More churn needed at Sheffield Wednesday to change bugbear with the squad

It’s been a bugbear for a while but Sheffield Wednesday may be about to grasp an opportunity to remove one big barrier to success. Who hasn’t had a gripe about the age of the Owls squad over recent seasons, which at one stage averaged over 30?

Well, let’s acknowledge this. The average age of the 12 players remaining on contract plus the seven offered new or extended deals is down to 27. And you suspect manager Danny Rohl will drive to take it down even lower now that he has committed to the club.

Currently, there’s a definite age split between those on contract (average 25) and those seniors courted to remain (around 30). But that doesn’t make the contract offers wrong - providing the Owls focus future recruitment on freshening with youth. Besides, individually and collectively, the older guard earned the right to be wanted during last season’s relegation escape.

It’s a decent core group to build around assuming agreements can be reached with the remainder following deserved tie-ups for Barry Bannan and Liam Palmer. There’s also the balance of a fair smattering of youth in the other group.

Talent apart, athleticism is an increasingly important part of the game and Wednesday have come unstuck on that in the past. Considering the emphasis Rohl places upon it, you can only imagine his signing plans are geared that way.

Assuming he has the power to drive them, I for one can see the club competing in the top half of the Championship next season, as per his target. Outside of that, there may be other opportunities to grease the wheels and free up cash. Michael Smith and Mallik Wilks look unlikely to figure. If so, Wednesday must be open to offloading. Ditto if the same question arises again over Marvin Johnson.

There has to be more churn in the process for the club to progress. But the direction of travel appears more encouraging than it did at one stage - and travel in terms of distance covered on the field is very relevant.