The thing with Wednesday is this.
Three years ago Gray got the Owls to 13th, so the assumption was that they were a "mid-table" side.
They weren't. I reckon they finished several places higher than they should have done, based on squad, finance, etc. It was down to Gray's tactics that they finished in the middle, which is why he should never have been sacked.
Chansiri starts to spend lavishly, at least by Wednesday's standards, but it was going to take a lot of expenditure to get an 18th-ish placed team up the top end. The fans are sick of Gray's defensive football, and they want open, attacking football (as well as a new pitch and scoreboard). Chansiri gives the fans what they want, and the emphasis is on entertainment. There's no pressure, and the team can play with brio. Think the Blades up to X-mas. The Owls over-achieve, are the weakest team in the play-offs, and duly get beaten by an ex-PL outfit.
The next season it's all about promotion, and Carlos goes into his shell. He correctly realizes that pragmatism is the best way for a non-parachute club to get promoted (notes 'Boro), but the snag is that the players the club have bought are not exactly suited to that style (the team's thin on the ground in defence, and there's no midfield enforcer). Nevertheless the club finishes fourth, then in true Sheffield style an irreplaceable player is lost at just the wrong time (as with Evans, so with Hooper). Does Carlos stick with the same system which has brought all those victories, but now minus Hooper, or does he go for it. It's a 50-50 call and he calls it wrong.
This season it's clear from the outset that the players, or a majority of them, have lost faith in him. It's a hangover, big time, and to make matters worse the club is then walloped by the worst injury crisis I have seen in Sheffield football. The club's bob, both on and off the field, right down to the shirt on the players' backs, and had Swansea not come in for Carlos then it could have meant relegation.
Can next season be as bad or even worse than this one? You tell me.