How Sheffield Wednesday can benefit from negative experience
Owls manager Garry Monk, assistant James Beattie, first-team coach Andrew Hughes, goalkeeping coach Darryl Flahavan and performance analyst Ryan Needs do not need to arrive to work wearing combat fatigues and war paint every day to convey that.
Given the Owls’ parlous predicament and sizeable numerical disadvantage at the start of the Championship season, they could be in a lot worse hands.
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Hide AdMonk, Beattie, Flahavan and Needs were present at Birmingham when staff and players picked themselves up off the floor after the club’s nine-point deduction for breaching EFL profitability and sustainability rules in March 2019 – which plunged Blues into a relegation battle towards the end of 2018-19.
The Midlanders retained their Championship status, while sticking two fingers up to their detractors in the process.
In his playing days, Hughes was also afforded a similarly delicious moment when he and his Leeds United team-mates wiped out a 15-point penalty at the start of the 2007-08 season in double-quick time in League One.
It was the sort of ‘us against the world’ type scenario that is similar to the position that Wednesday now find themselves in. Subject of the mirth of rival fans, but rolling with the punches and determined to fight back.
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Hide AdMonk, who was Swansea captain in that season when Hughes and Leeds ended up pushing for promotion, said: “I remind him every day of that. We won the league that year at Swansea.
“It was (minus) 15 points and what happened at Swansea was that we got to the last game of the season, having won the league.
“But we knew we wanted to finish 16 points ahead of them so they could not say: ‘If we did not have it, we’d have won the league.’
“We played the last game of the season at Brighton away. Brighton were ‘on the beach’ and their lads were just thinking about holidays and so on. And we were like animals, smashing into tackles and they were just looking at us saying: ‘What are you doing?’
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Hide Ad“We were the loudest team ever and we won 3-1. I always remind Hughesy if he ever turns around and says you would not have won the league if you had not had it (Leeds’s points deduction). It is good to have your own staff who have experienced it. We also have staff who experienced it at a different moment in the season at Birmingham – James, Daryl, Ryan and myself.
“Hughesy has also experienced that in his playing career, so you can put that into your way of working and stress how important it is to the lads.”
Monk’s own sweet moment arrived at Rotherham on Easter Monday 2019 when Blues won 3-1 to secure their divisional status.
At the final whistle, keeper Lee Camp raced from one end of the pitch to the other towards the visiting contingent, who promptly shouted raw defiance in the direction of the EFL.
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Hide AdShould the Owls be successful in quickly eliminating their own 12-point penalty en route to survival, expect Wednesdayites to be similarly raucous.
Monk, whose side host Watford in their home opener tomorrow, added: “We took over in a really delicate situation (at Birmingham) before that points deduction where there was a huge relegation threat.
“It was slightly different. I think on three of the previous five years, they had been fighting relegation on the last day of the season and had experience of it and that fanbase had a fear of what it would mean.
“It (staying up) was a sense of achievement at what the club had been through. It was a big achievement and it would be the same for us, no doubt about it.”
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Hide AdWhat is identical is that fact that livelihoods – not just among players, managers and coaches, but wider club staff – are very much at stake at Hillsborough, just as they were at St Andrew’s.
A positive start suggests that Owls players are showing strength in adversity. If they are driven by a touch of fear, so be it.
“If a club of this size gets relegated, the ramifications are huge. Some people don’t realise that financially especially,” Monk said.
“It is making everyone aware how serious that is. It is why it is a huge season.
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Hide Ad“We want more, but we have to do it stage by stage and we have to try and clear those 12 points and get to that safety mark. That is the most critical moment.
“Of course, we want to achieve that early and see if we can go beyond that. But the ramifications of relegation are people losing their livelihoods. We have seen it before at big clubs.”
If the Owls beat Fulham in the League Cup next Wednesday, they will face a fourth away trip to the winners of West Brom and Brentford in the fourth round.
Carabao Cup 4th round draw: Lincoln or Liverpool v Leicester or Arsenal, Millwall or Burnley v Manchester City or Bournemouth, West Brom or Brentford v Fulham or Sheffield Wednesday, Fleetwood or Everton v West Ham or Hull, Bristol City or Aston Villa v Stoke or Gillingham, Leyton Orient or Tottenham v Chelsea or Barnsley, Newport or Watford v Morecambe or Newcastle, Preston or Brighton v Luton or Manchester United.
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