Owls boss looks for massive lift from derby win

After four defeats in a row, ‘Ginger Mourinho’ is suddenly under pressure when, just over a month ago, he was riding the crest of a wave.

Wednesday are third in the table but the natives are still restless.

Their position would be acceptable to most other League One clubs but not to the Owls.

What makes the situation so hard for them to stomach is that arch-rivals Sheffield United have second spot.

The in-form Blades are now five points clear of the Owls and have two games in hand.

Defeat in the Steel City derby this weekend would leave the Owls needing an extraordinary run to catch up and avoid the play-offs.

Yet no one is feeling more frustrated than Megson.

The Owls manager is a dyed-in-the-wool ‘Wednesdayite’ who grew up in Stannington watching his father Don play for the club. Megson made more than 250 appearances for Wednesday during two separate spells as a player and is as biased in his opinions about the Owls as any long-serving season ticket holder.

The rumour mill shot into over-drive at the start of the week after the Owls lost to bottom of the table Chesterfield.

Megson’s position, it was suggested, looked vulnerable but chairman Milan Mandaric kept his finger off the panic button. For now.

So just why is Megson under fire?

At the start of 2012, he was being hailed as a hero on matchdays and his confidence was sky high.

The Owls knocked West Ham United out of the FA Cup – with Megson insisting it was ‘no giant-killing’ – and then had the opportunity to move within two points of leaders Charlton Athletic when the clubs met at Hillsborough.

But a 1-0 defeat to the Addicks signalled the start of a slide.

There have been growing mutterings from a minority of Owls supporters but the majority have kept the faith. Across the city, Blades supporters are revelling in it.

They frequently mock Megson’s penchant for using the word ‘massive’ to describe his own club. He even referred to Wednesday as the ‘Real Madrid of League One’ in one interview.

Internet jokers have started telling Wednesday to ‘mind the massive gap’ in the table.

Why has it gone wrong for the Owls? And can a team that won 15 games out of 20 a few months ago recover its form before it is too late?

There were two key departures from Hillsborough last month – wingers Ben Marshall and James Tavernier – and replacing them has been a problem.

Megson was desperate to keep Marshall, a revelation on loan from Stoke, but he joined Leicester who offered more money and a higher level of football.

Tavernier was on loan from Newcastle United but they blocked a request to extend the deal as they felt he should be playing at full-back.

Since losing both players, Megson has employed several alternatives on the flanks but Wednesday have lost the balance they had with them.

Jermaine Johnson briefly stepped up to the plate and scored some stunning goals but does not provide the same level of service to the strikers. He has now suffered a knee injury and may be facing weeks on the sidelines.

Midfielder John Bostock, once a teenager with the world at his feet, has disappointed since moving on loan from Tottenham Hotspur, and Mike Jones, a winger signed from Bury, has struggled to get in the side.

Megson will hope the capture of Reading’s Michail Antonio can help revive things.

Yesterday’s arrival of the winger, who rejected a move north in November, is a timely boost going into the derby but the flanks are not the only area where the team could do with a lift.

Another decent acquisition in the loan market, perhaps a proven goalscoring midfielder, would underline Wednesday’s ambition at a time when it is most needed.

Chairman Mandaric is now free from the distraction of his legal battles and last week stressed his commitment to the cause. But it will not have escaped his attention that Megson has talked enviously about the spending power of other clubs. Such comments rarely impress club chairmen and Mandaric hardly deserves criticism for his investments at Hillsborough.

There are still 14 games to play and, understandably, some Owls supporters are looking nervously over their shoulders.

Huddersfield Town, MK Dons and Stevenage can all go above the Owls if they win their games in hand which brings a danger of slipping out of the play-off zone, but that is the worst-case scenario.

If the Owls pull off a victory on Sunday – and the formbook goes out of the window in derbies – Megson will be a hero again and talk will return to the team’s strengths rather than weaknesses.

Football is such a fickle game.