Stickers, strife and the Happy Mondays - Alex Miller's view of Sheffield Wednesday's Salford City trip
Sheffield Wednesday once again battled to win out away from home. Via bog stickers, fan rows and a night out with Shaun Ryder, Alex Miller reports.
You rather suspect there’s a touch of irony to the sticker in the gents toilets at the AIG Stadium that proclaims Salford City to be ‘the biggest for miles around’.
It’s a rum old place that delivered yet another reminder of the vagaries of what it is to follow an EFL football club through the ramble of an EFL campaign. There’ll be Leicester and then there’ll be Bromley. Perhaps future cup trips will take in Liverpool or Arsenal, perhaps Merthyr Town or Berkhamstead.
Having to crawl beneath the press bench to regain a spot in the viewing gallery before looking out onto the 1,311 souls to have ticked off a new ground by way of a match seemingly sponsored by the Jersey Boys, the reminder is that this is indeed where Sheffield Wednesday are. It’ll be where they are when they welcome the under-21 side of a club they contended a play-off with not long ago and it’ll be where they are when they inevitably come up short against one of League One’s smaller names.
It is from Salford City, from the EFL Trophy, with a side that for much of the match played a lot like a team that had only met a few weeks earlier, that provides the base from which the promise of grand rebuild is starting out. It’s the legacy of everything that came before and cares little about memories of Chris Waddle and trips to Wembley. Football as meritocracy simply doesn’t care.
All this is not to say Salford doesn’t have its own sprinkling of glamour. As 5,108-seater stadiums set into a residential space go, it’s neat and tidy and has clearly had its share of investment by an ownership made up of some of the biggest names in the country’s national obsession. Squinting into the sunlight to the other side of the ground it was impossible to make out which of the Class of 92 were present, but the suggestion was that Paul Scholes was there at least. Alongside members of the Owls executive team, Michael Storch was said to be kicking about in the blue corner.
With documentary crews following figures around throughout the match on a night that provided the biggest EFL Trophy attendance in the club’s history, it was clear there was a soul to the place far beyond cackling Jamie Carragher gags about how often Gary Neville might dispose of managers. Picnic benches placed behind their West Stand housed ketchup-munching youngsters in Manchester United tops and stewards chuckled with regulars. Even if Dirty Old Town was played out one too many times - nobody needs that much Pogues - it was football as community.
On the field, the story of the night was of course Di’Shon Bernard’s glorious return after so long out. The Jamaica international came through nearly an hour’s football and spoke to us afterwards to express his delight and explain his experience of the lowest lows you could imagine. His effort has been gargantuan both in body and mind and having last featured in the last throes of Röhl, in many ways mirrored the struggle and timing of Wednesday’s climb from despair. Big checkpoints ticked off, the road ahead remains a long one for both club and player.
Bernard spoke of what it meant to him that senior players not involved in the fixture had made the trip across the Pennines on a day off, in no small part to support him as they had done by traipsing into Hillsborough for his initial return in last weekend’s under-21 match. He spoke of the heart he took from those around him both within the club and externally and of the ‘family’ he feels they have at Sheffield Wednesday.
No doubt a little wary, he settled in alongside youngster Ernie Weaver, the pair behind youngsters Jaden Heskey and Jarvis Thornton, with debutant youngster Joel Akpobi taking the star turn on the left wing. Others were sent in to get much-needed minutes under the belt either after late summer arrivals or limited opportunity since. Green as though they were, it was a team that should have been able to have the better of a mid-table League Two side that made 11 changes themselves.
In a city that has provided the world with some of its most important and influential cultural figures, the first half saw Wednesday play with all the organisation cohesion of a night out with the Happy Mondays as the home side won more duels, played with more fizz and took 10 shots to the visitors’ one - itself a powderpuff poke towards goal in added time of the half. A 1-0 scoreline was gentle.
It is this awkward and disjointed half that seems to have been focused on by the many even after Wednesday came back to win the game thanks in no small part to the introduction of those more spritely in leg and wealthier in recent minutes. Callum Slattery emerged alongside Jamal Lowe to inject some life into the game and ultimately, as has been something of a theme throughout this young and sprouting season, the Owls won 2-1 away from home.
Henrik Pedersen spoke with a degree of satisfaction as to what his side had got out of the run-out; three points and minutes for those that needed them. The first 45 was natural, he said, considering the greenness of the players assembled. He stressed the need for patience at the outset of such a manic, wholesale rebuild and determined that things would improve as the weeks went on.
Many including this column forecast a slow start and a season of steadiness given all that came before it. Their results have been a delightful surprise. Had a poll been undertaken a few weeks ago to understand how many supporters would have been satisfied with inconsistent performances taking them to second in the division after seven matches, you’d rather suspect it would have been something of a happy landslide. They have two defeats across their 10 matches.
Whether it’s impatience or dissatisfaction or entitlement or legitimate concern, the court of public opinion surrounding this Wednesday manager is one of passion on both benches in a way you suspect a new face wouldn’t have had to battle. Social media opinion is typically fierce, the debates heated and occasionally angry. Perhaps Pedersen goes on to prove he is the man to take the club forward, perhaps time proves that he isn’t. After all that came before, the Brexit-esque split in discourse has been remarkable - from this humble seat at least.
There’s no doubt performance is important and there’s little doubt Wednesday will have to uptick their collective output in the coming weeks to keep the points tally rolling as it has. The idea is for this to be an intrinsic, joined-up side and the plan in a three-week stint away from league football has been carefully curated to help in that mission. We’ll see what comes of it.
A sunny sojourn to Salford took in sticker self-deprecation, the return of a fan favourite, youngster assists, a first goal to a goal-getter and three cup points. Longer term, the memory won’t be of misplaced passes in a laboured first 45, it will be of Di’Shon Bernard accepting the adoration of supporters, of youngsters staking their claim from nowhere and of gnarled old teammates travelling to witness it.
For all the ire at what happened in that first half, it was an evening of community. For now, be it at Salford or the San Siro, Wednesday are what they are. Ultimately it ended as a fun evening out.