Sheffield Wednesday fans need to play their part in ‘bold’ new era

But if the Danny Rohl managerial appointment is to work to its full potential, something about some of them may have to change.

Rohl carries a lot of goodwill and rightly so. For boldness, it is a choice you can only applaud and I do expect an upturn in results. The immediate hope is that the Owls will sprint into mid-table leaving the current imperilled position behind. But what if, as is more realistic and likely, they don’t? What then?

A refreshing number of supporters embracing this appointment are committed to it being long term whatever happens in the short. Will they still all be singing from the same hymn sheet if, for instance, Wednesday are relegated (as some are pledging they will) ?

We saw how quickly public opinion can turn against a manager in the case of the rapidly sacked but initially welcomed Xisco Munoz, albeit that - hopefully - there will be no comparison here.

By and large, the football industry and football fans don’t do long term. In this case, both may have to in order to give the hiring of a 34-year-old first time manager a proper chance of working. No swift judgments this time. Relegation and out makes no sense at all. And fundamentally I still don’t believe the club’s eventual prosperity lies in the hands of a coach or manager, however gifted.

It is about the structure around him and clearly that’s not going to change. The owner, against all advice, is not going to change (witness another administrator leaving this week). Neither does he look like selling. So, unless he were to be displaced, the only thing that can change - against the grain of how football works - is for followers to take a very deep breath and commit to long term gain from any short term pain.

Maybe we in the media share the same responsibility. I’ll certainly be mindful of tempering early judgments and not basing them too much on results. It would be naive to do so with the squad in this chaotically transitional state, much as I believe there is enough know-how within it to beat the drop.