Alex Miller: Time to put the nonsense to one side and enjoy the 'feel' of Sheffield Wednesday at its very best

But as Barry Bannan swung a pass out to him in the cold Cambridgeshire night, as he looked up to find his next pass and as the ball bobbled forlornly over his foot and over the touchline, the noise from the travelling support was one not of anger, but of apathy. Wednesday were 1-0 down and that moment right there was rock-bottom.

It was dark, it was cold and supporters of Cambridge United were taking joy in the pain of Sheffield Wednesday. It was raining sideways and thousands of Wednesdayites asked themselves, as they may have done so many times over the years; “What on earth are we doing?”

But the fact is, for football supporters, it is so often in the deepest, darkest depths that the love is most felt. The more they let you down, the more you can’t help but love them.

The laughs had and scrapes you get into on away days are so often not dependent on the result. When it’s all boiled down, that’s not what following your club up and down the country is about.

But it helps to be rewarded. And thinking back to those deepest, darkest weekday nights at Cambridge, at Sunderland, at Plymouth, it is events such as Saturday that are the reward; a sell-out match against a big club in a huge game in the sunshine. They don’t come around often, after all.

For all the nonsense debate around the merit of ‘part-timers’ from a small minority of grumps on Twitter, Saturday is a day for Wednesdayites to come together to push Darren Moore and his players across the line and get a step closer to an altogether bigger day out; one that will too be played in the sunshine, this time under an arch.

Moore has spoken time and again of the need for ‘oneness’ at Wednesday. The players have too. “We’re all Wednesday” is a buzz phrase that has been hit on a number of occasions and while it seems an easy, crowd-pleasing few words to trot out, it means something.

This writer can’t claim to have been brought up a Wednesdayite and can’t profess to have been swept up in the whirlwinds of 91, 93, Cardiff or Carlos. In many respects I’m peering in from the outside on all this.

The fact is that every club is special in its own way, that shared feeling of togetherness that comes with wearing a certain set of colours transcends the blokes booting a ball about. I’d imagine it’s a feeling difficult to describe, ‘being Wednesday’, just as it is anywhere else.

Every club does it slightly differently. And it’s clear Wednesdayism has it’s own feel.

Rivals may mock that sort of sentiment, but leave them to it. For the next few days, everyone connected with Sheffield Wednesday Football Club is involved in something special.

Online debates over the merits of certain players in certain positions can wait. Grumpy grumbles over team selection can be parked. For the next few days, Wednesday fans boasting one ticket stub or 40 should settle in and enjoy. Because if you can’t enjoy this, what’s the point?

Come on you Wizards.