Alex Miller: The Sheffield Wednesday revolution has changed - it's a new world out there
and live on Freeview channel 276
A good number of Sheffield Wednesday’s raft of soon-to-be out-of-contract players should be on a beach somewhere fielding calls from clubs up and down the football league. Wednesday should be linked with a number of exciting young talents and football writers should be squabbling over who takes what holiday during the summer break.
Not that we’re complaining.
But a tragic and unforeseeable global pandemic later, here we are, with football finally on the horizon and nine matches still to play. It’s going to be fascinating.
Advertisement
Hide AdAdvertisement
Hide AdThe pieces are not in place yet, not by a long chalk, and as players such as Fernando Forestieri remain on-hold as to his future, just how Wednesday’s squad will look as the season ends remains to be seen.
And how Wednesday’s squad will look in the long-term is even more up-in-the-air.
What we knew back then is not necessarily what we know now. Steven Fletcher and Morgan Fox were two players destined to continue their Owls tenure, but as Garry Monk hinted at the pair having been offered lesser terms due to the changing face of the club’s finances, their future is a mystery.
Josh Windass is a player on two goals in four with Wednesday and seemingly set to leave Wigan, would have had nine games to prove himself worthy of a potential bid in the summer. But with news that he has suffered a calf injury that could scupper the extension of his deal, he’s another whose future has been turned on its head.
Advertisement
Hide AdAdvertisement
Hide AdA number of youngsters have been signed on beyond the season and Wednesdayites are looking forward to the return of Matt Penney and the continuing development of Osaze Urhoghide in particular. But in terms of incomings, like the bulk of the league, the rumour mill is not for turning.
Quite how badly the coronavirus affects the finances of the Championship will become clear in the coming months, quite when fans will be able to return to stadiums, eat hot dogs and buy programmes still a mystery.
Chairmen and directors from clubs across the country have described the scale of the problem coming over the hill – with one even suggesting up to 60 clubs could face a tragic oblivion. There’s a widely-reported £200m gap in the finances of the Championship as it stands. These are eye-watering numbers.
This column is not designed to scaremonger or question the long-term future of Sheffield Wednesday Football Club in any way – but it does aim to convey the issues that clubs will have going forward. A Wednesday wage bill that already needed slashing needs slashing further.
Advertisement
Hide AdAdvertisement
Hide AdAnd this is for the vast majority of clubs in the Championship, of course, notwithstanding the three clubs pushed down through the trapdoor of the seemingly recession-proof Premier League, whose parachute payments will offer even more of an advantage.
In his summation that ‘this club will never be successful’ until the changing room is changed. Free transfers, clever loans and wheeling and dealing are likely to be central to the Garry Monk revolution.
It’s going to be a crowded market.