Late yesterday evening Sheffield Wednesday confirmed that Chief Executive Officer Katrien Meire had now somewhat unexpectedly departed Hillsborough for the last time.
A very brief statement from the Official Site gave no reason for her departure and whether or not it was club driven or the decision of our CEO, and simply thanked her for her work at the club since her appointment.
Sheffield Wednesday’s Chief Executive Officer Katrien Meire has left Hillsborough #swfc https://t.co/7Gtz7swBzr
— Sheffield Wednesday (@swfc) February 11, 2019
Her own statement read.
“Since joining Sheffield Wednesday in January 2018, I felt a warm welcome from everyone at the club and the fans at games and around the city. I would like to wish the chairman, the staff and players at the club all the very best. With new manager Steve Bruce in charge and the fantastic support of our amazing fans, the club’s journey to the Premier League has never looked any better.”
Taking to social media to react to the late news, many fans were perplexed given the lack of details, with some wondering if it was somehow a move designed to ease any Financial Fair Play concerns with the final determination and accounts for the time period due to take place next month.
The "customers" will be pleased.
— Mark Webster (@DoctorBadvibes) February 11, 2019
Bit of a shame did no wrong at S6 as far as I can see. When’s Paxo man leaving the club then.
— JSWY???????????????????????????????? #DissolveTheUnion (@JSWY303) February 11, 2019
Why? Surely we deserve some more information than that? We need more structure, not less.
— Rich Hargreaves (@rkhargreaves) February 11, 2019
Maybe she was on £500k a week and this will help FFP?
— J (@the_geeker) February 11, 2019
Seems to have done a very good job since coming in
— Daniel (@Daniel_Swfc) February 11, 2019
Seems a massive shame on the face of it.
— Jenni (@Jenniowl) February 11, 2019
Some stability behind the scenes would be nice……
— James (@WestRyderLoony) February 11, 2019
I recon it’s all down to Bruce wanting to work close with his own contacts, may bring a replacement in who he’s worked with before, makes sense, only heard good things about her though
— Tom Goulden (@tom_goulden) February 11, 2019
By mutual consent or quit?!?! Is this good or bad?
— Adam Halford (@prettygreen1980) February 11, 2019
Never a dull moment…
— Owlsfan81 (@owlsfan81) February 11, 2019
Whilst the reaction was certainly mixed, with plenty praising the work that she had done at the club, others questioned whether her departure was actually a bad thing given the general feeling in the fanbase about how we are run and the issues fans face.
Maybe we’ll get more details as the week progresses but Sky Sports are implying that she resigned.