The Plight of Sheffield Wednesday
The Unraveling of Hillsborough’s Hopes
Sunday should have been a time for schadenfreude at Hillsborough Stadium, given what just happened to Sheffield United. The Blades could hardly be considered to be making a run at anything in the Premier League, given that they’ve won no matches and been outscored by 17 to 5 in their first six appearances in the top flight of this campaign.
But compared to what’s unfolding at Sheffield Wednesday, the situation at Bramall Lane looks glorious, even after the 8-0 shellacking by Newcastle. Wednesday are also newly promoted, but like their rivals, the Owls appear overmatched at their level.
Disappointing League Performance
But Wednesday sit in the Championship, which they should have been able to reasonably handle. Maybe a second successive promotion was too ambitious, but a mid-table finish in 2023-24 should have at least been within the realm of possibility.
Instead, Sheffield Wednesday has looked lost and helpless. The Owls’ five markers are easily worst in the league, and they are now the only team in the Championship that has nothing in the win column. Now is an accurate word, given that Wednesday just handed Swansea City its first win of the season in a 3-0 whitewashing in Wales.
Despite the Swans coming into that match with no wins in seven matches, Wednesday couldn’t penetrate the defense whatsoever. The Owls managed just one shot on target over the 90, and while they only allowed four attempts at the net from Swansea, three hit the back of the mesh.
Comparisons with Fellow Promoted Sides
While Sheffield Wednesday struggle and languish at the foot of the table, fellow promoted sides Plymouth Argyle and Ipswich Town sit comfortably. The Pilgrims rank 12th with the Championship’s third-best attack, and the Tractor Boys from Ipswich are ranked second only to Leicester. So where has it all gone wrong at Hillsborough? Here’s a look.
The Loss of Darren Moore
When you have a good manager on your staff, you’ve got to do whatever you can to keep him feeling valued and happy. And Sheffield Wednesday have done the exact opposite of that. The Owls “rewarded” Moore for pulling off the seemingly impossible task of rescuing promotion by forcing him to leave by mutual consent before the season began, as the board allegedly couldn’t agree with Moore on a vision for transfers.
That’s bad enough, but Wednesday complicated matters by pushing the idea that Moore left over money. Dejphon Chansiri initially said that it was just something that happens in football, but he couldn’t help himself and claimed that money was an issue in his departure. However, Moore contradicted this and opted to sign with Huddersfield Town on a long-term deal.
By getting involved in a back-and-forth with a manager his players completely respected and loved playing for, Chansiri effectively sabotaged both his existing roster and any potential transfers coming to Hillsborough. The one thing players don’t want in their club is someone in charge they can’t trust, as it creates a poisoned locker room.
Alienating the Fan Base
In normal circumstances, raising prices after a promotion makes sense. However, these aren’t normal times. With a global recession underway and Wednesday only having spent two years in League One, this wasn’t the time to gouge the fan base. By announcing a price hike, Wednesday forfeited all of the goodwill it had attained from its miracle comeback and win at Wembley.
Instead, the fan base is now restless and irritated. Fans don’t like being asked to pay top-tier prices when they’re not getting a top-tier product. Right now, the only part of the matches at Hillsborough that’s top tier are the opponents coming in to ruin the Owls’ day. Once the fans start turning on the team, it’s pretty easy for the negative energy to start affecting things on the pitch, and things can quickly slide out of control from there.
Questionable Lineup Choices by Xisco Munoz
Some of the changes to the lineup haven’t been Xisco Munoz’s fault. For example, there’s nothing that he could do about Barry Bannan getting injured last month and being anchored to the bench. But there’s no reason that Liam Palmer and George Byers should be playing reserve minutes after both scored six goals a season ago. There’s even less reason that Marvin Johnson shouldn’t be on the pitch at all, especially after his contributions made such a big difference last year. But for whatever reason, Munoz has been hesitant to trust the players who delivered for Moore a season ago, and the results have spoken for themselves.
Munoz did have the freedom to bring in his own guys, but Wednesday seemed to bring in too many of the wrong players. A great example came in their recent defeat to Ipswich, which the Owls faced twice last season and scored four goals against. This year, Wednesday took six shots in the direction of the net and put none of them on target, leading to a 1-0 loss to the Tractor Boys.
The Impending Risk of Relegation
It could be a simple case of not yet figuring out which pieces go where, but Wednesday doesn’t have time to start at square one. Moore had the club in a position to compete for a top-half finish in the Championship if he’d been able to stay the course, and now the Owls find themselves with an uphill climb to avoid the drop zone. If Munoz can’t figure this out fast, it’s going to be incredibly difficult for Wednesday to avoid a swift return back to League One.
