Late pass-ups, tickles and Sheffield United advice - Inside Sheffield Wednesday's monster transfer window
Now that was a manic Sheffield Wednesday transfer window. Our man Alex Miller reports.
In any great series, each episode has a great cliff-hanger ending. And in episode one of the great Sheffield Wednesday squad rebuild, a two-day wait for ultimate clarity on the fate of David Keillor-Dunn certainly provided that.
From the outside at least. Internally, there was always a great expectation that the deal would complete. In doing so the 28-year-old sits as the Morello atop an exciting, manic, restless and in moments fraught window that has left Wednesday supporters wondering what might just be possible this season.
Even for an executive team David Storch rates as one of the best in the business, the achievement has been mightily impressive. Against the backdrop of recruitment restrictions, the assembly of a squad of Wednesday’s quality - particularly going forward - is one that looking in from the edges didn’t appear likely at one stage.
Though it seems the longest summer since the last one, it’s important to remember from whence it all came. Wednesday entered the window with a handful of senior contracted players, the best two of which left.
In the case of Svante Ingelsson, preparations for his return to Sweden at the very outset of the summer were delayed in order for him to better prepare for his move to Stoke City. A greater, more lucrative opportunity it no doubt was and so amicable it all proved to be, it’s fair to say that despite the early wider excitement over the Arise takeover and all that came with it, not everyone was totally convinced by the magnetism of the S6 rebuild mission.
A few weeks on, such momentum was built that by the time final throes of the window came around, two ‘very, very good’ players from higher divisions are said to have instructed their representatives to try and get them a place at Wednesday - though any prospects of their deals were decided against as their switches would have ultimately taken the loan tally to an unmanageable seven and eight.
It started with Ricardo Santos in a quickly-materialised deal that feels simultaneously 20 minutes and 20 years ago. Some 18 senior deals were completed, including the triumphant return of Barry Bannan whose drawn-out return took longer than hoped and was ultimately delayed by a handful of factors including a back-and-forth with Millwall and a long-booked family holiday to Greece.
The signings comprised a spread of profiles; a dip into the European market for Jordi Liongola, youthful and permanent talent in Sil Swinkels and Louie Barry, prime age quality in Billy Mitchell and Callum Slattery and raw, youthful loan exuberance in Harry Gray Kieran Morrison and Jaden Heskey. League One goal records were attracted in Louie Barry, Mason Burstow and Ali Al-Hamadi, experience in Santos, Bannan, Reece James and the retention of Liam Cooper and Max Lowe. A new goalkeeping stable replaced. And breathe.
There were colourful stories along the way. On hearing of interest from S6, one new signing sought counsel from a friend contracted to Sheffield United, who advised not only that the city was a fine place for a footballer to live, but that he felt Wednesday was a club that was ‘really going places’. One well-known Wednesday figure was so excited by the prospect of one particular signing that at the end of a conversation to the theme, they let out a seemingly involuntary giggle, jigged on the spot and tickled a bemused reporter before heading out of sight.
The weight of the business necessary was heavy and shared across many. Contacts and relationships shared by Simon Wilson, David Bruce, Kevin Beadell and Pete Shuttleworth among others were utilised in a collaborative approach, with Henrik Pedersen’s growing reputation for developing youngsters a sway in a number of deals - for both clubs and individuals.
They didn’t have it all their own way. In an interview with Bloomberg and earlier touched upon with Talksport, Storch admitted there were misunderstandings in the scope of the regulations they were working to sometime after they signed to take the club on. Along the way some deals didn’t come off. Naturally, it’s understood that there were times pressure was felt within the camp as the team went through disappointments in the market, though only fleetingly. Many have spoken of a fluid, ‘same page’ approach and the success of the window would seem to bear that out.
Deals for the likes of Murphy Cooper, Tayo Adaramola and one well-known League One midfielder are understood to have gone some way down the line but never came to fruition as their agreed business plan restrictions hit home. Attempts to put something together for Jamie Vardy fell foul of an EFL board who rejected a ‘creative’ proposal out of hand - despite well-meaning media tip-offs every other day from Sheffield locals that ‘my mate’s mate is mates with him and it’s happening’. Conversations were had and it’s believed the interest from Wednesday wasn’t exactly unrequited.
Discussions were had with players that fell by the wayside either through circumstance, player decision or club feeling. It feels an age since Kyrell Lisbie chose to sign for Reading primarily out of location and conversations with one talented Premier League loanee option didn’t hit the right note partly over honest appraisals of his physicality level and his ability to adapt to Wednesday’s preferred style of play.
Patience and a resistance to panic proved vitally important in the end, with the likes of Jaden Heskey a window-long project and Keillor-Dunn coming in unexpectedly at the final buzzer. Deals for both of those players, as well as that of Ali Al-Hamadi, were explored early in the window but were struck late on at a discounted level.
Keillor-Dunn’s clubmate George Dobson is understood to have been an explored possibility quite late into the window and it’s believed that Birmingham City’s Taylor Gardner-Hickman was also a player that through sliding doors could have ended up at Hillsborough had Heskey not come off - and had he not been injured. No formal move for Colby Bishop at Portsmouth ever materialised and reported interest in Leeds United’s Sam Chambers is believed to have been wide of the mark.
Executives new to the club have been pleasantly surprised by the pull of S6 and of the club’s size and the transfer window push has been indebted to the support of its fanbase, with record season ticket sales arriving alongside a weight of shirt sales that are said to double anything that came before. Alongside sponsorship deals - one of which is claimed to be of ‘high Championship’ level - and new hospitality offerings that also stand to double its previous revenues, spending power was increased by the cash that came in.
One senior figure admitted he had found himself shocked at the level of media interest in the club - both in terms of audience and of the diligence of the local pack. But there were scores of proposed deals that never made the newsfeed such was the scale of the operation. Simon Wilson told us that for every deal done, a handful of alternatives were reached for out of cover. The true number of names considered must have reached into the high dozens.
What has been impressive is the displays of cohesion shown by a squad of such freshness and at such an early stage. Where the second half of defeat against Bradford City suggested a lack of game management against a strong side, a second half at Wycombe Wanderers showed a hugely encouraging trench spirit. That will be vitally important in a season that sees Wednesday head in as one of the stronger squads in the division and it speaks to the environment created at Middlewood Road.
Perhaps 90 minutes before the kick-off of that Adams Park win, The Star turned the corner into a behind-the-scenes corridor and bumped into Wilson - almost literally. Pleasantries were exchanged but he looked a little stressed and seemed to be hurriedly exchanging messages on his phone. In that moment, we didn’t yet know he was steering home one last deal.
They promised a competitive squad and they delivered that with VAT. The next episode could be quite exciting. It certainly won’t be boring - it never, ever is.