Protests and a flyover will mark first game of season for 158-year-old club struggling to pay or recruit players

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here is little like the anticipation of a new season, not knowing what will come, optimistic this could be your club’s year. Sheffield Wednesday fans have sold out the away end at Leicester on Sunday to watch their team take on a club recently mixing it with Liverpool, Arsenal and Manchester City in the Premier League. The excitement should be building at Hillsborough but instead there is only worry and anger.

It has been a summer of discontent at Wednesday, although the problems began years ago, and the only thing for supporters to cling to is that it may end Dejphon Chansiri’s reign. Those at the King Power Stadium are due to show their disdain for the ownership by leaving their seats empty for the first five minutes and covering the area with a large anti-Chansiri banner. A plane is scheduled to fly overhead with a further message aimed at the owner.

“The attitude among the fans at the minute is despair,” says Ian Bennett, the chair of the supporters’ trust. “In the short term, surviving is the biggest thing and I think it’s going to be a problem. We’re not going to be competitive at all. I think it’s just going to be an absolute nightmare and we’re very concerned about the future of the club.”