Joe Crann: Sheffield Wednesday's clean slate, is it for the best?

LONDON, ENGLAND - MAY 28: Sheffield Wednesday players including Fernando Forestieri (45) are distraught at the end of the Sky Bet Championship Play Off Final between Hull City and Sheffield Wednesday at Wembley Stadium on May 28, 2016 in London, England. (Photo by Mike Hewitt/Getty Images)

Four years ago this month an army of Sheffield Wednesday fans were on their way to Wembley for the Owls’ biggest game in years, and there was a renewed sense of hope under Carlos Carvalhal that we were ‘on our way back’.

Now, with the 2019/20 season likely to end without any further joy, the team that gave Wednesdayites so much to cheer for is on the brink of being broken apart completely, but maybe it’s for the best?

Of the 18-man squad that went into the 2016 Play-Off final, just Keiren Westwood, Tom Lees, Kieran Lee, Sam Hutchinson, Barry Bannan, Fernando Forestieri, Joe Wildsmith and Atdhe Nuhiu remain at the club, and that number looks likely to deplete even further at the end of this season.

Hutchinson, Lee, Forestieri and Nuhiu are all out of contract in few weeks’ time, and as things stand there are no agreements in place for them to extend beyond the 2019/20 season, while Westwood is severely out of favour.

Should that long-serving quintet depart, then Lees, Bannan and Wildsmith would go down as the only survivors from that day at in the nation’s capital, and could be three of just four remaining players of the 28 that featured in that hopeful season – the other being Liam Palmer.

And while the likes of Adam Reach, Steven Fletcher, Morgan Fox and Sam Winnall – who were brought in for another Play-off push the following year – are still with the Owls currently, only Reach is currently contracted beyond the 2019/20 campaign.

Many fans have called for a clean slate, and talk of problems in the squad have been amplified by comments from Garry Monk about some of the ‘dressing room culture’ at the club, so it’s possible that hitting the refresh button could be just what the doctor ordered?

That being said, major outgoing changes must mean major incoming changes, and Dejphon Chansiri and Garry Monk will only know where they stand – and what they can do – once the case against the English Football League has been put to bed.

For now, like us, they must wait.