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Utterly amazed by the content of some posts on here atm “Pedersen not good enough “, “Recruitnent not good enough” ”Atmosphere not good enough” ”Dreading the next match” What is wrong with everybody ? We escaped liquidation by the skin of our teeth last season, had our squad decimated, we are now operating under league restrictions which impacts everything we try to do and yet some of you want instant success! This is absolutely typical of modern society saying I want it all and I want it now! Please be realistic - this season will be full of ups and downs while we try to get the new players to bed in. Try to have some patience and a bit of understanding. Constant sniping will not help the players, the coaching staff or the management/ owners.

My dad (whose throw of a coin as a 12-year-old in 1959 led to my 36-year love/hate affair with the club) died in April. When clearing out the old family home, I found all sorts of Owls-related stuff from my childhood and beyond. Rather than keeping it in boxes for someone to have to sort out and/or dump when I eventually peg it, I decided to put it on display to brighten the place up. So, you can relax in the knowledge that, in a dusty old garage in Holywood (N. Ireland), lives a shrine to all things Wednesday, including such randomness as photos of Lily Shelton, Kim Olsen and Carlton Palmer in an elf costume. You’ll also notice some Republic of Ireland, Oasis and general 90s nostalgia pics etc. I really enjoyed the process of putting it all together. I was in my element with the nerdiness. I’m sure plenty of other Owlstalkers have done similar?

For the second week in a row Pedersen has set us up wrong. Has he changed it? No. Just like last week. It’s clear it’s not working and he’s done nothing. 38th minute before we’ve threatened them. And we’re the home side. He’s had yet another full week to work with the team and get them ready for today and it’s utter dog shît. He said today’s game was a big test and he’s failed it already. Sack him tonight and give a new manager 3 weeks to work with them during the international break. No way we should be this poor with the players at our disposal.

…what point are you trying to make? Grow up FFS!

Let's maybe start posting about Pedersen here instead. Fed up of seeing Pedersen Out at the top of the forum all the time. At first glance I think it's very unfair in the current circumstances (even though a lot of the posts are positive). He and the new team are doing a very good job and have started very well. He deserves a bit of credit. Just don't like seeing the negative title when we're doing very well.

Well folks, how are we feeling? Where is our collective whelm? It’s fair to say that it has been a breathless start to Arise’s tenure so far. Though it’s obviously early days, my giddiness is in danger spiraling completely out of control. I’m refreshing Owlstalk every five minutes, drinking in every imaginable piece of content on Youtube, re-watching clips of past glories and wearing multiple layers of Owl-branded clobber., to the point where my children are embarrassed. They are 5. In short, I’ve gone full Wednesday. I had a conversation with myself during the summer that irrespective of results, good or bad, I would stay calm with composed objectivity and keep my council until Christmas, where I would consider where we are as a group of people and assess accordingly. But, five games in, I’m gone. I am consumed with zany hope and outrageous optimism and, do you know what? It's absolutely brilliant. I will bask in this delirium for as long as results allow because, Holy Jesus, it’s been a while. ^^Literally, a picture of me since the Bromley game. I've been sacked and the wife has left. In my defense, there is some very solid evidence for this wild abandon. For a start, this may have been the single greatest recruitment drive in the history of football, especially considering the restrictions. I mean, why are are some of these guys even here? Actually, scrap that, we know why. Most importantly however, we are winning games. Nothing salves the soul like a string of wins and seeing us clear at the top is a sight to behold, so much so that when juxtaposed with a picture of Morrison, its scientifically proven to elicit a human tear. See? Science. Crazy, beautiful science. At several points over the last fifteen months, I was quite unsure whether we would ever win a game again, but here we are, alive, kicking and winning. What I think has been so impressive is that we have played some great stuff at times but it’s graft, determination and down right pig headedness that you need in this league and so far we have been able to brawl as well as box. I think we have to give Pedersen a lot of credit for this, the boys are playing for him and the vibe in the camp abounds with cohesive positivity. So Wigan at home, eh? On paper this looks like a foregone conclusion, but in my traumatized reptilian brain this has got banana skin written all over it. Understandably Wigan are not feeling confident right now and I went onto their forum to get a the collective feeling about their strengths and weaknesses which were invariably similar: “Strengths - between the boxes we’re ok Weaknesses - what we do in both boxes” “Strengths, until today has been the midfield but that went missing today. Weaknesses, including today, attack and defense. It doesn't bode well at the moment but I'm confident we'll get better. Today was a complete aberration (after Stockport) from start to finish and no one connected with the club comes out with anything but criticism.” “Weaknesses: playing football Strengths: crusty the pie ” The general vibe is that they can play at times but are blunder prone with the unfortunate secondary characteristic of not being able to finish their dinner. You would also have to agree that as mascots go, Crusty is a fine one. Look at those eyes. Pure benevolence. These, though, are the kinds of games that scare me. Actually, that’s not true, all games scare me when we are on a run. I’m terrified of some harsh realism gatecrashing my skittish serenety. I sometimes wonder if the high is worth the comedown but, alas, at this point I’m too far gone to consider lifestyle changes. My internal, waning, logical brain tells me that this won’t be a walk in the park but surely we will have enough to beat a struggling Wigan? My emotional mind is racing with the consequences of defeat; How many “Pedersen OUT” threads would it produce? Is this the beginning of many, many terrible things? Should I flog myself for relenting to that cruelest of mistressess, “hope” once again? “Maybe we should look at some stats to sooth my addled brain”, I thought, so I gave Chat GPT some work Sheffield Wednesday v Wigan Athletic Saturday 12 September 2026 — 3:00pm Hillsborough — League One The form Wednesday are currently top of League One after five games: 4 wins, 1 defeat — 12 points — 13 goals scored, 6 conceded. And then there's Wigan... Wigan's situation Wigan are currently 24th, with: 1 win, 0 draws, 4 defeats — 3 points — 5 goals scored, 11 conceded. So they've conceded 11 goals in five league matches, including four at home to Stockport last Saturday. The numbers scream "Wednesday should win" On paper, this is about as favourable a Wednesday fixture as you could reasonably ask for. And that is exactly why I don't trust it. I am not joking. I didn’t add this in. Even our soon-to-be robot overlords can see the writing on the wall! To bring this elaborate and somewhat non-sensical OMDT to a close I want to bring it down a little, dim the lights and lower the volume for a reflective denouement. We all know the ups and downs of following the Wednesday, we understand the ebb and flow of football fandom; we’ve been doing it for years. But this has been flippin’ ridiculous lads. Has any club faced the vertical roller coaster we’ve been on over the last few years? Possible extinction, miracle of Hillsborough, Diving headers at Wembley, Darren Moore departure, Xisco disaster, Danny’s great escape and now this new era of professionalism that is so slick it's warping the very fibre of my being. Not to mention countless embargoes, barely comprehensible rants, and there has actually been some football played as well. I mean, is there such a thing as too much excitement?? It has felt like some sort of weird Stockholm syndrome sometimes. No wonder we’re all a bit bananas! Come on Wednesday, let's have another win. Let us live in a blue and white bubble for one more week at least. WAWAW UTO

Congrats. New England u20’s manager. Think he’s perfect for it. Good luck.

Time to give this lad a little credit. Stuck with us through last year’s crap and now scoring a few. He’ll never be the best centre forward we’ve ever had, but he’s not half as bad as people make out.

So we rock up today against Brunsmeer, and Henrik comes strolling over. What a guy, really nice bloke, had pictures, spoke with all our players. I hope it works out for him here

50 years ago today, my grandad and dad (who we lost a few weeks ago) took me to my first game at S6. We sat in the north stand and beat chesterfield 4-1. I will always remember the first time I walked up those few steps to see the ground for the first time as a 6 year old. Tomorrow will be very sentimental for me. you don’t chose your club, it chooses you. RIP Dad

Honestly - this was the first fixture I looked for! This is not a wind-up. Let me explain... Wednesday are the reason I'm a football fan - I was captivated by the FA Cup Final in '93 and early on watching the match I decided I'd choose a team I wanted to win to make it more interesting. I chose badly. I was 10 and knew nothing about football or geography so choosing the London team never occurred to me, despite being born and bred in London. I soon became completely obsessed with football in general, but was too young to go to matches in a city hundreds of miles away. So when a school friend asked if I wanted to go and see our local non-league team, Bromley, play of course I said yes - and was immediately hooked. On that day, I started to supported two clubs - a Premier League team and a local non-league team. I still can't quite get my head around the fact that today they're now both in the same league. How we got here Obviously we all know how Wednesday have ended up in this wretched league again - but as bad as this century has been for SWFC, Bromley have had completely contrasting fortunes. Bromley have spent all but three seasons of their 132 year history playing non-league football. They have won the FA Amateur Cup twice and a few lower league titles but were never one of the more successful clubs in the non-league pyramid. They rarely got the FA Cup First Round and only in the last 20 years have they ever got anywhere near the National League, let alone the Football League. When I frequented Hayes Lane in the late nineties, gates averaged around 350 and the team were always in a relegation battle - finally getting relegated to the Isthmian League Division One (the 8th tier) in 1998-99. But then followed a remarkable climb up the leagues: 2004-05 - Promoted to Isthmian League Premier Division 2006-07 - Promoted to National League South 2014-15 - Promoted to Nation League 2023-24 - Promoted to League Two 2025-26 - Promoted to League One Along the way, former Crystal Palace chairman Mark Goldberg had a stint as manager (with his son Bradley playing up front), the side were FA Trophy runners-up, then later winners beating Wrexham at Wembley, laid a 4G pitch and then had to rip it up to meet EFL regulations (the stadium is unrecognisable to the shed I visited in the 90s). You'd think this achievement would have been bankrolled by a wealthy owner? Well, partly - the current chairman has invested a lot of money since taking over in 2019, but this has mostly gone on the stadium, youth setup and infrastructure. Bromley haven't simply bought the best players at each level - success has been earned with shrewd management rather than a big cheque book. Last season Bromley won League Two with the second lowest budget in the football league. So what can we expect on Saturday? Bromley manager Andy Woodman (who was Gareth Southgate's best man) knows how to get the most out of his players, but emphasis is put on getting results over attractive football. I was at the Bromley vs Cambridge match last weekend and Bromley were fortunate to maintain their unbeaten league home record (over 500 days since last losing) in that match. Bromley play a very physical and direct game - no passing it out from the back, no possession football. From kick-off, expect them to boot the ball into touch near our corner flag. They have little pace and few athletic players - yet know how to grind down their opponents and make life difficult to play against. 44% of their goals last season came from set-pieces - so expect giant centre-backs causing havoc from corners and plenty of long-throws into the box. They're not strangers to red cards or the dark arts - and Woodman can easily wind up opposition fans. Bromley's main goalscorer of past seasons, Michael Cheek, is starting to see his powers wane aged 35 - but his league goal record over the past 4-5 years is on a par with Haaland and Salah. His game is not about pace but will be the main target main for long passes and crosses into the box. I think the game will be tighter and harder than many Wednesday fans expect - but I'm backing Wednesday to win 2-0. Just don't expect an entertaining watch! Who do I want to win? I've been to more Bromley matches than Wednesday ones in my life. I've seen Bromley play in cup finals at The Den and Wembley, but this will be my first Bromley away game. I always wondered how I'd feel if the two team met - I found out last season when I went to the Bromley U18s vs Wednesday U18s FA Youth Cup tie at Hayes Lane. I found myself naturally wanting Wednesday to win more. So I'll be on The Kop with my entire family for a match I cannot wait for! I want Wednesday to win... but if Bromley cause an upset, I won't be part of the meltdown on here... tl;dr I grew up in Bromley and they've been my second team for over 30 years Don't expect an easy 3 points on Saturday

Should never have been kept on never mind a new contract. The new owners was sentimental and bit naive and Should have gone in the summer..no sentiment in football.

Absolutely unforgivable behaviour today booing Otegbayo when he came on. Santos was dead on his feet and the change needed to be made, but booing the young lad was a disgrace. Shame on those of you on the Kop who did so. Wonder if they cheered the tackle at the end of the game????

Being critical of a poor performance doesn’t equal Entitlement.

Wycombe Wanderers vs Sheffield Wednesday Tuesday 1st September 2026 – 7.45pm Adams Park I have travelled to Wycombe on several occasions for reasons beyond football and concede I have rarely come away with anything positive, with the unfortunate exception of an NHS test result and confirmation that I had indeed caught chlamydia on a stag do there in the early 2000s. Fortunately, our boys meetings with Wycombe Wanderers tend to be somewhat more successful and we should fancy our chances after 2 wins from 3 in the league, sitting 4th in the table against their 22nd place and 2 points to date. With some prevalent positive vibes, not least from a resounding 7-2 victory last time out in Saturday’s “must win game” against Bromley, the double we did against Wycombe in our last season at this level and of course longer ago, the 2-0 home victory that saw us pip the darkside to automatic promotion in the 2011/12. The latter, arguably the last time we had a player that held any value and was sure to go on to bigger and better things. Michael Antonio breaking the deadlock against Wycombe Wanderers on 5th May 2012, helping Wednesday back to the Championship at the expense ofthe blades. Squad of 2011/12 Celebrating post 2-0 victory over Wycombe Wanderers Wycombe Wanderers’ nickname, The Chairboys, is a nod to their industrial past of the finest furniture making, chairs that former Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli no doubt sat on in one of only two notable tourist attractions in the vicinity, Hughendon House. This, the base where he concocted plans around colonialism that my 10-year-old boy will no doubt be blamed for at school at some point in the coming weeks. Prior to educating myself, I’d never given much thought to Wycombe Wanderers, perhaps assuming their moniker was due to not having an awful lot to get you off your seat at Adams Park, other than Gareth Ainsworth’s magnificent barnet. Or worse, regularly sitting in Adams Park might be on a par with one of the many medieval torturous devices designed around chairs, the Iron Chair, the Ducking Stool or the Judas Chair perhaps. The other appealing attraction in the local area is ‘Hellfire Caves’, once a secretive meeting place for the high-society Hellfire Club in the mid-1700s, where elite politicians gorged themselves on mythologised banquets, pagan-themed rituals and illicit parties. You could say nothing much about modern politics has changed. Of course, Sheffield has its very own version of the same, The Chuffin Hellfire Cave. It can be found exactly 1000 furious paces from Bramall Lane, at the foot of the outcrop just behind Homebase, bordering Heeley and Woodseats. Chrisseh Wilder, as current guardian, will only let you in if you too are a grumpy moaning git and please remember to remove your shoes before entering this sacred space. However, the thing that most caught my attention about Wycombe, was a ritual that still remains today. Any mayoral term begins and ends in the town square, where the incumbent or departing mayor, is required to undertake a public weigh-in. This is to help determine if they have grown fat on the citizens’ taxes by the end of their tenure. Perhaps this is something else people could explore as an angle to expedite the removal of our current manager Henrik Pedersen. Has he now been spending a disproportionate amount of time overindulging himself on David Bruce’s newly implemented catering budget? Is it solely down to him that our stock of sausage rolls is depleted long before the end of matchdays, all whilst single handedly being responsible for that pesky losing mentality at Hillsborough. It’s not too much of a stretch these days…. Anyway, back to this League One clash where the challenge is sturdy and unlike the finest furniture, we should expect the football to remain somewhat unpolished. Michael Duff’s tactics can sometimes rely on creating a sense of claustrophobia for away teams and they do have a pretty decent home record in general at Adam’s Park, supported by a usually vociferous crowd, providing that neither Liverpool, Manchester United or Arsenal are playing at the same time. The Owls will be hoping to find a ruthless cutting edge for the second game in a row and all being well, they’ll reduce the Chairboys to a pile of sawdust by the time that final whistle blows. Sheffield Wednesday will be hoping to field as close to the starting eleven that faced Bromley as they can but there are doubts over Santos and Bannan who both picked up knocks at the weekend. Wycombe may be looking at a complete overhaul having succumb to a 5-1 loss last time out at Stockport. Come on Henrik's Beautiful Blue and White Wizards, do us proud again!

fizz ‘em. We’ve played the nice guys for years and look where it’s got us.

The amount of absolute whoppers and all-round bu11s4hit merchants infecting football - thank God there is a place in the game for genuinely nice blokes like Darren Moore. Will always have a special place in Wednesday history and not many can say that.

Newsflash!! we ain’t prime Barca we ain’t Peps Man City we are a middling league 1 team we are under massive restrictions we are top of the league we have nothing to do with Channers anymore wind your necks in, and enjoy the ride

Crowd turns up, players have a day off. There keeper might as well have sat on his hands all game, we were abysmal. Not sure how many times we will get away playing like that - if they weren’t so bad in final third they would’ve had 3/4. Coops MOTM by a country mile.

You know what they say, put an Owlstalker in an empty room by themselves and they will still find someone to argue with. So, with that in mind I’ve decided to avoid posting any opinions which are likely to stir up any heated arguments and just stick to talking about things that everyone can agree on….. for example, A good pint needs a head on it, Hendo’s goes on almost anything, a proper fishcake is a piece of fish between two slices of potato and fried in batter, its called a breadcake (none of this cob, roll or *shudders* batch!) and a chip butty should never be greasy. One thing that hopefully we can all agree on is the outstanding work the new owners have done in only a short space of time. If this is what they can achieve in just 4 months, you have to wonder what the club is going to look like in the future. Considering the club are still operating under EFL restrictions, you have to commend the recruitment. The club have managed to bring in some real quality. The standout signing for me so far is Billy Mitchell. I genuinely can’t understand how we’ve managed to pull that off and how we’ve convinced him to drop down a division. He’s clearly Championship quality and looks a class above. The way he’s constantly looking to get on the ball, always making himself available and looks solid when he is in possession. He seems to have that extra bit of time on the ball and is always looking to drive us forward rather than just playing the easy pass. And he’s only 25, so its not like were picking up players in their twilight years. Onto the game….. Sheffield Wednesday vs Stockport County Saturday 19th of September – Hillsburrow Stadium Kick off 15:00 Another bumper crowd expected, with the club advertising an attendance of “well over 30,000”, the fans of this great club never cease to amaze me. The high demand for tickets for a 3rd division game, again taking into consideration what the club has previously been through, is nothing short of astonishing. We like to pat ourselves on the back, and rightly we should….. because there can’t be many clubs go through what we have in the last 25 + years and be close to selling out every game. I'm not one of those fans who can provide an in-depth analysis about the opposition team, how they play, who their key players are, their preferred formation or the name of the bloke who takes their throw-ins. But one thing we can probably say is that Stockport aren't coming to Hillsborough to sit back and admire the view. They are the league’s current top scorers, only failing to find the net in one game so far this season, so I think most people are expecting them to be more adventurous than some of the sides we have played recently. But maybe that could work in our favour? We've struggled to open up teams who have sat back and asked the question of us. Learning how to unlock teams who come to frustrate seems key to us succeeding this season. Stockport should pose a different problem, but this does mean the potential for them to leave spaces, hopefully for us to exploit. People will say that the league table doesn’t matter at this early stage of the season, but Stockport have also conceded the most goals of any team in the top 10. This also points to the potential of a more open game. Were either in for a very entertaining afternoon, or Ive just jinxed it and both sides will suddenly forget how to score. According to the internet, Jack Diamond is probably the obvious danger man to keep an eye on, with four goals already this season, although Kyle Wootton has also chipped in with four. So I suppose the plan is simple enough — don't let either of them score. (or anyone else for that matter) Last Time Out Its been over 20 years since we were in the same division as Stockport, the teams met at Hillsborough on 23 Apr 2005 in a game which finished 0 – 0. (attendance 22,331). I cant remember anything about this game and a Google search for a match report isn’t bringing any success. Maybe the game was so bad that even the internet wants to forget. A more recent meeting at Hillsborough came in the League Cup in 2023. An early Paddy Madden goal put the Hatters ahead, with Wednesday requiring a 97th minute equaliser from Tyreeq Bakinson to send the game into penalties (no extra time). The Owls went on to win the shootout 4-1. Wednesday were managed that day by Xisco Muñoz, something we would all like to forget, let alone the internet. Lets hope for a less stressful outcome tomorrow. Closing Thoughts This week, the club have asked the supporters to “Bring the noise”…. And maybe that’s just what we need. It's easy to get carried away straight after a game. If we win, there will be posts on here joyously claiming that were going to run away with the league. Lose, and it will be all doom and gloom. Maybe we should remember that the club is still firmly in recovery mode (for want of a better phrase) and just enjoy the ride. The league wont be won or lost in September. The team is reflective of the club right now in that its still finding its feet. The aforementioned lone Owlstalker is one thing, but 30,000 Wednesday fans congregated together can be a totally different animal. We have the potential to get the place rocking and make it uncomfortable for Stockport. Or it could go the other way. Equally as important, we need a positive performance. It feels like the team have another level or another gear in them that we haven’t seen yet. Whether its confidence, or whether it’s the system, remains to be seen. One thing is for sure, the fans are doing their part, it now feels like a case of “Over to you …..”. And whatever happens, I’m sure we’ll all find something else to argue about come 5pm

Just watching him on MOTD. If Storch could lure an high end manager to the club like him ,would most of the Owls fan-base be happy with an appointment like that?. And with his Danish background, I'm sure he'd find a place on the coaching staff for Pedersen. Might have to push the boat out to get him,but did a fantastic job with Brentford,from championship to the PREM ,and stayed there for 4 seasons ,with the help of a progressive board.

When you turn up to a match and see the team this club has put out and and already know what is going to happen.After last season at least we expect is a team to compete not to have to accept another defeat .Started off with high hopes not many seasons left at 70 years of age so at least compete.

What’s that got to do with Wednesday ? Support the current manager ffs

**I must apologise for the general lack of filth in this OMDT. Will make up for it next time, promise.** PETERBOROUGH UNITED v SHEFFIELD WEDNESDAY, EFL LEAGUE ONE London Road: Saturday — 12.30pm Morning all. Before we get onto Peterborough, I feel we need to discuss what happened at Wycombe on Tuesday night. Or more specifically, what David Rock saw happen at Wycombe on Tuesday night. Some of you may remember M. Night Shyamalan's 1999 supernatural thriller The Sixth Sense. Bruce Willis plays child psychologist Malcolm Crowe, who encounters a deeply troubled young boy with an extraordinary paranormal gift. He can see things other people can't. Which brings us to referee David Rock. "I see things." "How often?" "All the time." "Can other people see them?" "Not really." First, Callum Slattery ran from behind Cauley Woodrow at a corner, appeared to fall over with zero contact and Rock immediately pointed to the spot. Penalty. Wycombe players apoplectic. "Bruce Willis isn't even one of our players! What you on about, ref?" "I saw him foul him." Then, after inexplicably not giving a foul when Mothersille went a bit Freddie Mercury on Valery, a Wycombe cross looped off our defender and ended up in the net. Cue total confusion. After some consultation, Rock eventually ruled it out for a handball which nobody could quite locate and which, judging by the trajectory of the ball into the net, appeared to have been committed by something supernatural. Bruce. No goal. Next, Caolan Boyd-Munce fired towards goal and Gabriel Otegbayo appeared to brush the ball away with an outstretched arm. Six thousand people looked at it. The Wycombe players looked at it. The Wycombe bench looked at it. David Rock stared deep into another dimension. As he also did when Bannan was upended in the box racing onto the end of a one-two. It was an extraordinary refereeing performance. Not necessarily bad. Well, not for us. Just a referee operating on a different plane of human consciousness. Wycombe Wanderers 1 - 2 Sheffield Wednesday. Three points. And two penalties already this season — equalling our total from the previous 19 months. The league table currently reads: P4 W3 D0 L1 PTS 9. Second. A win at Peterborough would make it three wins from our opening three away league games for the first time since 1990/91. That season we actually won our first five away. We also got promoted and won a cup. Not getting carried away or owt... ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ OUR OPPONENTS Peterborough United. Nuff said about our last visit(ation) to London Road on 12 May 2023. That Play-Off Semi-Final First Leg 4-0 defeat felt like the lowest we'd felt in a long time, but then led to arguably one of the finest nights ever seen at Hillsborough, certainly since the early 90s. This is a rather different Peterborough side. Luke Williams is now in charge and Posh spent last season rather closer to the wrong end of League One than their supporters would have expected. Their start this year suggests the identity crisis isn't entirely resolved. Their league results: Bradford 2 - 0 Peterborough Peterborough 2 - 1 Mansfield Blackpool 4 - 0 Peterborough Peterborough 0 - 0 Stevenage However, during exactly the same period, Peterborough travelled to Championship Watford in the League Cup and beat them 5-1. This league is proving to be topsy-turvy, winners one week getting beat by supposedly lesser teams the next, and so on. This is why it is mission critical to keep the scoreboard ticking over. WHO TO MAKE A PUPPET OF AND STICK WITH PINS WHILST TRAVELLING DOWN THE A1 Posh have generally been lining up in a 4-2-3-1. The likely attacking shape looks something like: Owura Edwards — Brandon Khela — Ethan Williams Harry Leonard Leonard is probably the principal threat and behind him are three young, mobile attacking players. Ethan Williams, signed from Manchester United, provides pace and direct running from the left. Owura Edwards offers similar threat from the opposite side, with Brandon Khela operating centrally behind Leonard. Which sounds absolutely ideal for a Wednesday defence currently being held together with gaffer tape and Deep Heat. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ THE WALKING WOUNDED TEAM NEWS from Pedro's Presser. The gutting news from this week is the aforementioned Louie Barry injury. Our marquee summer signing had started the season looking like a man who'd accidentally wandered into the wrong five-a-side game. Then Bromley happened and Barry suddenly started looking every inch the player we'd hoped we'd signed, and he followed it up at Wycombe by scoring after just 11 minutes. And then, five minutes later, ankle turned on the dodgy astroturf down the side of the touchline. Pedersen confirmed yesterday that Barry is out for up to three months with ankle ligament damage. It's not just that we'll miss his output but we've been robbed of seeing him for what could be a sixth of his time at Wednesday. Ricardo Santos 50/50, other hammy and ACL crocks still floating about int the hydrapool. Harry Gray back next week. On the plus side, we've added big gun Davis Keillor-Dunn, giving us another attacking option following Barry's injury. Hoping we can keep him fit and work out a way to juggle our 6 loanees. For Peterborough, Owura Edwards has been a doubt after coming off against Stevenage, although the problem apparently isn't as serious as first feared. Tom O'Connor could return, while Carl Johnston remains unavailable. Deadline-day loanee Josh Feeney went straight into their defence against Stevenage and, rather inconveniently, they immediately kept their first league clean sheet of the season. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ BEFORE THE SCORE PREDICTION – A LITTLE RAVE HISTORY Now then. There is another important piece of Sheffield-Peterborough history which, inexplicably, appears to have been overlooked by most conventional historians. Friday 14 February 1992. Valentine's Day. Peterborough Ice Rink. TEMPTATION FOAM PARTY. For one glorious night, a huge contingent of Sheffield's finest made their way south for what was essentially an attempt to recreate one of Ibiza's legendary Amnesia foam parties... In an ice rink. In Peterborough. In February. The bill featured two of the biggest DJs on the planet at the time: Fabio and Sasha. And sandwiched between them? Crosspool lad, Sheffield DJ and Wednesdayite: Mossy. Despite it being the middle of winter in a building specifically designed to keep a large quantity of water frozen, the organisers proceeded to fill the dancefloor with mountains of soaking wet foam. Obviously, the sensible thing to do would have been to dance around the edge of it. So naturally hundreds of people, fully clothed, piled straight in. And I mean piled in. Survivors of the evening recall the foam reaching ten feet deep at one end, and at some point the stage collapsed. Several hours later, a convoy of utterly spannered Sheffield ravers emerged into a freezing Cambridgeshire February night absolutely pish-wet through and began the journey north. Every hand dryer in every motorway service station on the M1 between the Midlands and Sheffield was consequently subjected to operating conditions never envisaged by its manufacturer. And by Monday morning virtually everybody who had made the trip had developed the same mysterious respiratory condition: Double Dove Disco Flu. But for one completely deranged Valentine's night in 1992, the youth of Sheffield and Peterborough came together in peace, love, unity and approximately 40,000 gallons of Fairy Liquid. Thirty-four years later, nearly 4,000 of us are going back. Older. Wiser. Slightly less spannered. And hopefully this time wearing something waterproof. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ SCORE PREDICTION Peterborough 1 - 3 Wednesday 12 Leonard (head) 34 J Lowe (foot) 68 Bannan (foot) 90+5 Weaver (glans) +12. Enjoy the match and report back. And if we're 4-0 down at HT, go put a bet on. UTO (PS ChatGPT image maker won't let me use real faces other than Bruce for some weird reason)

I know we are all gushing over today and rightly so. We could pick any player from that starting 11 and give them praise. But I feel like we've overlooked Reece James a bit. For how late he has come into the group he was excellent today. I have no problem whatsoever with him being the backup to Lowe. In fact, I thought he offered something different today. He has a real composure that I like and he passes the ball really nicely. He kept finding Barry and seems to have great relationship down that side. It's going to be a real battle for that position when Max Lowe is fit again.

Booing??? After all we've been through? Who the hell do you think you are, boo-boys. I'm sure the owners, management and players must think you're all stupid bearing in mind our well-known circumstances. I know every club has its idiot supporters, but let's make sure this never happens again. Be ashamed of yourselves. Get a grip and show some balls and acknowledge the fact that we are a work in-progress, and near the top of this league. Show Mr Storch respect. FFS

Just get rid and please make it stop. He’s finished as a footballer, even at this level. All this “one of our own” Bullsħit has got to stop now. He’s had a free ride for too long. He wasn’t good enough 3 seasons ago and he’s definitely not good enough now. His legs have gone and he’s just not interested. He was absolutely abysmal against Wolves on Tuesday and every single one of his limitations as a footballer were laid bare. We were 7-0 up and cruising today when he came on and then concede 2. Coincidence? I think not. It is an absolute travesty he’s played so many games for this club (by default) and an even bigger travesty he’s still here as club captain. Please let this Emperors new clothes bòllocks that surrounds him stop and he be shown the door.

No. Although I haven't bought one so not sure if this helps.

And you know it

Best performance in a Wednesday shirt at Hillsborough in years. Yes, the opposition enabled some of it - but you could see his confidence rise and rise, ball sticks to him, excellent service into box. Got a steal with him, looks electric on left.

Change the hooks on the frame and hang landscape style it'll look better that way .

Slattery's diving. I hate it and, in my opinion, it's cheating. He came with that repuation (got suspended for feigning injury at Motherwell), and it is such a shame for such a talented footballer. Last night didn't look like he was touched, and should have received a yellow on Saturday.

Well done to the management for getting a great bunch of coaches and players together on a limited budget and for recognising what an amazing job Pedersen did last season and giving him the chance to actually manage a team of players, where substitutions are not all forced on him and he can actually use the attacking tactics he wants to. Best start for us in 30 years, well done Pedersen!

Back in Chicago after 15-16 days in London first to open the new campaign with a WIN v Leyton Orient then on to our new adopted home Sheffield! And how about the lads on Saturday… Wow!!! Put a huge exclamation point or 7 on our first 4 months owning our storied @swfc!!!!!!! And now we sit today on +6!!!!!! So proud of everyone connected with the club, our new executive team, folks in the front office + our fabulous match day team working so hard to make your experience that much more safe and enjoyable. And of course Henrik and the young men pouring their hearts and souls onto the pitch representing all of us with such grace, grit and determination. And I feel so blessed here today reflecting on it all. Big game tomorrow, later today for you all! Up the Owls ! #WAWAW

He played numerous games three years ago and played in both play off semi finals and the final. To suggest he was barely good enough is a bit daft.

Add structural engineering based on sight alone to the list of the extraordinary skills of Owlstalk members.

More chance of Anne Frank.

Accrington Bromley, who are they? Bromley FC is a proper Northern club with a massive following, a famous ground that has hosted 27 FA Cup semi-finals and four World Cup matches, and a proud history of top-flight football with several trophies to their name. Fortunately, they’ve been run into the ground over the last few years, have an unproven manager, are used to losing after the season from hell, play lots of tippy-tappy stuff in their own half despite talk of “verticality”, and have been terrible at set-pieces for years. Oh no, that’s right, they’re literally the exact opposite on every single count! Bromley have spent 132 years outside the Football League and only the last 2 in it; their average attendance was less than 10% of ours a couple of seasons ago; they’ve never played a senior first-team game in the home of football (the whole city of Sheffield, not just Hillsborough); and their recent success has a LOT to do with them being brilliant at set-pieces. Oh shizzle!!! The contrast between our respective clubs goes on. Our nickname is a nocturnal bird; theirs is diurnal. We’ll be playing in blue and white; they’ll be in red and black. Their manager, Andy Woodman, has been with them for years - joining the club in the same month that Darren Moore joined Wednesday. It’s like someone threw Sheffield Wednesday into the Large Hadron Collider to see what would spew out. But forget anti-matter because, unlike the Mickey Mouse match on Tuesday, this fixture really does matter. It’s far too early in the season to utter the words “must win”, but a resounding victory would certainly help to reduce the vocal “Pedersen Out” minority. Saying that, if anyone is expecting a walk in the park, they could have another thing coming (or another “think” coming if you prefer the supposedly original and correct idiom ). Bromley are no mugs. They may be small, but they’re perfectly formed. And, crucially, they know how to win. They’re lethal from set-pieces, well-organised, and new signing Shamal George looks like a real talent between the sticks. Cheek to Cheek Slattery is arguably our man to watch; he can even score with his Harris cheek. But Bromley have a dangerous Cheek of their own. He’s known as Mr Bromley, having been their top scorer for six consecutive seasons – a remarkable feat, considering their rise from non-league in such a short space of time. Is League One a step too far for the 34-year-old? Only time will tell. Unfortunately, even if he’s not firing on all cylinders, Bromley have a super-sub up their sleeve. Victor Adeboyejo has started his Bromley career like a train, scoring in both of their league games, plus three in pre-season. He might even start in place of Cheek, but my guess is that Andy Woodman will opt to stick to his winning formula… Predicted Line-Ups: Lumley Valery – Santos – Cooper - Lowe Mitchell – Bannan Morrison – Slattery – Barry Burstow George Ifill – Sowunmi – Grant – Mendy Thompson – Conteh Whitely – Hondermarck – Pinnock Cheek With a pair of ornithological nicknames, this one could be all about the wings. I’m going to predict goals from both Barry and Morrison. We simply have to score first, and I think we will. But they're bound to score from at least one set-piece. Their dead-ball specialist, Mitch Pinnock, and the head of 6’6” centre-back, Omar Sowunmi, is a potent combo. So... Wednesday 2 – 1 Bromley Attendance: 27,380 Weather Forecast: Better for ducks than either Owls or Ravens! Bonus Quiz Question: Can you name a player in either Wednesday’s or Bromley’s current squad who played in the only match ever between the two clubs?

How many times has he managed this team ? Under these conditions ? With two league games played ? He's got FA to do with us atm. Tell me on what benchmark you can judge him against Pedersen managing SWFC Because there isn't one. support what we have I'm not saying Pedersen's perfect, but give him phooking chance to prove he is or isn't. 2 league games - 3 points , not bad at all. This is a non Wednesday topic. Can it be moved ? Just more crap when we should be supporting the club.

I am knocking somewhat but I am still not old enough to remember us winning the second division title in 1958. I have been fortunate to see us win honours, play in Europe twice but would love to see us win a title. Ok its only the first division title but nonetheless its a title. I am sure many others feel the same.

The Hi-Ho Derby On the eve of what will undoubtedly be an enthralling evening of soccer under the lights at the famous(ly run-down) Hills-Burrow Sport Arena, the age-old debate kicks off once more... Which grand old club does Sheffield Wednesday’s Hi Ho anthem belong to? The argument goes something like this… “It don’t b’long t’ yaw, it’s a Wulfrun Wundrus classeek”. “Don’t don’t talk daft” “It’s not my fault yam from the black cuntree” “No, I mean it’s Wednesday’s song, and that’s the end of it. Now shut thi’ trap or I’ll gi’ thi’ a clip” Unfortunately, unlike a Dingle with unbridled access to a Pritt Stick, it’s not that simple. To uncover the truth, we need to go back to the very beginning… After witnessing a Jonny Fantham hat-trick against Southampton in February 1967, Scott English and Larry Weiss took a liking to our anthem, and thought it would make a killing on Top of the Pops. They decided to shoehorn “Silver Lining” in place of “Sheffield Wednesday” because they thought it would broaden the appeal, without realising it would actually ruin the song altogether. They gave it to their good friend Geoffrey Beck to release the following month, and on hearing the ditty, fans from Brizzle to sCunthorpe, realised they could also change the lyrics and insert their own clubs’ names in place of ours. Some, of course, fit better than others. Queen’s-Park-Range-ers and Ast-on-Vil-la, aren’t bad. But others, like Chel-sea or Wol-ver-hamp-ton-Wand-er-ers, clearly don’t work at all. Even our little neighbours, with their cast-off ground and nickname, had a bash at fitting Shef-field U-ni-ted into the song. But, having to reduce Sheffield to Sheff is a low that even they couldn’t sink to for long. The novelty soon wore off for most other clubs too, but an Ipswich Town match report from 1971 confirms that a Wednesday away crowd was still belting it out, loud and proud, four years later. A football memoir recalls it being customary for the song to be played over the PA system at Hillsborough throughout the 70s, but doesn’t give a definitive date for when it started. Someone on here will know! What we do know is that a BBC report from Molineux refers to the home players coming out to the Jeff Beck classic Wednesday's song, in 1974. But we also know they played “Up the Wolves” and “The Wanderers Song” in the late 60s and early 70s (Molinews). So, the jury’s out on who used it as a “walk-out song” first. Was it the Owls or was it the Wolverines… or should that be Tangerines, with their shirts being more Tango than "gold", presumably in honour of Paul Gregory - the most famous man from Wolverhampton. All I know is that we still owe them for ruining our lives by being present at the very beginning of our demise, 27 years ago. The date was 13th August 2000, it was our first game in the second tier, and it took a total of 13 seconds for Kevin Pressman to receive a red card for handling the ball outside the box. The fastest red card in English Football. Some might say that Wolves aren’t to blame for that. But those people would be wrong. It can’t have been our Kev’s fault. Their Kev (Muscat) shouldn’t have threaded the ball through for their Ket(sbaia) to deliberately kick the ball at our Kev’s hand. They only went and rubbed salt in our wounds 5 years later with a crazy Penalty Shoot-out. Once again, our Kev was involved, scoring what can only be described as the best penalty that has ever been scored by anyone ever to put us 3-0 up. Apparently, there were more pens after that, but nobody cares how they somehow won 4-3, so I’ll move on… Among Wednesday’s other penalty takers that day were Andy Sinton and Guy Whittingham. Two of many players who have played for both clubs. Here’s a full XI, if you’re into that kind of thing… E.Martinez D.Iorfa – P.Shirtliff – D.Batth – M.Gray B.Marshall – D.Potter – J.McCalliog – A.Sinton S.Fletcher – G.Whittingam (Leon Clarke misses out because he ruined his CV with poor decisions later in his career) On the subject of XIs, this is probably the bit where I should predict who might play. But, as it’s a Rumbelows Cup game, it’s anyone's guess. Do we let Yan and any other tired players get themselves off to bed? Legs need minutes in them or something. So, there’s that. The visiting Hi Ho Silver Medal Winners might be thinking the same. Or they might turn up with a full team of recently-in-the-top-flight superstars, and steamroll us. I’m not itk when it comes to the team selections, so that’ll have to remain a surprise. What I can tell you is that the last time we met the “Golden” Wonderers in the Fizzy Pop Cup was in 2018. We lost 2-0 that day, and it wouldn’t be a huge shock to see a repeat of that scoreline. Unfortunately, I can also see that being followed by a string of threads pretending it proves HP is the wrong kind of brown sauce. But it won’t prove anything because… COME ON YOU BLUE AND WHITE WIZARDS!!!

Whilst I think the restrictions are a pain, part of me is glad that we’re going to be more sensible. We’re better at freebies and low cost signings than we are splashing cash on lavish signings. Slattery, Mitchell, Barry, Santos, Cooper….. I mean that’s a pretty high standard of player for a team in L1. Im not sure behind the scenes they’re as concerned as our fans are. Running a sustainable club is the responsible way to go. These restrictions may be seen as a blessing by the new owners as it allows the EFL to be the bad guy when our less than patient fanbase demand more more more even when it’s not in best interest of the club.

Blokes an absolute fecking grifter, took a job on when no one else would, guaranteed himself a seasons work and wouldn't be sacked and now he's riding the good will train for all its worth. Should have been the first out of the door when the takeover was completed. Poor win ratio, never been a manager and now its showing. If Storch wants excellence then he wants a new manager.

Daniel Storey went to Hillsborough to speak to those rebuilding a club that almost went extinct earlier this year Two hours before kick-off and the location in which I’m chatting with Sheffield Wednesday’s new chief executive and brand director is fitting. We are sat in a dugout on the concrete of the North West Corner. Season ticket holders can win tickets to use the dugout for one game through a ballot. They get pre-match hospitality, oversee the players warm up on the pitch from the touchline and then watch the match with a former player with one of the best views in the house. The symbolism isn’t subtle. Since 2012, this corner of Hillsborough has been out of use; the only change on the grey steps is the relentless push of weeds through ever-widening cracks. The new initiative is only a temporary measure – one day they would like this corner full of supporters. But in the short term, you find your quick wins where you can, which is the epitome of the new Wednesday. Wednesday were my first EFL assignment in each of the last two seasons. One was a 4-0 win over Plymouth Argyle which offered hope of distraction from the Dejphon Chansiri saga. The second was a defeat at Leicester City that reinforced why distraction was only ever a pipe dream. The experience was far worse for those local journalists who covered it daily (and Alex Miller and Joe Crann deserve recognition for their work), but reporting on Wednesday during the subsequent months was inherently bleak. We almost lost them. As ever, it was the supporters who suffered most. Some stopped coming at all because they couldn’t bear to see something they cared about so much being mistreated so appallingly and boycott was their only form of control. Even before then, many arrived just before the match, refused to buy food or merchandise and traipsed out afterwards. That isn’t entertainment or joy; it’s drudgery. So the shouted chorus of “Hi ho, Sheffield Wednesday” really did hit differently this time. It contained an earthy, defiant edge, but more than that, a demonstrable, raucous pride. All those times when they didn’t come to sing this song because the owner didn’t deserve their money, or mumbled it when they did come because the owner had killed their spirit. You preserve those emotions somewhere deep inside and let them come out when the day comes. Related: Wednesday are currently averaging their highest home attendances since the 1960s. All it took was their club almost dying at the hands of a stubborn and desperate man and the subsequent rescue. All they wanted was a reason to come back. Barry Bannan officially rejoined on a one-year deal this summer (Photo: Getty) David Bruce is the chief executive and Oscar Chamberlain the brand director. They are merely two important cogs in a new machine led by owner David Storch, the club’s saviour, but their work has been remarkable given the time constraints. Over £9m has been spent on the stadium and training ground since May to partly atone for the years of neglect. I am shown around Hirsty’s Bar and the Quixall Club, both newly opened – the number of premium covers has doubled over the course of a summer. In Hirsty’s is more symbolism: “W-E-D-N-E-S-D-A-Y” in large, worn metal letters. They were found under a stand where they had been left to rot and ruin and presented above the bar – after a quick clean – as a reminder that what happened under Chansiri must never happen again. Everyone can raise a glass to that. “We came in and thought we’d spend £5m, largely on safety, foundational stuff to make the stadium be a place you want to come to,” Bruce tells The i Paper. “Flushing the toilets and not getting water coming through the roof. The ability to serve pies and pints in a decent way. But the more you uncovered, the more you saw something you actually wanted to work on too. “Normally you would get things signed off in the budget at Christmas time, then finalise and start the work when you get to summer. We didn’t start thinking about this stuff until two weeks after the owner owned the club. There’s obviously still bits and pieces getting done. But to get all of that done before the start of the season… I can’t believe how much the team achieved.” Supporters understandably focus more on on-pitch change and there has been plenty enough of that to keep them excited and busy. With a squad already decimated thanks to financial emergency, and with severe restrictions over their incoming business (the rules of the takeover meant that they could not spend any money within a transfer deal, including loans, operated under a wage limit and could not reinvest incoming transfer fees), 18 new faces arrived at Hillsborough. Some were certainly eye-catching. It creates excitement about the team’s potential, but also uncertainty in the truest sense: anyone telling you that they know where Wednesday’s natural position in League One is this season is a fibber. It must be the mantra at every football club in post-calamity existence: recovery is never a straight line. This is all summed up rather nicely by the home game I attended and its immediate predecessor: 7-2 vs Bromley, 0-0 vs Wigan Athletic. “This football club has been starved of sustained periods of success for over 40 years irrespective of the level,” says Matt Johnson of Owls Extra, one of my Wednesday confidantes during the bad days. “I can only speak for myself but I would be happy with a top-half finish given the turnover of the summer, as long as year on year there is direction of travel and a level of transparency. “That said, the signings and the way the players have talked about where they want to finish has raised expectations, coupled with the start.” The main thing, I think, is to make people fall in love again. These things are all interrelated, evidently. A supporter is more likely to feel energised when their matchday experience is good and the team winning often is a strong strand of that experience. But the wider point is that this place – and the congregation who fill it – had received insufficient love for years. It’s not that they didn’t believe in the future – they didn’t even know what they were supposed to be believing in at all. Flick that switch and you have something powerful. We can talk all day in hushed voices and with misty eyes about what makes us fall in love – and back in love – with our football clubs. It is a cathedral of intangibles and invisible forces. More helpful is to deal in practicality. And the key at Hillsborough lies in the power of communication. That was the most unforgivable aspect of Chansiri’s reign by the end. Supporters became angry with what they knew, but terrified by what they weren’t being told by an owner burying his head in the sand and cutting all lines of communication. Handily, that creates such a low bar for the new decision-makers that it becomes their greatest weapon in generating goodwill. “Let’s communicate and let’s communicate frequently,” Bruce says. “We’re still not where we need to be with certain things on matchday. So we articulate that in the matchday guide. We want to be very open and honest about that. “I think a lot of clubs will understandably wait until they are almost at the mid-point of the journey. Well, we want to tell you about the journey now, because the journey is the most exciting part when you’ve experienced what these people have. It’s intoxicating; it might be a little bit messy at times, but that’s OK because we’re together.” “There’s also an authenticity there from the owner, an approachability and relatability that is probably quite rare in football,” Chamberlain says. “They’re quite open to saying, ‘We’re not perfect, we’re not going to get everything right’. “But what we are going to do is give you the information to ensure that you understand that this is why we took the decision. And if we do make mistakes, we hold our hands up, own it and then be better and do better. Progress that way, rather than trying to make excuses, hide or sweep it under the carpet.” There are honeymoon periods at football clubs that naturally arrive after they are saved. Wednesday are starting one now. The sun shines brighter, the crowds are noisier, they look forward to matches more fervently and they are able to bask in the glow of security that was absent for too long. The second stage, often harder to process, is learning to be normal again. That is best reflected in the reaction to setback or misstep and it’s something that Johnson mentions. When something goes wrong, mistreated fanbases are indoctrinated to view it as the first step along the road to oblivion, even if the perceived offence is relatively minor. That is the legacy of a bad club owner: the emotional scars that their predecessors must tend to. The only ingredient that matters is time. Time to keep rebuilding. Time to prove that the initial progress was not a distraction tactic or merely a flurry to impress the masses into buying tickets and shirts. Time to create trust. Time to just exist and see what happens without that causing panic or atrophy. Chamberlain makes the point that 10 years’ work was done in four months and at the end of it there is still 10 years’ work to do. And that process never stops. That’s how you eradicate the fear that became so all-consuming. Still, there are mileposts along the road. At full-time against Wigan and the grubby 0-0, there were some boos and groans at Hillsborough. Most were at the referee, I’m sure, but some Wednesday supporters were just annoyed at failing to win at home and extend their early lead at the top of League One. I love everything about every single one of those boos, because they symbolise normality. They weren’t groaning because their club might not exist next month, or because the owner is refusing to engage with a sale process. They groaned because they drew 0-0 against Wigan, which is exactly how it should be.

I remember thinking (and posting) he was never going to be our number one this season, but fair play to him. Calm and assured. Made some great saves too. The biggest thing probably is that no one is talking about him. Think he’s been excellent so far.

Tonight (tomorrow night depending on when you are reading this) marks a monumental chapter in English football history. The first-ever competitive clash between Sheffield Wednesday and Salford City. We are the Owls and we have over a century of proud footballing history. While Wednesday were lifting FA Cups and inventing modern football, the Moor Lane ground was basically a patch of allotment where people grew cabbages. Let’s hope this historic head-to-head starts 1–0 to the Owls. And so, to the competition itself. The Associate Members’ Cup. The Freight Rover Trophy. The Sherpa Van. The Autoglass. The Auto Windscreens Shield. The LDV Vans. The Johnstone’s Paint. The Checkatrade. The Papa Johns. The Bristol Street Motors… …and now, officially, the Vertu Trophy. Or whatever car dealership chain takes the naming rights between now and kickoff. Competition has had more names than we've had Loans! THE SALFORD STORY Salford City are one of those clubs who appear to have been invented during the second half of a Football Manager save. They weren't, obviously. The club actually dates back to 1940, although back then there was considerably less TV coverage, considerably fewer former Manchester United legends involved, and considerably more chance of somebody arriving at Moor Lane carrying a shovel. Then, in 2014, five lads who had spent the previous two decades winning everything at Old Trafford decided that what their retirement really needed was a non-league football club. Gary Neville, Phil Neville, Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes and Nicky Butt got involved with Salford, alongside Peter Lim, and suddenly the club had gone from playing non-league football to having rather more celebrity shareholders than most Premier League clubs. At the time, Salford were in the eighth tier of English football. What followed was basically the football equivalent of putting Football Manager on easy mode. Four promotions in five seasons. Non-league to the Football League. A BBC documentary. Former Manchester United players wandering around the place. It was all going rather well. Unfortunately for Salford, the bit where they continued climbing the football pyramid seems to have been accidentally deleted from the script. They reached the Football League in 2019 and have remained there ever since, spending their time bouncing around League Two and occasionally threatening to make the whole thing rather more interesting. And now, all these years later, Sheffield Wednesday finally arrive at Moor Lane for the first competitive meeting between the clubs. HOW ARE WE DOING THEN? SALFORD The Ammies have started the season reasonably well and come into this game with some decent results behind them. There have been wins, draws and defeats, but importantly they have shown enough to suggest that Wednesday probably shouldn't treat this as an opportunity to stroll around at 70% while thinking about the impending international break. They also won at the weekend. Which is irritating. So expect Salford to be organised, energetic and thoroughly irritating. SHEFFIELD WEDNESDAY Wednesday, meanwhile, are 2nd in League One, despite some lacklustre performances. After everything that happened last season, seeing Wednesday at the top end of the table rather than desperately trying to escape from the bottom is quite the novelty. The football has been a mixed bag, there have been goals, but there is at least the beginnings of a feeling that we might actually have a football team rather than a weekly social experiment. Obviously, this is Sheffield Wednesday. Therefore, absolutely none of us are allowed to become comfortable. A defeat and somebody will be demanding that the manager is sacked. A draw and somebody will be demanding that the manager is sacked. One win and somebody will point out that we only beat Salford and that we won't get away with that against proper teams. That's the beauty of supporting Wednesday. The mood can change approximately every 14 minutes. THE REFEREE As somebody who has spent far too much of his spare time running around football pitches wearing black, I feel uniquely qualified to offer a professional assessment of the referee. He is either going to have a perfectly good game or be an absolute disgrace. There is no third option. The first 20 minutes will probably be particularly interesting. Wednesday have already developed a worrying habit of making matches considerably more exciting than they need to be, and this is exactly the sort of fixture where somebody will decide that a perfectly routine challenge requires a yellow card. Then another yellow card. Then everyone will spend the next 15 minutes discussing whether the first yellow was actually a yellow. My prediction for the referee's notebook: One completely baffling yellow card. One yellow card where everyone in the ground agrees with him. At least three occasions where 4,000 people simultaneously scream "HOW'S THAT A FOUL?" One Wednesday player booked for something the Salford player has done four times. A lengthy discussion about whether the referee has actually seen the incident. Me shouting at the television despite knowing perfectly well that the referee cannot hear me. And, crucially: NO RED CARDS IN THE FIRST 20 MINUTES, PLEASE. We're asking for very little here. THE OFFICIAL OMDT BETTING MARKET As this is the first competitive meeting between the clubs, the bookmakers have had to spend several minutes frantically checking whether Sheffield Wednesday have ever actually played Salford City before. They haven't. So naturally, here are the official and entirely fictitious OMDT markets. Wednesday to be 1-0 up after 20 minutes – 7/4 Wednesday to concede immediately after scoring – 5/6 A Wednesday player to receive a completely avoidable yellow – Evens Someone to post "Pedersen out" before half-time – 4/1 Someone to post "calm down, it's the Vertu Trophy" – 2/1 Barry Bannan to receive a standing ovation for completing a 12-yard pass – 11/10 Someone to complain about the attendance – 6/4 Someone to mention the Class of '92 in the match thread – 1/100 Someone to ask what happens if it's a draw – 1/2 Wednesday to make this far more difficult than necessary – 1/20 A 0-0 draw followed by an unnecessarily stressful penalty shootout – 8/1 Wednesday win without causing any emotional damage whatsoever – Suspended from betting SPECIAL MARKET Time of first "PEDERSEN OUT" post: Before kick-off – 16/1 0–15 minutes – 12/1 16–30 minutes – 8/1 Half-time – 5/1 46–60 minutes – 7/2 61–75 minutes – 3/1 76–90 minutes – 2/1 After Wednesday win – 9/4 The last one is obviously where the real money is. PREDICTION It's difficult to know exactly what to expect from this one. It's a competition where squad rotation is likely, it's the first competitive meeting between the clubs, and Salford have started the season reasonably well. Wednesday are 2nd in League One, have been playing some ok football at times and should have enough quality to get through this. More importantly, history demands a result. The first competitive head-to-head between Sheffield Wednesday and Salford City should start with the correct team winning. So I'm going for: SALFORD CITY 1–2 SHEFFIELD WEDNESDAY Otegbayo to score. Thornton to run the show Someone to get booked unnecessarily. And approximately 47 minutes of my evening spent complaining about the referee. Come on Wednesday.

Better off calling out the players to turn up and put in a performance… 30k have turned up for 3 matches, 2 games we haven’t scored in. We need a big performance, not a big crowd.

Mate of mine has been commissioned to do a portrait of Albert Quixall, presumably for the Quixall lounge.