Well well well, another regular season done. How quickly has that gone? Amazing really when you consider what's been going on in the world over the last couple of years. It's been an interesting season for many reasons, I haven't done any blogs since the start of the season, mainly as when I've considered it a lot of what I've wanted to say has been said elsewhere. It's been interesting to watch the events of 21/22 play out and with the Play Offs now on the horizon it's now time to put some thoughts down on paper.
Changing The Culture
Darren Moore's job at the start of the season alongside the obvious was to finally change the culture of this football club. Back in May last year when we were relegated I don't think the gap between fans and club had been wider, true that isn't helped by 15 months without fans in the ground and it's hard to judge fully when you can't either speak to people face to face or go to the games and get a feel for the atmosphere.
At the start of the season, after a summer of bringing in virtually a whole new squad there were always going to be bumps in the road. As I said in my preview I thought we'd start slow and grow from there, the fact we were around the top six even with some inconsistent results was a good sign. We've had a terrible season with injuries, in the last few weeks I've seen a lot of fans saying you can't really use that as an excuse, but I'm sorry you can. Because while yes every club gets injuries I find it very hard to imagine many have had the amount we've had. It's also not just not having the players, it's had a much bigger impact. Having to move players into positions they aren't comfortable with, having to put round pegs in square holes to try and get results and in fairness, we have more often than not got something in those circumstances.
First half Thoughts
With all that to contend with the first half of the season was up and down. We had some good results, Wigan away, Rotherham away and Sunderland at home all stick out. Often fans would moan at underwhelming performances even during wins. There were some disappointing defeats like Morecambe and Plymouth as well as dispiriting draws at home to Shrewsbury and Lincoln. You won't win every game, that's obvious and credit to those sides as they've done their job. I always felt we looked better playing three at the back and was pleased when Moore changed it to suit the players he had rather than the previous system. It did feel a bit like we were trying to crowbar certain players in rather than play the best system for the players we had. I can understand that to an extent, you have to manage the squad, you have to make sure players are as ready as possible to come in if needed, and boy have they been needed. We had however managed to get ourselves on a decent run after losing to Oxford at home, just outside the top six before an enforced lay off due to Covid.
Plymouth turning point
After returning from said Covid break and losing 5-0 at Sunderland and 1-0 away at Shrewsbury it's fair to say the Wednesday fanbase was in a bit of state. My personal opinion were that both results and performances were heavily impacted by the lay off and injuries but as I've sometimes found after defeats like that you can't inject that kind of logic in the immediate aftermath. This player is a disgrace, the manager must go, fans must be refunded. All that stuff comes out, I'll talk more about that later.
When Plymouth visited Hillsborough in January I think it's fair to say the fans needed to see a reaction. A win was one thing but a win and a good performance is another. I do genuinely think had Wednesday lost that game then Darren Moore was in a tricky position. Would he have gone that night I'm not so sure but it would have made it very difficult for him. As it turned out we won the game 4-2, played well in a cracking advert for League One. From there on in other than the odd slip up here and there I think we've played really well. Despite losing the following weekend down at Oxford it felt like we'd turned a bit of a corner. We aren't, and will never be at this level, the finished article. You have to accept that you will have bad days, you will underperform at times. That's football.
Saturday a Glimpse of what can be
On Saturday against Portsmouth I think we saw what this club can be. Over 30,000 Wednesday fans there to roar the team over the line into the Play Offs. This team deserved that for their efforts this season, it's been an up and down campaign at times but overall I've never once thought we didn't see 100% commitment from the players on the pitch. After the last couple of seasons that's a welcome change. It does show you what this club could get on a more regular basis in a higher division with a sensible pricing structure. I'm not saying you get 30,000 every week in the Championship even with cheap tickets because I'm not sure you do but it makes you think.
The Top Eight Battle, Stand Out Stars and Play Offs
For me this season the standard of the teams at the top of League One has been as good as it has for a while. The fact Plymouth missed out on the Play Offs with 80 points is testament to that. All those teams at one point or another have looked nailed on and most have had some time outside of it as well. Oxford I was certain would end up in there for a long while, credit to Wigan and Rotherham for getting over the line automatically, MK Dons have been very good and all off the back of losing their manager on the eve of the season. Ourselves and Sunderland have found that consistency in the 2nd half of the season to cement 4th and 5th and Wycombe do what Wycombe do, make it difficult, battle against the odds and more often than not see off better resourced sides.
It's really tough to call both semi finals. Normally you get a feeling about one team but this one is so even. I think from our point of view we'll know a lot more at around 10PM on Friday. If we can go up to the Stadium Of Light and get something to bring back to what I'm sure will be a raucous Hillsborough on Monday evening then I'd fancy us to get to Wembley. It's all about how we approach it, these kind of games are often nervy tight affairs. I'd love to think we could spring another MK Dons style away performance up there.
The Future
While I'd love us to go up and feel it's more than possible. I still think regardless we're going in the right direction, at least in terms of Darren Moore and his staff. They understand the club, they've begun that process of sorting out things that have been broken for years. I get some fans still aren't convinced, he's not perfect, no manager at this level is. I really do think we'd be making a big mistake to make a change in the summer if we don't go up. Some of the calls for him to go even if we did go up are nonsensical. What does that say to potential managers? That if you achieve the aim you might still get the chop anyway? You can maybe get away with that if you're Real Madrid, not if you're Sheffield Wednesday. I'm not saying Darren Moore can mastermind us up to the top flight or anything like that, but he deserves a crack at it next season regardless of if it's Championship or League One. Don't get me wrong, if it is the latter then the pressure will be on but from what I've seen personally I'd fancy us to have a real go at it if we didn't make it up through the Play Offs.
So there we have it, thanks for reading. I'll probably do another blog after the Play Offs, talk a bit more about the players and who I'd like to see us keep. Fingers crossed that piece will be in a few weeks rather than one.
WAWAW
Tom
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