From die-hards to ignorance is bliss - following events at Sheffield Wednesday from afar has torn Owls fans

What’s it been like following events at Sheffield Wednesday from afar this season? Definitely not as challenging or depressing as what it will have been like for the die-hards who have continued to follow them up and down the country.

But it has still been draining and painful. My approach? At times, ignorance is bliss. On one hand you wanted to know everything. But sometimes it felt better to bury your head in the sand, to remove yourself from the situation completely. It’s not that I wasn’t interested or bothered, I just didn’t want it to dictate my mood. Others will have done nothing but hit refresh. It has been a real struggle and it has pushed people to the limit and tested their loyalty to the max.

While working in my previous job, shouts across the press box of ‘Wednesday are losing’ or ‘Wednesday have conceded’ in my direction would normally have caused me to become distracted. But they were soon met with a rolling of my eyes, a resigned expression or blankness. I became numb to it. Just nothingness.

It has been a season to forget, but how can you? It will go down as one of the most memorable campaigns in the club’s history, but for all the wrong reasons. In years to come, ‘Sheffield Wednesday’ will be the answer to a lot of pub quiz questions and people not old enough to remember it (lucky them) will wonder what the hell happened. It’s a long story.

Mentally, it has taken its toll on a lot of people. Sheffield Wednesday is their release from their everyday stresses. But when your escapism causes you more stress, it’s a real problem. Radio phone-ins have been a tough listen. You could hear the anguish as regular callers battled with their emotions.

For me personally, being relegated at Bramall Lane mattered. That stung. Although the way in which it happened didn’t make it feel as bad as I feared it would. Strangely, even though it was obvious that relegation was inevitable and was a matter of ‘when’ and not ‘if’, since it has been confirmed it seems to have galvanised the fanbase even more which is admirable.

I will finish with this. To date, only one league victory on the pitch, But the biggest of wins was recorded off it and I think most supporters would have taken that.