Rotherham star Self Esteem turns spotlight on Chansiri
Rotherham singer-songwriter Rebecca Lucy Taylor's choice of football team might not be everybody's cup of tea in her home town.
But the stage star, better known by her moniker Self Esteem, has been indulging herself with her love of Sheffield Wednesday in recent times.
Rebecca proudly sported a Wednesday tracksuit top at Glastonbury in June.
And on Saturday, the Anston performer returned to the allegiance - only this time adding a barbed sentiment about the reign of the Hillsborough club's owner Dejphon Chansiri.
Rebecca, who describes herself as a “long-suffering Wednesday fan” picked the Sheffield Arena leg of her tour to embrace the “black and gold until it’s sold" movement.
During the encore performances of Self-Esteem’s mega-hit I Do This All The Time, and Focus Is Power, she and her backing singers were draped in black and gold supporters’ scarves adorned with the words: "We Want Our Wednesday Back."
The former Wales High School pupil's love for the club is rooted in family, she says; her great-grandfather played for the club, and her father was born in the Hillsborough area.
And it influences her work too, she said in one interview that she wants to make “football terrace music for the girls and the gays.”
For many Owls supporters like her, the name Dejphon Chansiri has become a lightning rod for frustration.
Since taking over the club in 2015, Chansiri’s tenure has been marked by repeated financial and governance-related difficulties: wage payments delayed, multiple registration and transfer embargoes, safety concerns at the stadium, and the club being persistently mired in off-field crisis.