"Half the time it's nonsense" but Sheffield Wednesday old boys are key to derby fire-back

The disappointment of derby day defeat at Bramall Lane is not one that Sheffield Wednesday will shake off lightly, but with a fortnight’s recovery time ahead before they step back into action against Cardiff City, experience within the group will be vital as they dust down and set about making their way up the Championship table.

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The nature of a committed performance in a close call loss to Sheffield United has garnered a disappointed but relatively philosophical response from the Owls fan base, with many expressing as such on social media. It makes a welcome change from the emotional extremities so often evident online, a modern phenomenon not helped by the swings in results Wednesday have produced in a topsy-turvy campaign so far.

In-house, efforts are made to retain a calmness, staff and senior players making their experience felt by presenting a steady hand on proceedings in good times or bad. Harsh words are not uncommon when required - manager Danny Röhl said as much after a second half capitulation against Watford earlier this month - but it’s in the actions as much as the words that see the senior players steer the culture of the dressing room.

The likes of Liam Palmer, Barry Bannan, Dominic Iorfa and Josh Windass are known to be leaders within the walls of Middlewood Road and having played at the club for several seasons help to oversee the blooding of the squad’s younger players.

“Stay off social media!” Windass said when asked of his advice to the club’s growing list of young pros. “Everything gets amplified in there. But we do the analysis with the manager and I think it's just the characters around the dressing room, if your stronger characters are depressed and leading a bad environment, I don't think you can recover from that.”

Windass played his 150th game for Wednesday at Bramall Lane and is approaching a status as only the third Owls player to score 50 goals this century after Marcus Tudgay and Atdhe Nuhiu. His role as a senior player is one he takes seriously and the senior players core is one that is valued by Röhl and his staff.

“You hear the word 'culture' bandied around football a fair bit and half the time it's nonsense because it means different things in a different environment,” Windass continued. “We (the long-time players) are a massive part of that here, when new players come in we set an example on how to behave, being on time, the way we act as professionals.

“When they're not doing that, we try to keep things to a good level. It's important we keep that going and over a period of time we've done that. All the young players know the way they need to act around here and that all goes into the way we train and play.”