Alan Biggs: Despite everything Sheffield Wednesday have something that would be the envy of many

Sheffield Wednesday still have a priceless asset at this parlous time in the club’s history ... simply being Sheffield Wednesday.
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As the impressive capture of Manchester City youngster Fisayo Dele-Bashiru clearly shows.

If you’re shopping towards the middle or top of the market, carrying a famous name can count against a club.

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Now that Wednesday are having to adjust their sights towards lower profile acquisitions, the weight of history and tradition should be in their favour.

Fisayo Dele-Bashiru was this week confirmed as SHeffield Wednesday's latest signing. (Photo by Jack Thomas/Getty Images)Fisayo Dele-Bashiru was this week confirmed as SHeffield Wednesday's latest signing. (Photo by Jack Thomas/Getty Images)
Fisayo Dele-Bashiru was this week confirmed as SHeffield Wednesday's latest signing. (Photo by Jack Thomas/Getty Images)

We’re talking younger, aspiring, hopefully hungrier, footballers on the way up rather than established players at Championship level. Or, in the case of Dele-Bashiru, stepping down to step up because they want to play.

Obviously Wednesday’s appeal will have diminished more than a little in recent times - and a points deduction would be off-putting to say the least.

But Hillsborough is still a grander stage than most at this level. Succeed here and you are more likely to be noticed.

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By comparison, how often have the Owls paid over the odds for players under the current regime?

Maybe they had no choice to secure the calibre of Fernando Forestieri, Barry Bannan, Ross Wallace, Steven Fletcher, Jordan Rhodes and the like.

As a result, the club accumululated a raft of players, some of whom have left the club as abject failures, on around £30,000 or more per week.

Now, as the damage is painfully calculated, times are so very different.

Presumably the club can no longer afford bidding wars, particularly in wages.

Agents still drive hard bargains but the more pressing concern for them, and their clients, is the sheer number of unemployed and available players amid the financial crisis inflicted by COVID-19.

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So Wednesday are in a relatively healthy position to recruit on realistic terms - as, in fairness, they have been doing for a year now.

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Loans apart - and there has to be an emphasis in that area to stay competitive on the field - the accent is on recruiting talent for development. Turning cheaper signings into investments.

And turning some of these players over into sales that strengthen the club for the longer term.

This is a whole new ball game requiring more skill and judgment than was applied to acquiring the ready made article, at whatever cost, from 2015 onwards.

But it is an opportunity the Owls can take with the right expertise and input. Because this, after all, is Sheffield Wednesday.

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