For Palmer, the past few months have been a personal and professional challenge.
The Scotland defender, who has only known Wednesday as a permanent club, with close to 500 appearances, watched on “powerless” as good friends exercised their right to leave, exasperated by unpaid wages and the direction of travel.
But as the squad’s Professional Footballers’ Association representative, the 34-year-old has been left to deal with awkward questions from worried players for which he has rarely had the answer.
Palmer and club captain Barry Bannan managed to arrange a Zoom conversation with Chansiri in the summer, hoping for some clarity but receiving none.
“The owner maintained that he was doing his best, but we were asking questions that ultimately he didn’t have the answers for,” said Palmer.
“But we felt that we had to ask them on behalf of the players.
“It would have been lovely to hear ‘you are going to get paid on this time and the money was going to come’, but he didn’t have the answers. But I would rather have had that answer than not asked him at all.”
The match with Middlesbrough proved to be one of the lowest points of his career, played out in front of virtually empty home stands, reminiscent of the depressing times of Covid when playing football felt more like a job than at any other time.
And having the players and fans united again at Hillsborough at least offers Palmer hope for the remainder of what will continue to be a challenging season.
“Football is dead without the fans, and for me Wednesday night was tough,” he said.
“It took me back to that Covid season, there was an emptiness around where everything was at.
“So this has just stoked the fire a little bit within the group to use that little light of positivity to get us through the next few weeks and months.”
