Owls chairman survives AGM

Chris Turner was defended by Allen

Sheffield Wednesday chairman Dave Allen came through a stormy annual meeting of shareholders at Hillsborough on Monday night.

Tempers flared with shareholders venting their frustration at the club's current plight.

Wednesday are £25million in debt and fans have given up on their side reaching the play-offs.

But Allen, who took over as chairman last year, was re-appointed as a director along with Ken Cooke.

Allen also declared his support for manager Chris Turner, despite the Owls' disappointing position in the league.

He said: "Chris Turner is 16 months into a two-and-a-half-year contract, that's the rest of this season and the whole of next season. He knows what is required.

There are legitimate excuses for poor results this season Dave Allen, Sheffield Wednesday chairman

"In the last four years we have had too many managers at this club and too many chairmen. That's got to stop.

"Managers need time. Paul Sturrock had three-and-a-half years at Plymouth, Danny Wilson four years at Bristol City and Ian Holloway three years at QPR.

"They have all been given time and in that time they have got it right.

"There are legitimate excuses for poor results this season - our best players started to go down with injuries after three games.

"You can't get into our sick bay because of the number of players."

Allen defended the decision to sell the club's training ground.

And director Mick Wright assured the meeting that if the sale of the Middlewood Road site was successful, there were other possible training bases in the area that could used more cheaply.

"To reduce our debts we need to sell on one of our assets and that is the training ground," Allen insisted.

"We already have three offers in writing, all north of £10million.

"So you can see if we can achieve that, get planning permission and sell it on, we will substantially reduce our debt."

Former MP Joe Ashton attended and was critical of directors, saying the club was "in a hell of a mess".

"You are doing your best but it's not good enough," he added.

Ashton announced that his close friend Ken Bates, who recently quit as Chelsea chairman, was keen to join the Wednesday board.