that it would have been a painful blow to lose a quality manager like Rohl, but added that he doesn't see the boss moving on any time soon.
He said: "Just like key players who are doing well at the minute, you don't really want to lose anyone in any transfer window. If Premier League clubs and big clubs come for your players and your managers, a lot of the time that's just what happens when you're doing well.
"It's good to keep everyone here and hopefully we can have a real push and get where we want to be."
Windass didn't go and ask the manager what was going on with his situation amid the links to St Mary's.
"I can't speak for any of the other lads, but I didn't say anything," continued the 30-year-old. "I just get on with my training. I expect him to train us and coach us in the best way he can while he's here, which I expect him to be for the foreseeable (future) anyway.
"And nothing really changes. He's a Sheffield Wednesday manager and he'll coach us to the best of his ability and that's all he can do."
Wednesday are in such a better position now than they were when the 35-year-old was first appointed. He has established himself as one of the top up-and-coming coaches in the country - the evidence of why is clear to see by the club's overall improvements.
On the best things the boss has done since his arrival in October 2023, Windass answered with the attitude that he has brought to club. However, he made sure to give 100 percent of the credit to Rohl and his staff.
"I think just the mentality. Because, me personally, I've always had the mentality to obviously want to be higher in divisions and want to win games, but in terms of fully believing, everyone as a collective fully believes now that we can be a team challenging," said Windass.
"I don't know how you change that but you kind of feel it around the place that it has changed. But I also think how good the manager is, constantly, constantly over the last few years the players have also stepped up. It's not just about the coach.
"Like when we came back from 4-0 down it wasn't just because of Darren Moore. We didn't just stay up last year because of Danny Rohl. The players always seem to step up when it matters here and hopefully we carry that on."
When Southampton came calling, it seemed like a perfect storm for the German. His dream of managing in the Premier League, although it may have been short-lived, would come true with a club that he already had a relationship with. Everything seemed to slot into place just right, except for one thing: the compensation fee.
Why was there such a large fee to be paid to any club that wanted to take Rohl away from Hillsborough? Because of the contract that the club's hierarchy got him to agree to earlier in the year.
That is possibly the only reason why Wednesday have kept hold of their manager. They and their supporters will be so retrospectively pleased that they tied him down to his current deal when they did.