An awkward date with an old flame's younger sister - Alex Miller on Sheffield Wednesday v Sunderland u21s
Sheffield Wednesday will take on Sunderland under-21s to Hillsborough on Tuesday. Alex Miller writes. Grumpily.
So, you broke up.
It feels two minutes since you were the power couple in a one-horse town, one-time millionaires drinking Prosecco in a dive bar. You always felt you wanted more but for a while there you were happy. You had each other.
And then, after a night of drama at home, she upped and left. From time to time you find yourself looking through her Instagram and though you find it within yourself to feel happy for her, the fact that she’s looking well in up-market new company does sting just a touch. Had things been different, it could have been you. You could even have done it together.
After a period of fleeting self-improvement with a sassy German, in the years since you battled through a period of depression and you’ve found yourself back at that dive bar all over again. Same stool, same table, alone. Only this time you’ve got a plan and a sense of clarity and things are looking up. You’ve some money in the bank, you’ve made home improvements and there’s a spring in your step you haven’t had for years. This could actually be a good night out.
It’s a shame that her awful younger sister is coming over to demand a drink.
When Sheffield Wednesday welcome the younger sister of Sunderland under-21s to Hillsborough on Tuesday, the feeling among many Owls supporters will be that it’s one evening they’d sooner spend blacked out. The inclusion of youth teams to a formerly proud tournament now nicknamed ‘The Sarnie Cup’ is a humiliation ritual not only for clubs with the mountainous hubris of Wednesday, but for each and every team that plays in it.
Last week’s trip to Salford City was fine. It returned the home club’s largest-ever attendance in the competition and pitted grown-ups against grown-ups in what turned out to be a thoroughly interesting tussle. The genesis of the tournament bares no shame - but does the football world really need to see Peterborough United host Ipswich Town’s youngsters on Tuesday night? What will be the gate for MK Dons’ hosting of Brentford’s babies?
Alas, they ride. It’s not the fault of anywhere present that Wednesday’s walk of ignominy awaits and this column does not for a moment suggest Sheffield Wednesday are too grand for such ventures as the Jersey Mike’s Trophy, nor are Leicester City or were Sunderland or anyone else to have trodden these boards. Wednesday are a League One club and they will be until they’re good enough not to be, no matter whether or not Chris Waddle used to play for them. ‘Tis the law of the land that they line up on Tuesday in front of one stand of supporters and to that law they must abide.
It’s not all bad of course. On the bright side, it’s affordable, there’ll be kids in that stadium who will be attending their first game and it offers Wednesday the chance to give minutes to those that need it in what feels to have been a long international break. Lest us forget, also, that a trip to Wembley sits at the end of the whole thing.
But after the last time round at this level took in matches against the kids of Newcastle and Leicester, there’s something about it being Sunderland; their former squeeze in League One big boy status, the rich similarities the two clubs share, the kinship the two fanbases hold, the narrow and painful nature of Patrick Roberts’ last-gasp winner at Hillsborough not yet five years ago. There’s a longing, sorry look to the whole thing.
Had that Roberts winner been defended with more oxygen in the legs, had Sam Hutchinson not let Ross Stewart in a few days earlier, had Wednesday truly turned up in either leg, the plates of football destiny would have shifted differently. It was Sunderland prevailed and it was Sunderland that have taken the up-and-up opportunity into the Premier League and European football.
Had it been Wednesday? They’d have been back here again. The whole thing was built on sand.
The Owls’ new regime have begun to lay proper foundations and have quite literally taken a pinch of inspiration from Sunderland themselves. The Black Cats’ success was no touch of luck; they carried out a plan that worked, with no little vision and investment. They’ve reached a level that allows them to send their academy down to play at Hillsborough for experience.
Back scrolling the phone in the dive bar, her Instagram shows glitz and glamour and happiness. She’s got a trip to Milan booked and you know what? Good for her, she bloody well deserves it. It’s not an easy task and it’ll likely take a little longer, but it’s up to the man in the bar to make good on these early suggestions that maybe they can one day follow suit.
The younger sister can have a drink, of course. It is obligatory. But for the love of god make it a quick one.