A year ago this month Dave Allen resigned as Chairman of Sheffield Wednesday, a move that was greeted with optimism from some quarters of the clubs support but what has happened since then?
Former director Joe Ashton was quoted in the Sheffield Star upon Allen's departure as saying "it's wonderful news, there has been nothing but trouble since Allen appeared."
It is certainly true that Mr. Allen was unpopular with large groups of fans but the reason he left the club was apparantly due to a lack of trust within the club as confidential boardroom matters were said to have been divulged to outside parties.
Allen certainly didn't endear himself to the clubs fans by singling out supporters group Wednesdayite for levelling abuse at him when he was with members of his family and they were allegedly encouraging other fans to follow suit. He publicly labelled these fans as scum and cretins. There was also legal action started against some fans while Allen was at the helm, although this action was subsequently dropped.
He was in charge when the Owls introduced a highly unpopular ID card scheme for away supporters in the wake of some trouble and he sacked popular manager Paul Sturrock as the club made a poor start to the 2006/07 season.
Such was the furore surrounding the dismissal of Sturrock that in the following home game with QPR a protest was staged outside the entrance to the boardroom and some sections of the support were even hoping for a QPR win as if to justify their anger at the implied injustice.
So yes in many supporters eyes Allen did make mistakes but, in all honesty what club can say their Chairman has been spot on the whole of the time, especially at clubs that have been in years of decline on the pitch.
On a more positive note Mr. Allen was the man who brought Sturrock to the club in the first place and he presided over the promotion season in 2004/05. Furthermore, on the back of Sturrock's departure the Owls were stuck deep in the relegation zone, Allen brought in Brian Laws and the club finished the season in a creditable 9th position. He also kept ticket prices reasonable, even freezing them one season and reduced losses to the extent of making a profit in 2007-for the first time in over a decade couple with the Owls best on-pitch season during that same period.
So, with many supporters happy to see the back of Allen, how has the club progressed since his departure?
Almost a year on the club is still to replace Mr. Allen with no Chairman appointed. The debts remain and prices have increased causing supporters to vote with their feet and as such attendances at Hillsborough are in significant decline this season. No suitable buyer has yet been found for the Owls and the takeover saga in relation to the Sheard consortium has rumbled on to almost farcical proportions with Wednesdayite now losing patience with the bid. Allen is known as a no-nonsense businessman with proven acumen and it is hard to imagine that this would have been allowed to go on for so long under his leadership.
He may not have been popular but this is the case with many Chairmen and successful businessmen, the question is were Sheffield Wednesday a better-run ship under his tenure and would they have been in a better position now had he not resigned?