Sheffield Wednesday chairman, Lee Strafford, joined independent fans' group Wednesdayite at Hillsborough on Thursday night for the 'Forward Together - A Year On' meeting and addressed a range of questions from supporters in attendance.

The Owls chairman reflected on a whirlwind 12 months at the Hillsborough helm, covering a raft of issues on and off the pitch.

Strafford said: "As a club we have made massive progress together and for that I am very proud. If you think about how this club was perceived by its supporters and also in football, we were not liked as an organisation to deal with and trust for many had been broken.

"Now, especially on the back of the Children's Hospital partnership, we are respected on a foundation of trust and honesty. We have changed all of the key processes that drive our football club and we have moved from a holding position to trying to drive the club forward in order to grow our investment in developing our playing squad.

"We were lucky to inherit a strong financial platform that had been established by our colleagues on the board and that has become clearer over the past year or so when a lot of clubs have gone way beyond their means. So the platform we inherited, one of not losing millions of pounds every year, gave us something strong to work with, in stark contrast to what many other football clubs are now experiencing.

"Obviously, I share everyone's disappointment at the position of the team, especially because the budget this season is at its highest since we left the Premiership. Nobody likes where we are but we are all in this together and everyone needs to back each other. In Alan and his team, I think we are really fortunate to have such highly regarded people from a professionalism and capability perspective and I know that given the support, these guys can develop our squad and make us more competitive.

"We have a wonderful supporter base too and Wednesdayites' vocal backing can lift the players so much, so it is vital we give the players all our support for the remainder of the season."

Strafford also updated supporters on the ongoing investment process at Hillsborough, highlighting the need for patience to see a positive conclusion achieved.

He said: "We count ourselves very fortunate that Club 9 Sports remain in dialogue with the club and the Co-op Bank given the current financial climate in football.

"There are no guarantees but getting resolution of what division we are in next year will be a big catalyst. Two parties have to agree a valuation and that is very difficult to do when you have two sets of financial forecasts - one, in the Championship or, two, in League One.

" What will be different is what the deal costs. Thankfully, they haven't walked away but clearly things haven't moved quickly because of where we are from a league position perspective.

"Taking this process forward involves Club 9 Sports agreeing terms with the Co-op Bank and the loan note holders and this is not a situation that the club can directly influence.

"We will continue to update our supporters on the investment process when necessary and in the meantime, I would urge Wednesdayites to buy their season tickets for next season before the first deadline of March 8, as this will be the biggest influence on Alan's budget for next season, a budget which will be set in April/May .

"So much work has been done to lift our club from its previous positioning and although it has not paid off entirely yet, we must all carry that effort on, especially given that the competitive landscape is weakening and this works in our favour."