Help Sitemap Home Skip Navigation Contact Us Disability Statement

 
 
Wednesday, 20th August 2008

Premium Article !

Your account has been frozen. For your available options click the below button.

Options

Premium Article !

To read this article in full you must have registered and have a Premium Content Subscription with the Sheffield Star site.

Subscribe

Registered Article !

To read this article in full you must be registered with the site.

Sign In
Register

O'Connor to sign for Owls



Click on thumbnail to view image
Click on thumbnail to view image
Click on thumbnail to view image
Click on thumbnail to view image
Click on thumbnail to view image

Published Date: 28 June 2008
By Les Payne
NEW signing James O'Connor is certainly relishing the prospect of his Sheffield Wednesday debut - it will be against Burnley, the club he is leaving to join the Owls!
O'Connor, 28, and someone who knows the route to promotion from The Championship, has agreed to join Wednesday and finalise the move next week.

He was strongly linked with the Owls, in The Star, shortly after the end of last season and he was always in the mind of manager Brian Laws.

The one-time Republic of Ireland international will link up with his new colleagues when they report back for pre-season training next week.

Work then begins on preparation towards the August 9 opening date when the visitors to Hillsborough will be Burnley.

What do you think of the signing? Post your comments below.

He has been at Turf Moor for four years having joined them from West Brom where he had been a promotion winner when the Baggies got to the Premiership in 2003/04.

O'Connor has made over 400 appearances in a career that started as a youngster at Stoke City and Laws said he was delighted to be bringing him in.

"He will bring a lot of experience to a key area of the team and I am sure he will prove an excellent asset to this football club," said Laws.

O'Connor has agreed a three year deal with Wednesday and is seen as a player who will bring a competitive edge to the midfield.

Ex-Owls skipper Nigel Pearson is expected to name one-time Wednesday midfielder Craig Shakespeare as his assistant manager at Leicester after leaving his post at West Brom.

Shakespeare, 44, joined Albion nine years ago as a recruitment officer before becoming youth-team coach under then-manager Gary Megson and subsequently reserve-team boss.

He played a major role in Tony Mowbray's management team last season as the Baggies won the Championship title and promotion back to the Premier League.

READ MORE
Football headlines.
Football gossip.
More Owls.
Sports columnists.
All sport categories

The full article contains 346 words and appears in Sheffield Star newspaper.
Page 1 of 1

  • Last Updated: 28 June 2008 9:06 AM
  • Source: Sheffield Star
  • Location: Sheffield
 
Prev
1
Next
1

oz_owl,

28/06/2008 12:30:38
This is great news. If we can get Smith on loan from Chelsea as well we'll have 3 (inc. McAllister) hard working central midfielders competing for 2 places. Nice move by Laws.
2

Tubsy,

Sheffield 28/06/2008 12:47:07
To be honest I think we have enough exoerienced midfielders. What we do need is a good replacement for Whelan and Brunt. We've offloaded two players that are premiership quality but replaced them with; Esajas - can't find his way into the first team and O'Connor - not good enough to get into the Burnley side, a team that I feel we should be better than.
Also, Burton O'Brien and Ronnie Wallwork have been released. O'Brien in my opinion was our best midfielder of the 07/08 season. Esajas will need to improve if he has a future at the club, and I wish the best for the exciting youngster Rocky Lekaj.
3

King Reid,

Sheffield 28/06/2008 17:52:47
Oz Owl, I completely agree with you.

Tubsy, Burnley wanted to keep O'Connor but he wanted to go. At 28, he's just the right age. Sorry to say O'Brien was very inconsistent and Wallwork just plain bobbins.
4

oz_owl,

28/06/2008 18:08:06
Tubsy, O'Connor started 24 league games for Burnley last season, more than any one of our central midfielders except Whelan.
And these are the players we had in central midfield last season:

Wallwork
Lunt
McAllister
Folly
Bolder
Kavanagh
Watson (played mainly at the back)
O'Brien (split time between centre and left)
Whelan

We've still got 3 of those: Lunt (out of favour), Watson (not his best position) and McAllister.

So I'm not sure where our experienced midfielders are? I definitely wouldn't be happy going into the season with just those 3.

O'Brien was average at best, Wallwork (as King Reid said) was poor and couldn't get into the side over the other poor midfielders we had!

Agree with you about Whelan and Brunt, but Whelan would have gone for nothing this Summer anyway and we just don't have the money to buy players like that. Hopefully Laws has found a cheap way to improve our midfield, and I'd much rather have a 28yr old O'Connor than bring Kavanagh back!
5

Ex-Chapeltown Lad,

Congleton 28/06/2008 19:27:04
2 Good goalies, Excellent 4 from 6 defenders ( Woods - Beavers - Spurr - Simek - Hinds - Watson )good midfield from O'Connor - McAlister - Johnson - Esajes - (hopefully) Smith, Up front, looking more than healthy, from, Sodge -Tudgay - Burton - Jeffers, maybe( hopefully not) Clarke, Looks like the sniping prophets of doom might have to limp off to another watering hole, until the injury bug strikes again! I' give it 7 out of 10 for a Championship side. What do you think?
6

Lincs Owl,

BRIGG 28/06/2008 20:09:52
Ex Chapeltown Lad, Thats virtually the side which only escaped relegation on the last day. What makes you think this season will be any better?
If some of those players(eg Jeffers) were not made of glass, we might have a chance.
7

Ex-Chapeltown Lad,

Congleton 28/06/2008 20:28:02
Cannot remember Jeffers Sodje McAllister Smith Simek O'Connor even Beevers being much involved last season Point I am making is the current season AVAILABILITY to start and its credibility to hold its own this season. How many out of 10 would you rate it then ?
8

owl down under,

28/06/2008 20:48:38
Dont forget we had an incredible run of losses at the beginning of last season. About 6 I believe. We lost 3 of those unluckily and against the run of play. That would have given us another 9 points--well away from relegation. We did beat Soton 5-0 and generally played below our potential. Our injury toll was unbelievable.
This season should be much better, top 8 could be a possibility.
9

gold coast owl,

29/06/2008 06:10:20
Good healthy discussions these. Really looking forward to the start of the season now. I believe our current list can be very competitive and push higher up the table provided they stay fit and fully committed. Mind you, you could say that about most clubs but I'm totally and utterly biased! Would also like to see how a 4-3-3 formation goes in pre-season with O'Connor/Watson playing behind the other two central mid fielders, with two genuine wide men aiming at Sodje up front. Thoughts?
10

Ex-Chapeltown Lad,

Congleton 29/06/2008 11:28:34
Only trouble with that is the widemen. Johnson, brilliant in patches but certainly too inconsistent and too re-active to challenges,by fouling,to be part of a stratergy. Esajas.,similar but also too lightweight.Leaving us with Small, doesnt know when to pass the ball and seldom finds a man when he does! Rocky Lekaj,I believe has blown a fuse and will need to start to make progress if he is to be considered for regular 1st team inclusion!
Prev
1
Next

 

Comment on this Story

 

In order to post comments you must Register or Sign In

 
 
RSS Feed of this article's comments
Delivery formats: RSS, Atom, Javascript & Email
 
  

 
 


Sister Newspapers:
Press Complaints Commission

This website and its associated newspaper adheres to the Press Complaints Commission’s Code of Practice. If you have a complaint about editorial content which relates to inaccuracy or intrusion, then contact the Editor by clicking here.

If you remain dissatisfied with the response provided then you can contact the PCC by clicking here.