Rival boss out to break through Wednesday wall

AS Gary Megson reflects, he must be the only visiting manager to have paid to have himself and family members included in the Hillsborough Wall of Fame.

The purchase of such memorials illustrate his Wednesday upbringing and continued love of the club.

But that will not matter when he walks through the doors on Saturday as manager of Leicester City, with the aim of leading the Foxes up the table and widening the two-point gap between them and the Owls.

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"I love Wednesday. But I'll be going there to try and come up with something to turn them over," says the former Wednesday star who also still lives in Sheffield.

He bought bricks in the Wall of Fame on the exterior of the South Stand for himself and family, including his dad and ex-Owls captain, Don, after his mum, Yvonne, died.

Many bricks in the wall express fans' allegiance to the club or commemorate loved ones who have passed away.

Sentiment, of course, has no place in a manager's mind when it comes to the matter of winning points.

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"It's about professionalism; I want a result on Saturday for my club, which is Leicester City," says Megson, who is only three weeks into the job."

Mind you, he could have been heading for the home-team dressing room tomorrow, if things had turned out differently 11 months ago.

After Paul Sturrock's sacking, he was interviewed by the Owls and is known to have been on a shortlist of three with Brian Laws and Bryan Robson.

The former West Brom boss who twice took Albion up to the Premier League had been out of the game since bringing to an end a daunting spell at Forest but he got his break last month when he was Milan Mandaric's choice after the shock axing of Martin Allen over a clash of personalities between manager and his employer.

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"Out of my five games we have won two, and those were in the cup," reflects Megson. "We have to start improving.

"It's a really good club. It's no use us talking about promotion yet. We need to bring some quality into the club."

Megson tried to sign Graham Kavanagh on loan from Sunderland but Wednesday had nipped in first and agreed a deal to take the midfield man to Hillsborough.

"He's good player; I know him from my time at Stoke (in 1999)," he said.

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"I've tried to sign him a couple of times before. I spoke to Roy Keane (Sunderland manager) about him, but he'd just agreed to go to Wednesday. I've known him a long time. He's a super player."

Megson is also aware that Kavanagh and fellow loan player Michael Johnson have played major parts in the Owls' move off the bottom of the table.

"They've brought in a couple of players who seem to have improved them. Johnson gives them bit of experience; he's also retained his pace, though he's one of the older brigade," he said.

Leicester chief Mandaric is ready to back his new manager in the loan market or after the next transfer window opens.

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Mandaric said: "I will support the manager all the way, just like I always do."

Mandaric is encouraged by what he has seen so far from Megson.

He said: "I see that we have a man with a good football brain.

More sport, click here. I see better organisation in the team and the ideas of what we are trying to do.

“In this division you sometimes have to grind out results.”

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