Sheffield Wednesday appointed Lee Strafford as the club's chairman today (Wednesday, January 7) and the new man at the helm has given his thoughts on taking up the position.

Strafford, 36, is a lifelong Wednesday fan and is determined to bring success to the club. He brings a wealth of business expertise as co-founder and former chief executive of PlusNet.

Having been appointed to the SWFC board on December 18, 2008, Strafford was confirmed as chairman on Wednesday morning with fellow director, Nick Parker, 48, taking up the position of chief executive.

This is what the new chairman had to say...

How do you feel to be the chairman of your football club?
First of all it's our football club, not my football club. I am very excited, proud and humbled. There is a big job to be done and we are making progress. The main driver of my emotions has been seeing people change what they've been doing over the past week or so - from football and non-football staff there has been a great reaction to what we've been doing. Seeing people happy at work and happy to come to a game has been a great thing to experience.

How long ago did you realise that you were going to get this opportunity?
It is as recently as three or four months ago when we talked about helping out down here. I've always offered my services, whatever they could be, to the football club like most Wednesday fans. I've been fortunate enough in business that I'm in a position to help.

This whole process started three or four months ago - putting a team together and building a business plan, working with the people internally and then working externally in the football community and with investors. When we delivered all the activity that created the news flow around the last AGM, that's when we went from 'we might be able to do this' to 'actually, we are doing this.'

What will the differences be with you as chairman of this football club?
We have a team that wants to execute a plan. We're all aware of the history, sliding from the Premiership, restructuring (the business) late, the restructuring being painful and that pain being left in place for perhaps too long. We wanted to actually get in there, put the team together and deliver a plan. We also wanted to engage the team that actually runs this club and does a very good job too, then build the confidence of the stakeholders and investors involved in this transaction. We are massively excited about we're doing right now.

What did you find when you first came through the doors?
We found a brilliant platform with the stadium and the brand, we found a great platform with the team of people doing their day-to-day jobs. We saw a clear need for a vision, a plan and a cultural change and I can't emphasise enough that as a consequence of the pain the club has been going through.

Some people say the club has lost its heart; I like to say it's lost its cultural identity. When I was growing up, coming down here, I was educated that Sheffield Wednesday stood for tradition and fairness, honesty and integrity, was respected locally, nationally and globally as a football institution. The people we are engaging with today are fully supportive of getting back to that cultural environment.

What have the board of directors seen in you, firstly in opting you onto the board and then giving you the massive honour of being chairman of this great football club?
What they saw was a sensible way of dealing with the past and restructuring this business; implementing a plan, a vision and a team to help the team already in place carry it forward. Then what they saw is everything we said we would do, we did - we built up credibility where others. It is an honour and I am humbled by where I find myself right now but I am more focussed on protecting everybody who wants to take this forward and enabling everybody to enjoy the matchday atmosphere or enjoy working here because there is so much we can do with this club just by working together.

This is just the first instalment of our interview with Lee Strafford, come back for more soon.