Whatever can be said about Danny Röhl and Sheffield Wednesday, one certainty is that he never undersold his impact there. The young manager was confident to a fault, but it’s fair to say he had some basis for that.
As a grounding for the rest of his career, what happened at various points, and especially the run up to last summer, will teach him lessons he can use at Rangers and elsewhere.
Röhl and his coaching team had very much wanted a Bundesliga role and the manager wasn’t shy about coming forwards. That obviously didn’t impress everyone at Sheffield Wednesday, and it didn’t have the desired impact either.
Multiple Bundesliga roles came and went, and some looked suitable for Röhl. That he’d been pitching himself so enthusiastically in the German media appeared to act as a negative.
The 36-year-old finally landed on his feet at Rangers and is having a positive impact at Ibrox.
His assistant Sascha Lense has been speaking to Bild about that, and Sheffield Wednesday came up as part of the chat.
Lense has previously coached at Dynamo Dresden, who are currently 15th out of 18 in 2.Bundesliga. Asked whether they can survive, Lense gave his and Röhl’s Owls achievements as an example.
“Let me put it this way,” he told the German newspaper. “When we took over Sheffield two years ago, they were nine points behind – and we still managed to stay up. That’s never happened before in the English Championship.”
