Liam Palmer's 'strange one' admission as he thanks Sheffield Wednesday's supporters
Sheffield Wednesday’s Liam Palmer admitted that it was a ‘strange one’ to go from an empty Hillsborough to a full one, but says it was a welcome change.
Owls fans flooded back to S6 on Saturday after the end of Dejphon Chansiri’s reign was confirmed following the decision to put the club into administration, with over 27,000 attending at short notice to help push much-needed funds into the club.
Palmer, who is the longest-serving player at the club, has seen the lot during his time in blue and white, and he was hoping that the side could get a result on Saturday when Oxford United came to town. Sadly it wasn’t meant to be as they fell to a 2-1 defeat, but the return of supporters - he says - it’s a huge boost.
Join our Sheffield Wednesday WhatsApp community
Get all your Sheffield Wednesday news delivered straight to your phone!
“It’s not an easy task with everything that’s happened,” he said. “Going from no fans to a full house was a strange one, but it was a welcome return from them… I just want to thank them for backing us today. I saw the pictures of the club shop full, and they’ve been supporting the players and staff that have worked really hard in what has been very difficult times…
“It’s been tough. It’s been tough for me as a player that’s been here as long as the Chairman was. in that we’ve had some really good games and moments, but the last few months have been tough the way things have been run. As players we’ve tried to maintain what we can and control what we can up until the administrators came to speak to us and give us a rundown of what it looks like...
“I think you could feel today, driving into the stadium with cars already parked up Herries Road… It felt like a proper matchday being back, and a bit of optimism. It’s just a shame we couldn’t get the three points…
All Wednesday Podcast
Interviews, match analysis and behind-the-scenes chat - new episodes every week.
“The fans’ protests and boycotts have been clear. They wanted to come back in, they’ve missed watching us and we’ve missed having them in the stands... It’s been a tough week, but hopefully now we can start to see some brighter days.”
Wednesday now find themselves on -6 points and a long way from safety in the Championship, with survival looking even more unlikely than before, but the mood is largely positive as a new dawn takes place for Wednesdayites with the hope of better things to come.
Next up is a trip to West Bromwich Albion on Saturday as they look to edge closer to getting the minus next to their points tally removed.