Sheffield Wednesday need numbers now with 'quality' not quite as important
Alan Biggs on Sheffield Wednesday and the struggle to recruit
Not to win any points, not to sign any players and not to have fans at Hillsborough … you know a club is in full blown crisis when many consider these to be the best immediate outcomes for its future.
As for recruitment, managers normally like to take a picky line. “Not signing players for the sake of it,” is a long time favourite.
“Quality over quantity” is another. But there are times when quantity is way on top and you do have to make signings for the sake of it.
One such is at Sheffield Wednesday right now where the sheer need for numbers holds the upper hand. For players of roughly a certain standard rather than guaranteed week-in week-out first teamers.
Cue another managerial mantra - “only signing players who will improve the side.
That is a luxury for a far different world. Wednesday’s essential need is to bulk up a squad reduced to just 15 seniors at one stage.
And yet their present inability to do so plays well for the “Chansiri out” campaign which, in the view of most fans, far overrides results amid calls for a mass boycott of Tuesday’s Carabao Cup tie with Leeds.
Understandably, many would take a relegation or even two in exchange for the owner’s exit - that’s how badly the club has been run.
As for the team’s need, there is some pedigree out there, even among free agents. It’s always surprising when you see a list of the unattached.
Equally, there is a stream of young talent on tap for loaning from top flight clubs if the Owls can convince the EFL their rocky finances can afford additions.
Maybe the important bottom line here is that any player agreeing to join Wednesday, certainly in preference to other offers, is showing he is up for a fight.
They have to be prepared to run themselves into the ground for a club that’s being run into the ground.
It’s guaranteed from those currently under Henrik Pedersen’s charge.
Last Saturday’s full-time applause for a team losing 3-0 at home was a remarkable spectacle - but it demonstrates that supporters are putting the blame in exactly the right place.
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