It's all well and good until the football starts - Sheffield Wednesday's good vibes take a hit
Sheffield Wednesday fans haven't been accustomed to positivity of late, but there's been plenty of it this summer.
David Storch and Co have hit all the right notes since taking over from Dejphon Chansiri, bringing good vibes back to Hillsborough as they look to improve everything around the club - from the squad to the training ground to the stadium and beyond.
New signings have been - largely - welcomed with open arms, and a well-organised preseason trip to Central Europe went down a storm as fresh faces settled in and this ‘reborn’ Wednesday started to take shape.
But it doesn’t take long for the mood to shift in football. A heavy defeat to Oldham Athletic, with arguably the strongest XI fielded this summer so far, saw pressure heaped on manager, Henrik Pedersen, from some quarters, and the players knew that it wasn’t good enough.
Captain, Liam Palmer, took to social media afterwards to say, “Thanks for your support across the two games yesterday! Embarrassing result, pre-season or not. Nowhere near good enough. Huge wake-up call. Work to do, we’ll be ready.”
Personally, I’ll be judging things a little bit further down the line. The work needed to put together a cohesive team after such a massive overhaul cannot be underestimated, and there probably is some realism needed about how this season might start for the Owls.
Players are talking of pushing for promotion, so it’s natural for the fans to desire the same…"
That’s not to say that there shouldn’t be expectations, of course. Players are talking of pushing for promotion, so it’s natural for the fans to desire the same. I do, however, think that - as has been called for elsewhere at the club - patience is required.
What also doesn’t help, I don’t think, is when further fuel is added to the negative fire. Yesterday was a good example of this, with Begbies Traynor administrator - and Wednesdayite - Kris Wigfield taking a swing at Ike Ugbo after his departure for Apollon Limassol…
“Getting rid of characters like this from the Club is just as important as any signing,” Wigfield said on Twitter.
“When even in the bleakest of financial circumstances, a high-wage earner shows such entitlement for the money they receive and such contempt for the supporters that were literally paying his wages- you have no chance… Good riddance.”
Ugbo bit back, of course, but for me, I don’t think either grievance should be aired publicly. Both sides will believe that their truth is the truth, but without every single fact available it’s impossible to properly pick a side.
The striker’s truth was this: “I hate having to give this man any attention, but when people choose to speak publicly, correct the record once. I won’t explain private matters for entertainment. Those who know the truth know my character… Some people mistake a position for authority and an opinion for fact.
“One of the first things this man did as admin was try to fine me over rulings which made no sense to me. The way I was questioned about my prescribed medication showed me everything I needed to know. I’m sure there’s plenty of time now to focus on being proud of the boys week in, week out. That’s the last I’ll speak on the past.”
That wasn’t the end, though. This morning Wigfield took to Twitter again - this time to explain that he felt that the right time had come for him to step away from the platform.
“I’ve got 4.5k followers, nearly all of them fellow Wednesdayites,” he said. “I’ll always give an honest and forthright view, even when it’s controversial (which it often is). But I also prefer a quiet life away from work, and I firmly believe my opinions should never have any chance of influencing the future of SWFC.
“With that in mind, I think this account has served its useful purpose and reached a natural end. It’s time for me to do what I enjoy most, quietly supporting Wednesday alongside my friends and family, firmly in the background.
“Thank you to everyone who has followed me and taken the time to read my posts. WAWAW.”
It all felt very unnecessary, and will not have gone down well internally at Wednesday. Arise and their new executive team have worked incredibly hard to try and push the Owls away from the toxicity of the past, and last night felt like a step backwards through no fault of their own.
Wednesday need more time to settle; they also need further recruitment. Everyone at the club knows what’s expected, and what they hope to achieve come the end of the season. They also know that none of that is going to be easy.
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Very sensible piece. The pre-season results have been pretty shocking, far worse than those from our last L1 season in 22-23, but we are coming from an incredibly low base and expectations (including mine) are probably unrealistic. We need to get the positive vibe and the sense of forward momentum back
The club and HP know full well what is expected, the players have said themselves they expect a promotion push, Storch has said he expects the players and manager to be at their best. I have no doubt that if we aren't performing as expected then the owner won't be afraid to make a change and I believe that would be before Christmas if necessary. I want HP to succeed but I have confidence in the owner to make the right calls at the right time.