Stay strong and Sheffield Wednesday are going in the right direction - Alan Biggs

There’s promotion at stake and something more.
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Something arguably more important for the longer term at Sheffield Wednesday.

And that is a desperately needed vindication of the radical change of approach that appears to have been adopted by the owner.

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Not so much a vindication in the eyes of all who follow the club, but for Dejphon Chansiri himself.

Sheffield Wednesday owner Dejphon Chansiri.Sheffield Wednesday owner Dejphon Chansiri.
Sheffield Wednesday owner Dejphon Chansiri.

At some stage he’d need to see proof that this new way - actually leaning back towards the older trusted ways of football - really works.

You wonder if there’s a danger of him reverting closer to his previous methods if the rewards don’t come this season.

After all, no manager in League One has received more backing and trust than Darren Moore.

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So the potential turnaround win at Wigan on Tuesday was especially important.Moore will get the credit or the blame for what ultimately happens on the field this season and the chairman, for once (and rightly), will not be at the races for the latter on this occasion.

But whatever happens, he would be wrong to revert in my opinion.

And that includes if Wednesday were to go up because, in that event, control temptations would reappear and be greater; also to be resisted.

Such is the random nature of football that you can do most of the right things backstage and still not get the right results over a period.

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I always look back to the 2004-05 season when Chris Turner recruited all the right players - as Paul Sturrock proved after Turner was sacked.

I hope the same doesn’t happen to Moore and that the club can prosper without more of the same upheaval.

Certainly there is are similarities in that Moore’s strengthening looks strong in general and he is also needing time to fit the pieces together.

Another red flag for him is that the high number of loans means there will have to be a lot of rejigging next summer in any event and he needs the trust for that.

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Let’s hope he takes this major opportunity to shape both his and the club’s destiny.

The challenge is to make this different from either of the two previous promotions from this level.

In 2012 the job was completed by Dave Jones after Gary Megson was removed from the team he built, though that decision owed more to a falling out than results.

There is no such discord on this occasion. Stay strong and Wednesday are going in the right direction.