'He'd understand' - Why Sheffield Wednesday 'always knew' that Owls' Swiss army knife would make the cut
The chances of making it as a professional footballer are incredibly slim. The chances of playing for your boyhood club, even slimmer. So what Liam Palmer has done at Sheffield Wednesday over the years is nothing short of remarkable…
Right now you see Palmer as a 32-year-old, an experienced campaigner with an enviable career that has seen him win trophies, collect awards and represent Scotland. But when he joined the Owls at just nine-years-old, who could have known what would lie ahead?
Sean McAuley was the man tasked with overseeing his progression, keeping a watchful eye on Palmer as well as other talented players in the academy at the time such as Vadaine Oliver and Nathan Modest. He says they saw something in that youngster from the start, and over his six years as part of the Owls youth setup it was his job to help nurture that potential.
McAuley – who still speaks to his former graduate now – would play a big part over the years, from helping his progression into the first team to assisting in his venture into international football, and he says they always felt like he had what it took to go all the way.
“He was one that, because of his ability and his game knowledge, you knew he had a real chance of going on and doing what he’s done,” he explained over the phone, speaking from his home in Indiana. “Look, he’s had a great career and when we first had him we knew that he was a good player. He was in a good group as well, I’ll say that, but with him you always knew that he had a chance.
“By the time he got promoted into the first team everybody knew that he was in and around getting a chance, because we worked so close together. It’s one of the good things about Sheffield Wednesday - the academy and the first team train next to each other. That makes it easier… We used to challenge him quite a lot, but the thing with him was that even at a young age you could play him anywhere on the pitch and he’d understand what was needed.”
That won’t be something that surprises many Wednesdayites considering the variety of positions that the Owls stalwart has played in recent years, with his versatility being something that many managers have drawn upon on the way to him reaching 435 appearances for the club – in many ways he’s their Swiss army knife.
Palmer’s former youth coach, now at Indy Eleven in the USA, went on to say, “It’s something that’s obviously bore fruit for him later down the line, because look at him in the first team now… He can play right back, centre back, central midfield - he played left wing for the youth team on a number of occasions. You could play him anywhere and he’s just go and do the job… People talk about the attributes of different positions, and Liam has them all – that, for me, was the biggest reason why he got through. It wasn’t just his technical ability, it was the fact that his attitude was fantastic as well – he wouldn’t bat an eyelid wherever he was asked to play.”
It's been far from plain sailing, of course. Some managers haven’t fancied him at first, and he’s had to force his way back into things. Even the current boss, Danny Röhl, took time to establish him as a key member of the starting XI, but his mentality – McAuley says – will always see him through.
“That’s his character,” he explained, with pride in his voice. “It says what sort of person he is. First and foremost he wants the team to do well, so he won’t spit his dummy out or do anything that’s against his teammates or the club winning - and when you’re a player like that coaches start to notice that, if they do need someone to help them, they can turn towards the ones who want you to win when they’re not playing. That’s Liam. His character is 100% solid, and you’d trust him with anything - inside and outside of football. That’s largely down to his upbringing and also the way he’s manoeuvred his career.”
There are seven more players above ‘Palms’ on the club’s list of all-time appearance-makers, with the great Andrew Wilson (546) sitting atop the pile. It’d take some doing to climb that high, but whatever happens the man who played such a huge part in his story hopes that he’s remembered in the right way. Even if it means never getting to coach him again.
“I just hope that the supporters recognise it because I do think that sometimes he goes unnoticed. Like when new managers have come in, and not been having him for a bit, they’ve eventually realised how good he is. I think that’s probably the same for some supporters, it might only be when the story ends for him at Wednesday that it’ll finally hit home to everyone the respect he should get.
“I would always try and sign him! The last text that we had was ‘How are you doing?’… He wasn’t signed up, and I was thinking that I could maybe get him over here for a couple of months!
“But I’m really pleased that he’s got another contract at the club. As much as I’d like to see him playing for a team I’m at in America, if he could end his career at the club that he chose when he was nine-years-old, I think that’d be amazing. The word legend gets thrown around pretty easily these days, but that would definitely put him in that bracket. I want that for him, so I’m glad he got a new deal. But yeah, I’d take him wherever I was.”