Alan Biggs at Large: The simple switch Sheffield Wednesday could make to potentially trigger a more successful season in 2018/19

Sheffield Wednesday have won 13 major honours in respect of titles and cups. Including promotions from all leagues, the tally is 19.
Barry Bannan in last season's Wednesday kitBarry Bannan in last season's Wednesday kit
Barry Bannan in last season's Wednesday kit

There is one common denominator. All of them were achieved by a team playing in blue-and-white stripes.

Hence you imagine there will be no more popular announcement this summer than a return to the club’s traditional kit if and when the widely expected move is confirmed.

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This column’s research indicates that, dating back to the beginning of the 20th century, the Owls have won nothing playing in anything else. The only exception goes further back to the 1889-90 season when Wednesday topped the then Football Alliance wearing blue and white halved shirts.

It seems the only other recorded deviations were horizontal blue hoops from 1875 to 1881 and two brief interludes of pinstripes (1987-89 and 2016-17). Apart, that is, from last season’s return to a near replica of the 1965-72 shirts – solid blue with white sleeves.

Now personally, I actually liked that kit, a sort of Arsenal in blue. It was smart and distinctive. Also the numbers were clear!

But was it really Wednesday? Certainly not the Wednesday the vast majority of supporters have known down the years.

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And was it lucky? Well, no, unless you include the run to a losing FA Cup final in 1966 (when the team actually played in a change strip of all white).

So a big shout here for the shirt of four league title triumphs (between 1903 and 1930); three FA Cup wins (1896 to 1935); the League Cup conquest of 1991; five Second Division titles (1900 to 1959); and three Third Division promotions (1980 to 2012). Not forgetting the double cup final season of 1992-93 when the club had one of the finest sides

in its history.

Some things are just meant to be. No silverware will ever be won by a shirt but a sense of shared identity between those wearing it and the supporters goes a long way.

There was some dissent but no major outcry over the loss of the stripes last year when the lateness of replica kit delivery was the main cause of strife.

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Worth noting that season ticket sales are understood to have remained high despite the trials of the last 12 months with the figure of 21,000 likely to be matched at least.

But you suspect a return to tradition would trigger a much more welcome reaction this time.

Moral of the story? It’ll be all stripe on the night!