Sheffield Wednesday Preview - League One 11/12

Sheffield Wednesday, will be looking for bouncing back to the Championship on the second time of asking this season after a disappointing season in League One. A season which saw more than just poor performances on the field, off field issues also were heating up to boiling point.

Dubbed as favorites to go up last season, with a quality team on paper, it seemed like the only way was up after signing up experienced higher league players such as Clinton Morrison and Gary Teale. Sadly this was not the case at S6 after a good start to the season, the club stalled and never really recovered its form from the start of the season. Boardroom and financial issues started to become more and more apparent as the season went on with several winding up orders issued to the club, several prospective buyers came and went, for several different reasons.

Owning Sheffield Wednesday was like having the kiss of death in a sense, taking on rising debts, a former giant of English football with annoyed fans of the plight of their loved club who want to see them return to the top tier at some point. One thing what does sway in a good way for the club is the large fan base which has supported the club in recent years even when times have been harsh and grim.

A new era is upon The Owls

After a very confidential and 'rushed' deal Milan Mandaric became the new owner of the football club, at the death, to save the club from slipping into administration which would have been a huge, huge set back for the club, and probably a set back which would last decades, rather than years.

Now financial stability has returned to the club after around 15 years of it being absent, a new feel and good vibe was at the club, the sense of moving forward and seeing lights at end of the long dark tunnel was starting to shine through. Sadly the high of being safe off the field was quickly forgotten as on field problems started to mount. Irvines time was eventually up after a 5-3 defeat to Peterborough at London Road, a game in which The Owls took the lead three times and managed to lose three times and then go on to lose. Irvine had time in January to sign players but it wasn't enough to get the club out of the rut and Mandaric had to make the hard choice of cutting him free.

Gary Megson was appointed and fortunes did not change much for the team, still performing poorly in the first few games of his tenure, but I personally feel something changed nearer end of the season a better vibe was felt in the team, the side looked more confident, despite the owls bowing out of the season to a 2-1 defeat to Exeter at Hillsborough on the final day, which got a mixed reception from fans. Overall the season report card came back as 'improvment desperately needed'.

So... After a long summer break and so far a decent pre-season the club seems to be preparing for potentially a huge season. Fans will want to see something change, the players need to repay the fans for awful performances of last season, with sometimes fans crying shouts of 'Your not fit to wear the shirt'. Quite understandable when you get trounced by the likes of Exeter, Leyton Orient away and getting smashed by struggling Plymouth at Hillsborough.

Owls fans will be hoping for more cheers of joy this season

Megson wasted no time in getting rid of the dead wood of the team, but there has been more outs than In's so far at the club, David Prutton, Rob Jones, Jose Semedo and Julian Bennett all signing up at S6. With three weeks before the start of the season Megson himself is concerned now with the lack of activity, and myself, for the first time this season I am becoming concerned with it. Some fans have been concerned for months but I always felt things were in hand and we are just being sensible, I think time has come now to really say what are we doing this season. The club want to see the side compete in The Championship next season, some steps have been taken towards this, a few more need to be taken to ensure this or at least make a serious challenge for promotion back to at least some sense of pride of our club.

The next few weeks at S6 will be interesting, expect more names to be coming into the club, but lets not get ahead of ourselves, just because we are 'Sheffield Wednesday' does not mean we should automatically win the title, nor should it mean we under-estimate smaller sides as 'who'?. This attitude last season really back fired, who were Exeter?... Well I tell you who, a side who creamed us 5-1 away and 2-1 at home.