Why Josh Windass left Sheffield Wednesday for Wrexham after ‘broken promise’ by Dejphon Chansiri

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After establishing himself as a Sheffield Wednesday hero, Josh Windass moved on to Wrexham this summer.

The financial plight at Sheffield Wednesday under owner Dejphon Chansiri led to a summer exodus from the Owls.

Danny Rohl left Sheffield Wednesday after two seasons as head coach, which has led to the German’s former Owls assistant Henrik Pedersen taking charge.

In addition to Rohl, several marquee Sheffield Wednesday stars moved on to pastures new amid the Owls’ crisis in every department of the football club.

One of the most agonising exits for the Owls faithful was Josh Windass’ move to Wrexham, and now the forward has lifted the lid on why he did not sign a new Sheffield Wednesday contract.

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Why Josh Windass did not sign new Sheffield Wednesday deal

In his fifth full season at Sheffield Wednesday, Windass was in fine form last term, scoring 13 goals and registering five assists in 44 Championship outings.

Last summer, Windass signed a new deal at Sheffield Wednesday, which kept him at the club for the 2024/25 season, with the Owls holding an option to extend it for a further year.

However, this summer Windass terminated his Sheffield Wednesday contract by mutual consent alongside teammate Michael Smith ahead of his move from the Owls to Wrexham.

The former Rangers forward has revealed that new deal discussions between him and the Owls hierarchy took place in January, but Chansiri’s “word was broken” on the matter, which led to the end of his six-season stint in S6.

Windass told the Sheffield Star: “I had a conversation in the January about it (a new contract).

“When I signed my contract last summer, I took a bit of a pay cut because the season before I had an injury.

“That was on the terms that if I was playing a lot and scoring goals, I would be offered a new contract.

“For whatever reason that never materialised and so I lost the trust behind that plan. The word was broken, so I just carried on playing and did my job.

“I knew from then that at the end of that season it was time to leave, I did my job and gave it everything but that promise was broken. I decided to move on and I’m delighted to be here (at Wrexham) now.”

In a further revelation, Windass believes Chansiri ‘cares’ about Sheffield Wednesday despite the financial turmoil he has overseen at the Owls, but the forward’s attention will now turn to Wrexham’s exploits.

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Josh Windass will be crucial for Wrexham’s promotion push

Windass left Sheffield Wednesday because he “wanted to have a new challenge”, and the task at hand for Phil Parkinson and the Hollywood-backed Dragons will be to impact the promotion race.

Unfortunately for the forward, his time with the Welsh giants has not gone to plan thus far after Windass missed his Sheffield Wednesday reunion with Wrexham due to an injury blow suffered against West Brom.

The 31-year-old is expected to return from his hamstring injury in late September; therefore, he will miss Wrexham’s clash against QPR this weekend.

However, his absence has not been as disastrous as first feared for Parkinson, with Wrexham picking up seven points from nine on offer with Windass sidelined.

Regardless, Windass has proven over his career to be a deadly operator at Championship level, and the Dragons will be set to profit from his penchant for the spectacular when he returns from the sidelines.