It was confirmed last month that long-serving Owls staff member, Steve Haslam, would be leaving his role as head of the club’s academy structures, instead taking up a position at the Professional Game Academy Audit Company as he brought to an end two decades of service to his boyhood club.
Wednesday are now on the hunt for his replacement, which is not an easy task given how much he gave to the Owls, and some had wondered how much of a role the first team manager would have in deciding who would come in to take his place. For Röhl, he believes that in this case it should be an appointment made with the bigger picture in mind.
“I spoke with the chairman about this topic of course,” he told The Star last week. “And all in all I think it has to be a decision from the club… It’s very helpful when you have an academy director who is close to the first team, and I think it’s also helpful when the style of football, the philosophy is close to each other, because then you’re going in one direction.
“But I think the most important key is to have a guy who can develop the club and make the next steps for the club. Because you have players that come and go, coaches that come and go, and it’s important that you have an identity and strategy – and it’s important that that strategy is independent from just one person. We will find, I’m convinced, a good one for the academy.”
How long the Owls will take to find Haslam’s successor remains to be seen, but with whoever it is being talented with overseeing the progression of some of the club’s most talented players in years, it’s one that it is imperative that they get right.
Discussion about this post