I watched the atmosphere in the Sheffield Wednesday away end completely change during pre-season friendly
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Football is great, eh? Until the football actually starts
It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.
12 months in the life of a Sheffield Wednesday fan is certainly a long time. 45 minutes in the away end at Oldham Athletic on Saturday felt even longer.
In terms of how much onus to place on a pre-season friendly, I usually work by this rule; if you’re winning them all then the season is going to be great. If you lose them all disaster awaits. Obviously, that is tongue-in-cheek and neither of those pre-season outcomes results in the season being defined one way or another, but you want to start seeing encouraging signs game-by-game.
I do think there’s a little truth in the momentum you build, either positively or negatively. This is where the concern comes in.
What I witnessed when I walked into the away end at Boundary Park made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. I was there again with my sons for their first away day, following on from their first ever match against West Brom on the final day of last season.
It felt like a continuation of that. “Good vibes”, the youngsters may say.
Going through the repertoire of Wednesday hits; Honolulu, Hi Ho, We’ve got Bannan etc, all in full voice. New yellow strip on display. first teamers on show, sun shining. It was good to be back.
But that mood soon changed and it felt ‘Old Wednesday’ returned as soon as the songs had died down.
Less than 15 minutes in and the League Two home side had the lead. Not to worry, more songs and a rousing of the troops were called for.
2-0 to the Latics just before half time and the disgruntled murmurs started. The half time whistle came and boos could be heard.
By the time the scoreboard read 3-0 in the second half, a fair chunk of the travelling support had decided enough was enough and left for the motorway home (or the pub for a pint).
4-0 as the final whistle sounded and the disgruntled murmurs had become profanity-filled outbursts from those left behind.
The mood had completely switched. Pre-season optimism, hope and confidence had quickly flip-flopped to questioning, uncertainty and disaster.
Of course, none of those reactions are rational, really. As mentioned elsewhere, teams have had horrible pre-seasons and won leagues and cups. They’ve also had great pre-seasons and been relegated.
But to go back to an earlier point, it’s the momentum that builds that can be tricky to turn around. Both on and off the pitch.
Add to the release of the “Good Vibes” the arguing on the Wednesday X hashtag over the weekend, and it certainly feels like the Wednesday of old are back.
Football is great, eh? Until the football actually starts.