‘Fuel to the fire’ – Talking football, community and the future with Sheffield Wednesday’s Mr. Reliable

He walks into the media room at Wednesday’s Middlewood Road training ground with a big smile on his face, greeting with a firm clasp of hands and a jovial good afternoon to the small media team that he’s known for years and years.

They know him, he knows them, and in Palmer there is a dependable and articulate figure on which they can rely. Very few people in the history of this famous football club have featured more times than he has, yet there are no airs and graces about him. It’s ‘Palms’.

He settles into his seat as the camera is set up and makes small talk about an inside joke they’ve had going in the changing room before he came through, and jested about Anthony Musaba being credited with the assist for Josh Windass’ worldie a few days before. There’s a calmness about him, a calmness that makes the interview feel even more like a chat between friends.

He's come a long way since chanting from the stands at Hillsborough, since celebrating that win at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff. At 32 is now well and truly part of the furniture in S6.

“It’s not something you always think of,” Palmer says with a smile after being asked about fans who can scarcely remember a Wednesday without him in it. “But sometimes I’ll get messages sent through, or someone will send me a picture of when they were kids. You remember the people that stay after games and want pictures, or you’ve been to a holiday camp and had photos - and all of a sudden they’re grown up.

“I remember when I first made it into the first team we had a psychologist, they told us about how fast it goes - and you don’t really believe it. It’s not until now, when I’m saying it to other people, that you look back and think about it. All the more reason to not let any moment - whether it be training sessions, games, whatever - pass you by.”

The Owls’ homemade Swiss army knife made his club debut over a decade ago, back in 2010, and since then has gone on to be involved in relegations and promotions, highs and lows – he’s enjoyed, and endured, the full Sheffield Wednesday experience.

One of our own

It’s not always been easy. Sometimes it felt like being ‘one of our own’ counted more against Palmer than it went for him, but he’s always persevered. Every permanent manager that has been in charge during his time - all 12 of them, by the way - has used him in some way, and last season he won his second Player of the Season award at the club, nine seasons after he won his first.

Should be feature this weekend he’ll go level with the great Johnny Fantham on 434 outings for this great club, leaving just seven ahead of him in the all-time list, but if he’d taken no for an answer at various stages of his Owls career then things could have been a lot different. The ‘Worksop Cafu’, as he’s affectionately known in these parts, recalls just one point when leaving looked a possibility.

“Most footballers will tell you the same thing, it’s never linear, it’s never smooth sailing all the way. Without the bad days the good days aren’t as good, and that’s something that I try to think of…

“When you’ve been in a place for a long time I think it’s easy for people, when somebody new comes in your position, to see them as something shiny and new. I maybe don’t give myself enough credit for how many managers I’ve had, and how many have picked me - I’m still sat here now. I’ve been able to, in the opinion of most, be thought of highly, and be trusted as well. I like to think they see value in how I conduct myself.

“I think the only time I thought it might be my last season was the period when Jos was here, and he was playing a lot of young players. I felt like it wasn’t the right way to go, we weren’t playing well, and he kept persisting - so we had a conversation about potentially leaving. That’s as far as it ever went.

“I came back that preseason and used it as motivation to come back better than I was, I did really well and we ended up selling another player instead from my position. I ended up staying, and managers move on, and that’s the way I’ve always tried to be. Anyone with an opposite opinion about me has to be used as fuel to the fire, and I try to project it in the right way.”

This season was another example of it. Danny Röhl came in, and Palmer immediately fell to the bench, a couple of games later he fell out of the squad completely as the new gaffer said that he saw him as a full back and a full back only. But Liam Palmer did what Liam Palmer does, and set about proving him wrong.

Since coming on to help pick up a huge point against Leicester City in November he’s missed just three matches, and has played as a right back, right wingback, centre back, right centre back, defensive midfielder and central midfielder – he’s also donned the armband, too. Another manager converted, and has always been the case with Wednesday’s ‘Mr. Reliable’, the best ability is availability.

While others have admirably bought into the community, bought into the club, bought into the city, Palmer never had to – he was raised by it, by them. His work giving back to Sheffield and the people here is ongoing, and as patron to PACT - the Parents Association of Children with Tumours and Leukaemia – that won’t be changing anytime soon.

“If it meant me breaking my leg in the last game of the season... I’d happily do it”

What may change, however, is where he does it from. On Saturday afternoon, just before 3pm, he’ll walk out of that tunnel, hear that song that he loves so much, not knowing if it will be the final time that he does so in blue and white. He’ll look around his home stadium and take it all in. He hopes it’s not the last time, but for Palmer – whose only stint away was a loan spell at Tranmere Rovers – there is only one aim for the final two matches: keep Sheffield Wednesday in the Championship.

“For me, I’d be gutted if it was to be honest,” he replies when asked about the potential of it being the last dance. “But sat here now the main focus is, and has been, not getting relegated - about doing everything possible for the team. I think you’ve seen that since the manager came in, there have been times where we’ve been outclassed or not quite at it, but the effort and application over the last few weeks has been second to none from everyone.

“It’s not just me, there are so many players in the same situation, and it’s just something you have to put to the back of your mind. That’s easier for some than others, and for me it’s easy because I love this club - if it meant me breaking my leg in the last game of the season making a game-changing tackle or a block off the line, then I’d happily do it. That’s where my mind is at - whatever conversations happen after that, happen. You can only control the controllables.”

He's had some big moments in Wednesday colours, none more so than *that* moment in front of the Leppings Lane end against Peterborough United, but with 180 minutes left to save their Championship status, there’s certainly time for another.

You can watch the full interview with Liam in the video at the top of the page.