David Storch was proven right about Sheffield Wednesday vs Hull City
‘Wednesday are massive everywhere we go. Wednesday are massive everywhere we go. Everywhere we go’.
It went on and on and on and on. Without pausing for breath, Sheffield Wednesday’s supporters did not stop singing for a good 30 minutes at the MKM Stadium on Saturday afternoon.
It was so impressive that this reporter spent just as much of the second half watching the away end as he did what was happening on the pitch. It was impossible to take your eyes off it.
Two weeks on from just over 3,000 Wednesday supporters out-singing the home fans at Pride Park, just under 2,300 of them had no problem out-singing the home fans on the banks of the Humber. Chants of ‘We saw you crying on Wembley Way’ from the Hull City fans inside the opening 45 seconds were soon drowned out by a much louder rendition of ‘Hi Ho Sheffield Wednesday’.
The first half banter chanting went back and forth as three goals were plundered before the break. However, it was in the second half when Wednesday’s travelling army really made their mark.
As ‘Wednesday are massive everywhere we go’ filled the East Yorkshire air, some even decided to brave the chill by removing their shirts to swing them above their heads. That was still a theme when Wednesday’s players and manager Henrik Pedersen went over to acknowledge them following the full-time whistle.
If you had not glanced at the scoreboard the reaction of the Wednesday supporters at full-time would have had you believing Pedersen’s side had ended their six-month wait for a victory. Instead, Wednesday had just been condemned to a 29th Championship defeat of the season, losing 3-1.
“It was a little bit of a challenge for me to get contact with the players sometimes because we couldn't hear anything because they were singing so much,” Pedersen told The Star in his post-match press conference. “But it was amazing.
“I have said this before: this unconditional love, what they're showing everyone around this club, it is amazing. They were amazing today.”
During a time of such misery and deflation, one thing has remained consistent: Wednesday’s support. Whether it be at Hillsborough or on the road, Pedersen and his players know the fans have stayed right behind them.
The Owls, courtesy of the indefensible mismanagement of their former owner, Dejphon Chansiri, have experienced a season from hell. With just seven games left, they have recorded just one victory, currently sit on -6, were officially relegated in February and could start life in League One next season on -15.
When you consider all of that, it is a miracle Wednesdayites bother to turn up at all. However, they still turn up in their numbers and make a right old racket.
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If Wednesday’s supporters are continuing to follow their team up and down the country in such vast numbers when the club is in the state it is currently in, what will it be like when this tanker is eventually turned around and sailing in the right direction again?
Arise Capital Partners LLC, who were installed as the new preferred bidder to complete a takeover at Hillsborough almost a fortnight ago, are understood to be making progress with their purchase to secure the keys to Hillsborough.
The group, of course, is being fronted by US businessman David Storch, who attended Wednesday’s 1-1 draw with Watford earlier this month with bid partner Tom Costin. Storch, 73, was interested in buying Wednesday prior to the club being plundered into administration, meaning he has been determined to become involved for quite some time.
And after Wednesday’s supporters were often made to feel as though they were being looked down on by Chansiri, who was never afraid to get into spats with them at exhausting fans’ forums, Storch’s approach is likely to be very different.
”This is a tremendous challenge, but the greatest asset you have is actually your fans and the history,” Storch recently told BBC Radio Sheffield.
He added: “I am very sincere when I say the fans own this club. We will be the custodians and the partners of the fans as we look to restore the glory and bring hope back to all the fans.
“I want you to feel happy around Hillsborough and to continue to support the team on the road. That is another amazing element about this fan base, how far people will travel to see a game, it really is remarkable.”
With the squad having been stripped last summer and again in January, Hillsborough in desperate need of modernisation and the club’s Middlewood Road training base needing to be dragged kicking and screaming into the 21st century, Arise are not getting much for their money.
Goalkeeper Pierce Charles, 20, is the club’s most sellable asset by a distance. However, beyond him there is not much else.
Nevertheless, the one guarantee Arise, should they complete their purchase, will be getting is a fan base that can create the momentum and power required for Wednesday to get back on their feet.
With an atmosphere being created like the one on show at Hull on Saturday, Wednesday’s supporters demonstrated they are the club’s biggest asset, turning up week-in, week-out even when the club is at its lowest ebb.
The potential is off the scale if Storch and his team secure the keys to S6 and get it right.
Openly admitting he wants to engage the fans and rebuild the relationship between them and the club’s hierarchy after years of them being made to feel worthless by Chansiri, the aviation guru has the chance to try and get Wednesday moving in the right direction again.
Whether they are Honolulu'ing or swinging their shirts above their heads, Wednesdayites are a constant, reminding everyone of the club’s potential if they fall into the hands of the right owners.
Storch wasn’t wrong when he described them as the club’s greatest asset.