Sheffield Wednesday man reveals pre-Newcastle United huddle chat and core group’s burning ambition

The lifelong Wednesdayite was a fan at the Millennium Stadium when the club rose out of the division in 2005 and was a young squad member the next time in 2012.

And he’s hoping to make it a unique treble this season despite manic competition from the likes of Ipswich Town and Plymouth Argyle as the Owls set their minds back on the league and a trip to Wycombe Wanderers – while those two closest rivals do battle at Portman Road.

“I put pressure on myself because you want to leave a club in a better place than where you found it,” Palmer told the BBC. “When I first came through we were in League One, I managed a promotion in my second season and so in that respect everything was going great.

“We’ve obviously dropped back down so for me and a few of the players that have been here, like Barry for example that has been here for a number of years, we’ve got a core group of players that are just desperate to see the club doing well and want to get back up.”

Reflecting on one of the best nights of his career at Hillsborough on Saturday, Palmer couldn’t help but smile when discussing his role as captain.

But it is one of the club’s other leaders – manager Darren Moore – that he singled out for praise having brought a new mentality to the campaign.

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“It was a proud moment and to be able to lead the team out as well was special,” Palmer said.

“We’ve been going well the last few months especially and that’s down to the manager’s thinking, his winning mentality and keeping the run going whether that be Newcastle in the Cup or Cambridge the game before in the league or Wycombe on Saturday. He just wants to keep winning.

“The longer we stayed in the game, we knew the chances would come. We’ve got some good players who can put the ball away and thankfully Josh had his shooting boots on.”

The expectation on Newcastle to set up offensively allowed Wednesday to win the ball high up the pitch – a reality that isn’t often the case in League One as clubs set out to frustrate and blunt the Owls attack.

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And though he admitted he doesn’t have the ‘Braveheart’ rallying cry of injured skipper Barry Bannan to fall back on, the shift from favourites to underdogs breathed freedom into the side pre-match.

“To be the underdog was different,” Palmer said. “I said to the boys in the huddle ‘Don’t give them anything for free, it’s our patch and we know how we can play at Hillsborough once the crowd gets up, it’s a difficult place to come’.

“The shackles were off and we knew they’d start fast, they’d been on a great run themselves.

“When the teamsheets came out we saw a few of the big dogs on the bench and that gives you a little bit of a boost. The boys were well up for it.”