Simmering Sheffield Wednesday momentum is a powerful beast: Alex Miller's Owls column
‘Tis the calm before the summer. But one vital component of Sheffield Wednesday’s turnaround is simmering in momentum. Alex Miller rambles on.
Like a boulder nudged from a long and stagnant wait atop a large hill, momentum at Sheffield Wednesday takes some stopping.
The nature of that beastly club that it is means that its direction of travel is difficult to divert; gaining in speed as it goes, bouncing through obstacles along the way. Such is the ferocity with which that corner of South Yorkshire culture fires off, it’s a danger to those that come into contact with it, bold and brazen and unpredictable. It can make the insurmountable surmountable.
It’s the pride and sometime hubris that the fanbase wears so proudly - and is so often mocked for by those looking on from close quarters. Where the masses of other clubs have a more guarded, slightly warier outlook, Wednesday’s tends to be more optimistic, more chest-out and cocksure. There are exceptions of course, but the weight of season ticket sales without real sight of what is yet to come proves the point. Wednesdayites are behind the journey.
Because they’ve waited for this. A fresh start and the return of hope. More recently they forced the hand of the bogeyman and earned their new beginnings in away ends across the country, throwing money into the abyss week-on-week without hope or agenda. For all the sneering as to what Wednesdayism is from those in different colours, it is that sense of ‘massiveness’ that got the club through without falling apart. And it’s that massiveness that can play such a powerful role in the kickstarting of a road back to wherever it leads.
On the quieter flipside, momentum can travel south. Wednesday managers past have spoken about the weight of expectation that can be felt at S6 and the difficulty it brings in steering things back in a positive direction. Boulders are difficult to move, after all, and this one has grown its fair share of moss over the years.
Betting odds have pinned the Owls among the promotion favourites from League One next season. It feels a hedge-bet on their part and while all the moves as current feel hugely positive, it’ll be months before any word can be had on where the club are likely to be operating come Spring next year. The rebuild task is enormous and though the ambition is there, patience will likely be a wise buzzword as matters roll on. There are short, medium and longer-term missions that lie ahead. Conversations around the place suggest the new order are well aware the importance of on-field progression next season. Let’s see what everyone has up their sleeve.
What has enveloped Wednesday in the last weeks is optimism, excitement and potential. The checkpoints have been made along the way in impressive hires, a can-do attitude and huge achievement in even reaching this stage of proceedings. But what can underpin all of the efforts from on-high is from those filing through the turnstiles in great numbers.
Hillsborough is a powerful beast when Wednesdayites are on-side and full of fire. Every early suggestion is that it’s on-course to be that way. And that’s a hugely exciting prospect.