Alex Miller: Sheffield Wednesday purge offers Darren Moore an opportunity his predecessors longed for

And Sheffield Wednesday’s eagerly-awaited ‘retained and released’ list for the 2020/21 season hammers the the fact home that when supporters make that first shuffle into Hillsborough sometime in August, they’ll be doing so in anticipation of a truly fresh, new side.

“There is going to be new faces, there’s a rebuild going on,” Moore said. “And part of that is implementing a football style in terms of what we feel is going to be right to move this football club forward.”

That eagerly-awaited retained list, the release of just about every senior man. Clauses triggered on Sam Hutchinson, Ciaran Brennan and Alex Hunt, a contract offer to Osaze Urhighide. Otherwise, an exodus.

There will quite rightly be tributes to some of the long-serving players who drove the club through two promotion near-misses and the finest times for the club in a generation; for two-time Owls player of the year Keiren Westwood and former captain Tom Lees.

Westwood racked up 199 senior appearances for the club, Lees a whopping 274. Both can surely be pushed into the category of modern Wednesday legend.

Adam Reach arrived as part of one of the final jigsaw pieces to a puzzle that the club hoped would see them bypass the playoff lottery and push for automatic promotion. That star faded a touch as his Hillsborough career went on, but after 230 tireless Wednesday displays, his too is a Wednesday career that deserves huge respect.

In Joey Pelupessy they have a maligned figure who always gave his all but was ultimately a little limited in his output. 119 appearances for any club is a tally that has to be commended.

Jordan Rhodes? It never quite happened, did it? Signed like Reach as the boost they hoped was needed, his is a regrettable Wednesday story so indelibly linked with over-expenditure and decline – a microcosm for what followed. He spent a season farmed out at Norwich but still made 112 appearances in Wednesday colours.

These are big numbers that players don’t often reach at a single club. And piled on top of last season’s exits of Atdhe Nuhiu (277 appearances), Kieran Lee (217), Fernando Forestieri (134), Steven Fletcher (136) and to a lesser extent Morgan Fox (103), this could fairly be considered something of a purge.

Add to this list Joost van Aken, Kadeem Harris, Elias Kachunga, Moses Odubajo and the others from last season; Sam Winnall et al. The turnover is remarkable.

Garry Monk spoke openly about the need for it, Tony Pulis alluded to it; that things had become stale in that Wednesday changing room.

And it is Darren Moore, in a different division with a different budget, who will get the benefit of a much cleaner slate, of a reduced wage bill and of a fanbase surely more accepting of the notion that whatever comes forth will take a little time.

Football has changed hugely in recent years; it is fast, bold, attack-minded. And whatever the obstacles, a successful squad should reflect those ideals. Sheffield Wednesday squads of late have not.

The rebuild Moore has spoken of starts now at Sheffield Wednesday. It’s one hell of a project.

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BIG changes at Sheffield Wednesday as retained list is confirmed - long-serving stars head for the exit

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