Sheffield Wednesday will fear Darren Moore repeat amid Will Still, Southampton talk | OneFootball

Sheffield Wednesday will be worried that the saga over Danny Rohl's future could drag on and disrupt preparations for next season.

With the Championship season now concluded, Sheffield Wednesday should be starting preparations for the summer transfer window and upcoming campaign.

Wednesday emerged as surprise play-off contenders after a strong first half of the season, but while their promotion push collapsed following the turn of the year amid a decline in form and a host of off-field issues, they still managed to secure a respectable 12th-placed finish.

After only narrowly avoiding relegation the previous season, a top-half finish still represents strong progress for the Owls, and, ordinarily, it would give them a strong platform to build on next term, but it is difficult to feel too optimistic given the current state of affairs at Hillsborough.

Wednesday manager Danny Rohl is widely expected to leave the club this summer, but while his exit seems inevitable, the timing of when it will happen is much less clear, and the club could face a long and frustrating wait for clarity over his future.

Will Still, Southampton news could be a big problem for Sheffield Wednesday

Speculation over Rohl's future first started in December when he was linked with the vacant managerial position at Southampton, but a move to St Mary's did not materialise as the Saints were said to be unwilling to meet his £4 million release clause.

That sparked a bitter public dispute between Rohl and Chansiri, with the pair refusing to communicate until the middle of January, and while they did eventually resolve their differences, there is a feeling that their relationship has been damaged beyond repair.

It was claimed in March that Southampton had identified Rohl as their top target ahead of the summer, and with his compensation fee reducing to just £2 million for Championship clubs, many had assumed that his move to the South Coast would simply be a formality.

However, a spanner was thrown in the works on Monday when talkSPORT revealed that Will Still is in "advanced talks" with the Saints after stepping down from his position at French side RC Lens.

Still led Lens to an eighth-placed finish in Ligue 1 this season, but he revealed after the 4-0 win over Monaco on Saturday that he would be leaving the club this summer in order to return to England for personal reasons, and it seems that he could now be set to take over at Southampton.

The Saints have not yet made a final decision on who will replace Ivan Juric, and Rohl is still believed to be a "contender" for the job, but if they do not pursue a move for the German, it raises serious question marks over who - if anyone - will come in for him this summer.

Rohl is also believed to be on the radar of Leicester City, Crystal Palace and Fulham, but it is far from certain that there will even be a vacancy at any of those clubs, and despite being linked with RB Leipzig, that may come too soon for the 36-year-old at this early stage of his career.

After conducting an interview last month in which he openly discussed his possible next move, Rohl has burned his bridges with Wednesday supporters, with many feeling that such comments were inappropriate while still officially under contract, but with no immediate resolution in sight, Chansiri may be worried that the saga could drag on into the summer.

Of course, things can change very quickly in football, but journalist Alan Nixon reported on Sunday that Rohl's future may not be sorted until as late as July, which would be a huge problem for Wednesday.

With his position at Hillsborough looking untenable, Chansiri could decide to sack Rohl, but that would mean that the Owls would not receive any compensation for the 36-year-old, which would be a big blow given that finances are tight at the club.

However, the dangers of allowing the uncertainty to continue are clear for Wednesday, and Chansiri must learn lessons from the last time the club changed manager during the summer.

Just three weeks after guiding the club to promotion from League One in 2023, the Owls announced that they had parted company with manager Darren Moore, and given that they had participated in the play-offs, the decision was not made until the middle of June.

After a lengthy search for a new manager, Xisco Munoz was appointed as Moore's successor in early July, but that meant that Wednesday fell behind many of their fellow Championship clubs in the transfer market, and they were left scrambling around for signings in the final month of the window.

As was expected after such a chaotic summer, the Owls made a disastrous start to the season, picking up just three points from their first 11 games, and while Rohl somehow managed to salvage the situation and keep the club in the division, Chansiri will not get so lucky this time around if he fails to properly prepare for the upcoming campaign.

Many have tipped Wednesday to be involved in the relegation fight next season, with Rohl himself even warning that a battle for survival could be ahead, and that underlines the importance of both making the right appointment and having a positive summer transfer window.

With plenty of strong managerial options currently on the market, including the likes of Tony Mowbray, Marti Cifuentes, Tom Cleverley and Ruben Selles, the Owls also run the risk of missing out on some of their top targets, so a swift resolution to Rohl's situation is crucial.