Now the dust has settled… - Five talking points as Sheffield Wednesday fall away at Derby County

3-3 it ended. Twice Wednesday led, twice their results – if they’d held on – would have been enough to stay up, but in true Owls fashion this season, there just wasn’t enough in the tank.

At 2-1 down they were dead and buried. Wednesday’s history season suggests that they were never getting back into it, so when they managed to pull it back to 3-2 then there was really a sense of awe about the place.

After all, winning a game from a losing position is not something that Wednesday do. They haven’t done it all season, so why would they start now?

The immediate reaction was sadness. Was disappointment. Was anger. But if we all search deep down within ourselves, relegation was always a major possibility. At -12 is was expected, at -6 it was probable.

Wednesday have deep-rooted problems that need sorting. Some of them are on the pitch, some of them aren’t. Here are some talking points from a miserable afternoon at Pride Park that had everything except the right end result.

It’s been coming

Various Wednesdayites had resigned themselves to relegation at various points this season… It’s been a campaign of carnage, in many ways, and there are so many days when fans could’ve gone ‘this is it’.

Saturday was the final nail in that coffin. And while it was painful on the last day, it was hardly a shock. Not really.

They’ve only got themselves to blame, even if the -6 aspect was out of their hands, and you can count on one hand the amount of games that would’ve saved them from relegation if they’d only managed to hold on.

Time’s up

Seven of the 14 players that played at Derby are out of the contract come July 1st, and four of the six unused substitutes were in the same situation.

AS of this weekend, there are a LOT of current Wednesday players who have now played their last game in Wednesday colours, including long-serving players such as Keiren Westwood, Sam Hutchinson, Adam Reach and Jordan Rhodes.

It’s going to be a big summer for the Owls in terms of who does and doesn’t stick around, and there’s absolutely no doubt that many of those that played on Saturday will not be seen in Wednesday’s blue and white again.

A united front

The result didn’t go their way, but everybody turned up for this one… You can fault the quality, but you can’t fault the commitment to the cause from Wednesday’s players for this one.

They fought back from behind, they almost got the job done. But ‘almost’ wasn’t enough. Ultimately they didn’t have enough in the locker, even if they did front up in a way that probably hasn’t been seen at any other stage this season.

It was a full team experience at Pride Park… Pretty much the entire side rocked up for the occasion, and probably the most impressive of all of them was the loyal Tom Lees, who turned up in a big cast and on crutches.

It’s safe to say that his doctor would’ve recommended staying at home, but Lees has been involved with Wednesday for far too long and is far too invested to not pitch up for that game. If his Wednesday career is over, then you can’t say that he’s given everything for the cause.

That old points from winning positions chestnut

It’s 29 points dropped from winning positions after this weekend. Twenty nine.

Incredibly, after this weekend Wednesday have now taken the lead in 24 games this season – a tally only beaten by eight different clubs in the Championship – but have managed to pick up just 12 wins, the fourth lowest in the division.

The -6 didn’t help, of course, but to dismiss that as the only reason for their demise would be to forgive the mental fragility that has dogged this side for many a month. Twice they led, twice they were in a position that would have secured their Championship status, and twice they threw it away.

It was, unfortunately, The Wednesday Way to go.

The only positive

in a season of turmoil, one of the only positives has been the fact that – at last – it feels as though Wednesday have got the right man in charge in terms of Darren Moore.

The poor Owls boss has had an absolutely torrid time of it since he arrived at Hillsborough with injuries affecting his team selection and his own health meaning a prolonged period away from the side, but it does feel like his vision is the way forward. So to hear both Moore and the chairman, Dejpon Chansiri, speak of his future was a big relief.

Having Moore confirmed as the manager for League One dispels an element of uncertainty that lingered over the side, and now fans can look forward to the former defender building a team in his own image that he feels can make a real push for promotion back into the Championship next season.

Chansiri’s job now is to give the man what he needs, back him to make that promotion push, and throw his weight behind the man who he’s appointed to take this football club forward.

There's a big few months ahead.

More Owls news

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Darren Moore reveals plans over his Sheffield Wednesday future

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