Why quiet reflection sometimes in order at Sheffield Wednesday - Alan Biggs

Silence says so much. Give you an example. I left Hillsborough with the crowd after the recent draw with Bristol Rovers. Eyes to the floor and just listened.

On social media the predictable doom and gloom was kicking into gear. The manager was a goner. Again. What did I hear on the walkways and in the street? Hardly anything.

A few mutters about the referee. A few “I would have done this or thats.” But mostly silence. No mention of Darren Moore by name at all.

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My priority on a non-working night was the same as those around me. Get to the car and get home quick. Time for reflection on the way. And that’s what social media doesn’t allow. That time for reflection. Instead, sweeping statements based on one 90 minutes.

Ok, for Sheffield Wednesday it was two points dropped for the second game running. They should have won both. But these were draws, not defeats.

Get home, glance at your timeline and start to doubt yourself. Even one of the more sensible accounts was asking me whether it was time for Moore to go, based on “another season of under-achievement.” What, we’re not even halfway! All because people hadn’t paused for thought. And besides, it didn’t reflect the general mood around me.

Granted, it was only a small sample survey. And yes, there’d been some booing on the whistle. But I think the majority accept, grudgingly, that this is League One and their team has to be judged by League One standards (by which they’re faring well enough to suggest a return to the Championship).

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Naturally we don’t hear anything much about all that. It is the middle ground where truth lies and Twitter doesn’t go in for that.

The point is that we can only filter out this noise if we recognise it for what it is - natural cries of frustration that you hear throughout any game and which are best left right there. Clear judgment cannot be based on reading a chorus of the same afterwards. It’s artificial and unrepresentative.

The real world is different. Yet club owners and directors can be stampeded by “the noise” if they are not careful. You can’t blame folk for letting off steam however they choose. It’s part of the game we love. As long as we just remember, silence often speaks louder.