Sheffield Wednesday: Madine is happy for Owls to sign rival forwards

Gary Madine hopes Dave Jones is successful in his bid to bring in a high-profile goalscorer – even if it means the current Sheffield Wednesday striker has a tougher job on his hands holding down a place in the first team.

Madine got off the mark on Tuesday night with the only goal of the game as the buoyant Owls dumped Premier League Fulham out of the Capital One Cup.

The victory stretched Wednesday’s unbeaten run to 19 games, 17 of those coming under the stewardship of Jones.

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Madine played a significant role at the start of that sequence as the Owls clinched promotion from League One, with the 22-year-old finishing last season as the club’s top scorer.

But a close season hampered by foot and knee injuries checked his progress, until Madine was able to grab his chance with a match-winning performance on Tuesday which prompted Jones to say the rangy Gateshead lad was getting back to his best.

However, the natural evolution of the club means that if Wednesday want to sustain their impressive start to life in the Championship then they must continue developing the squad.

With an ambitious chairman in Milan Mandaric and a name that still resonates in English football, the club have been linked with some high-profile players, one of whom is the one-time England striker Jay Bothroyd.

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QPR want to sell Bothroyd, but his high wages, understood to be in excess of £2m a year, would mean Wednesday have more hope of landing him on loan once the emergency market re-opens on September 8.

Whether such a move comes to fruition, or Jones is successful in signing a new striker before tomorrow night’s transfer deadline, Madine welcomes the extra pressure.

“I’ve heard talk of people like Jay Bothroyd, he’s got an England cap, and I can do nothing but learn from people like that,” said Madine. “I really don’t mind that.

“Chris O’Grady has taken my place of late and he’s done terrific. He’s a great lad, he works so hard and I can’t knock him. Whenever he comes in I wish him all the best.

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“And if they bring another striker in and he does well then it’s good for the team.

“I like to learn from everyone I can. I got a bit of stick last year for saying I learned from Ched Evans, but I’m not ashamed to say that, because he’s a good player.

“I won’t be happy if I’m sat on the sidelines but it won’t mean I’ll work any less hard.

“Chris O’Grady got pulled out of the side because he’s played three games in a week.

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“I came in and I did my bit against Millwall (last Saturday), then Chris came on after 60 minutes and changed the game.

“The gaffer put that in the programme on Tuesday and he was dead right because Chris smashed their centre-half to bits and we got two goals after that.

“We’re one or two players short. The club’s trying to bring in big names and everything is looking upwards.”

From the highs of carrying Wednesday’s goalscoring threat last season, Madine – who found the net 18 times – has endured a frustrating summer.

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He has started three of the Owls’ first five games despite being dogged during pre-season with niggling knee and foot injuries.

Madine said: “I’m not fully fit yet but I feel as though I’m just getting back there and I felt a lot better on Tuesday.

“I had a man in the front row screaming at me saying ‘work harder, you’re not working hard enough’. But we were playing against a team from the Premier League. You can’t just go sprinting into them because they’ll just keep passing it around you.

People need to be patient and work with us. They pay their money, their entitled to their opinion. They just view it differently.

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“But it’s hard to play against the quality players in the Championship and then the Premier League like Tuesday, when you’re not fully fit.

“You’ve got to be right at the top of your game and I’m slowly getting there.”

Jones believes Madine needs to show a little more sharpness in his search for full fitness. Overall, the Owls manager was delighted with the contribution of his fringe players, who put in maximum effort as they outplayed a surprisingly lacklustre Fulham side.

“I’m pleased for the players that came in,” said Jones, who anticipiates two more players on the periphery will leave the club before tomorrow’s deadline.

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“It shows the fitness programme we have here is working and that there’s good competition for places.

“There’s a feelgood factor here at the minute. If we keep winning it means I can keep going to the chairman and keep getting little things off him, like this or that for the training ground, or another player. He keeps telling me I’m putting him under pressure, which is what it’s all about.

“The chairman will want a big draw in the next round, hopefully at home. We’ve just beaten a big Premier League club. If it’s at home we fancy our chances against anybody.”

The Owls last night signed Republic of Ireland Under-21 midfielder Paul Corry from University College Dublin for an undisclosed fee.