"They expect certain things.." Sheffield Wednesday can handle fan expectations heading into promotion race

That’s according to club captain Barry Bannan, who spoke of the balance within the squad in terms of youth and experience as a vital factor in them achieving promotion back to the Championship at the first attempt.

The Owls lost at Lincoln City over the weekend to fall from the top of the League One form table but even with their Sincil Bank reversal have seven wins in nine.

Much is made of the expectation of supporters at Wednesday and particular at Hillsborough. But Bannan believes the combination of Darren Moore’s even keel approach of management, coupled with that squad balance, can help the players embrace it rather than fear it.

On his manager, Bannan said last week: “His character is always the same; he doesn’t get too high with the wins and he doesn’t get too low with the losses. I think that rubs onto us as well.

“He never seems flustered, he never comes in to rant and rave. I think he’s a big enough character to deal with flak and it’s been nice to see him getting praise.

“You need to be a certain type of person to come here and play or manage. It’s a big club, they [supporters] expect things and so they should, so you need to be a certain type of character to come here and play or manage on that pitch. The gaffer has that in abundance.”

Wednesday have been without a handful of senior players at different stages of the season, something Bannan feels made it difficult to maintain consistency earlier on in the season.

But with experienced senior Wednesday players such as himself, Liam Palmer, Sam Hutchinson and Jack Hunt fit and firing, younger and less experienced players have responded both at the training ground and on the field of play.

The Owls underwent a huge squad transformation in the summer and the likes of Fisayo Dele-Bashiru and Ciaran Brennan have been handed extended opportunity.

Asked about the challenge of handling of fan expectation, Bannan said: “They’re quite lucky they have people like me, Palms, Hutch that have been here and know what the club is about.

“As soon as you they came here they knew within a couple of games; you lose a game and they’re on your backs or you win and they’re right behind you.

“You can try to tell them but until you’re out there you don’t know. It’s good we’ve got guys like us that know what the expectations are to help these young boys. Hopefully they can keep learning and keep going.

“When you’re young and learning it can be a hard place to play but we’ve a lot of experience who have played at a good level. We know how to stay calm and it rubs off on the players around you.

“I think having those players on the pitch changes all that panic and frustration.”