Sheffield Wednesday exit confirmed, ‘waiting game’ begins

Jack Stobbs, who has been with the Owls since being a young boy, is one of those making way, and after a Wednesday career that involved loans to the likes of Port Vale and Livingston, it’s time for a new start.

The youngster found out at the start of May that his time at Hillsborough was up.

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Speaking to the Star this week, Stobbs explained, “Due to us still not being allowed to train or be at the training ground it was over a video call as it was better than just a phone call. Obviously nobody’s fault, it had to be done that way as the way things are at the minute. There’s quite a handful of us who’ve come to the end of our time there now.”

The 23-year-old was part of the young Owls team that clinched the U23 Professional Development League Northern and National titles in 2016/17, and he admits that he feels they had their chances to take the step up into the senior ranks, saying, “Obviously with the team that was so successful at U23 level, which was by far the best squad I’ve played with coming up through the ages, people might obviously of expected more of us to make the step up.

“As players we were doing so well, but fully understood the huge leap between U23’s football and first-team football in the Championship. It doesn’t always work out like that, and that’s just the way football is sometimes. The year after is when Jos (Luhukay) took charge and none of the lads can deny the opportunity was there if you were doing well.”

Now, as he begins his hunt for a new club, Stobbs says it’s a bit of a ‘waiting game’ given the unusual circumstances adding, “As everyone will agree it’s a very strange time in general at the moment and especially when in terms of finding a new club as no one knows when or if this season is going to completed first, a lot of things are out of our control at the moment so it’s a bit of a waiting game in the sense of looking for a new club and causes a feeling of uncertainty but I think you just have to relax and be patient in terms of things you can’t control and just be ready when something comes up.”

With his time at Hillsborough at an end, Stobbs says he will never forget his debut back in 2014, a moment that he recalls as his best moment at the club.

“It’s very hard to pick just one memory,” he recalls. “As 17 years at one club is a very long time, but I think probably the feeling of making my debut not long after turning 17, not even a year after leaving school. Just thinking to myself ‘This is everything you dream of as a boy growing up and wanting to play football’. That will always stick with me.”

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