Keiren Westwood reveals Sheffield Wednesday takeover hope and Barry Bannan return hint
Sheffield Wednesday’s charity weekend welcomed a host of modern heroes back to Hillsborough.
Former Sheffield Wednesday goalkeeper Keiren Westwood believes the club are well-placed to kick on towards a better health after its takeover by US consortium Arise Capital Partners - and suggested his old pal Barry Bannan will have an eye on his return to the club.
The fan favourite stopper, who played 199 times in a distinguished Owls career, was speaking to The Star from the club’s charity weekend that raised cash for Weston Park Cancer Charity and the SWFC Community Programme. A season from hell at S6 closed with emotional scenes as David Storch addressed supporters on confirmation of the takeover and a host of the club’s ex-players expressed their delight at the prospect of a new start for their old club.
Westwood hailed the return of possibility to Wednesday and said: “It’s almost like you’re waiting for something bad to happen! Maybe that’s just my own anxieties on it, but you’re just desperate for something good to happen to the club because it’s been so bad. Fingers crossed, but it’s like you don’t want to count your chickens. You’re sort of half-waiting for a bit of bad news, hopefully there’s not, hopefully it’s all plain sailing!
“It’s about getting in some good senior players, getting together and then getting promoted out of League One.”
The former Republic of Ireland keeper spoke about the need for good management of the club from the top down. Arise are going about assembling a team tasked with a monster rebuild of the club after years of spiralling fortune. Westwood believes the implementation of a proper structure is paramount in that task.
He said: “I don’t want to sound like I’m hammering anyone or being disrespectful to anyone else, because that’s not the case. But the cards have been stacked well against anyone who has been here. That’s from the top, all the way to the top and all the way down. You could see the cracks way back when we were playing.
“If everything is smooth off the pitch, everything on the pitch is all you’ve got to deal with. When you’re doing meetings about stuff that really shouldn’t concern players it gets a bit much and it spreads throughout the team.
“Lads just want to play football. That’s all we’ve been taught to do since we were kids all the way through. It’s still the case now. So having to deal with off the field issues is tough. Baz left in January, but it would have been difficult for him. Palms has taken on the mantle. I can only imagine it’s been such a mess.”
On Bannan, who left the club in January to join the ongoing promotion hunt at Millwall, Westwood cheekily intimated he feels there may be some truth in suggestions he could make a return in the months to come.
“Baz is Baz,” he said. “He’s been here 10 years now - and I say he’s been here because it’s like he’s not gone anywhere. That’s probably the biggest compliment I can pay to Baz. He’s a great lad and a really great friend. He’s at that age and he’s always been really public and open in saying he wanted to finish his career at Wednesday.”
Closing out with a smile, Westwood said: “I think he’d have an eye on that still!”