Alan Biggs at Large: ​Rohl set a bold course – now he has to get there

I’m writing blind of the Leicester game, taking place after this was written, but if you wanted the best possible shot at simply staying in the Championship there were other more obvious places to look.

So if there are question marks over whether the young German has the experience for the Sheffield Wednesday job - as expressed to me privately by some former players - then it’s only natural.

But you have to ask what “the job” actually is, as dictated from above, before forming judgment.

Is it to drag the Owls to safety this season by hook or by crook? If so, the same reservation as above applies, especially considering Rohl’s equally natural attempts to implant his own style.

Is it to restore some order from the chaos, to gradually evolve a new and essentially younger squad, in whatever division?

Great if it’s the second of those. But that requires some kind of strategy, spanning the next several windows. Do Wednesday have a plan? Is there a danger of the club, and its management team, being caught between the two?

Clearly that has to be the case right now. So all you can do is broadly support what Rohl is trying to do, even where you might not agree.

For instance, the recent omission of Lee Gregory. In terms of strike craft, he is the best forward at Hillsborough in my opinion.

The best at holding the ball up, the most clinical at taking chances.

Looking at Gregory’s age, 35, gives the best clue to Rohl’s thinking.

But if the main objective is to stay up, you’d still play him surely?

Just one example of mixed messages and muddled thinking. Ditto, Marvin Johnson and Reece James on the bench last Saturday.

But again, you can only give Rohl his head having selected this course.

It was five defeats in six ahead of Wednesday night and yet you can see some logic to his thinking.

He’s primarily aiming to go younger and more athletic (hence the Gregory omission) with an emphasis on pace (which the Owls lack in abundance) up front. Which has to be the main objective for the future.

Bearing out the fitness and stamina aspect, we have consistently seen good starts and petering out finishes.

That has to change if Wednesday are to stay up. Yet the biggest bearing will be the January window.

Having set this bold course, will the club have the resources and inclination to back it up?

As with most things at Hillsborough, only one man has the answer to that question.​​​​​​​