Sheffield Wednesday’s delusions of grandeur will not help them escape League One graveyard - Stuart Rayner

Following up an embarrassing 5-0 defeat at Sunderland with a 1-0 loss at Shrewsbury Town means the knives are back out for Darren Moore. They were never put far out of reach by a fanbase suspicious of the methods of a likeable manager in an industry where that does not, should not, get you very far.

A Sheffield Wednesday side which was starting to look well-placed to push for promotion from League One before Christmas has come out of a Covid-enforced hibernation badly, and all the doubts about Moore that had been pushed to the back of minds have resurfaced.

Even during a 12-match unbeaten run, Moore’s players still chucked in two terrible cup defeats, at Plymouth and Hartlepool. Injuries have played a bit part but there are psychological frailties at the famous old ground too. It is his job to address them.

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Moore’s is not a very safe position to be in as the manager of such a big club in a small pond, least of all when the chairman is as trigger-happy as Dejphon Chansiri, the owner who got through four managers (if you include Neil Thompson’s lengthy caretaker stint) last season. Moore knew the dangers when he jumped from Doncaster Rovers, so we should not shed too many tears.

Under pressure: Owls chief Darren Moore. Picture: Steve EllisUnder pressure: Owls chief Darren Moore. Picture: Steve Ellis
Under pressure: Owls chief Darren Moore. Picture: Steve Ellis

Sheffield Wednesday are having a decent season, but that is a problem.

A club with their fanbase and their history is not supposed to be in the third tier of English football and when it is, it is supposed to be more than decent.

The trouble is, pedigree counts for nothing in League One, a division perhaps more disrespectful of reputations than any in English football. Recent history shows that not only do clubs like Wednesday not have a divine right to win promotion from it, they are unlikely to get it at the first time of asking.

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That does not give Moore a free pass to make a mess of managing them, but it shows anyone who thinks changing the manager is all that is needed to set the Owls tanker right is deluding themselves. They are not just in this division for a reason, but many reasons.

Owls skipper Barry Bannan (Pic: Steve Ellis)Owls skipper Barry Bannan (Pic: Steve Ellis)
Owls skipper Barry Bannan (Pic: Steve Ellis)

Looking at it superficially, Wednesday should win promotion. So should Sunderland, Wigan Athletic, Portsmouth, Ipswich Town, Bolton Wanderers and Charlton Athletic. But there are only three spots up for grabs and as long as there are teams like Rotherham United around, they are unlikely to all go to the giants.

In the 21-and-a-half years since the Owls played in the Premier League, all those other big clubs have finished in its top half, Wigan, Pompey, Ipswich and Bolton in Europe. All it means is to use Chris Wilder’s phrase about Middlesbrough, they have “big targets on their backs”.

It is overplaying it to call League One a graveyard of big clubs, but it is certainly a holding bay. Such is the size of those clubs, they will surely get it right eventually but only after making sure their minds, then their squads are. Some are further down that painful path than others.

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Usually when these clubs go down, their bigger resources have just meant bigger debts, adding to the pressure of expectation. Wednesday are not run in such a way that they can afford to be slumming it for too long but Portsmouth and Bolton fell further before finding their feet.

Sheffield Wednesday manager Darren Moore is starting to lose the faith of the Sheffield Wednesday fanbase (Picture: Steve Ellis)Sheffield Wednesday manager Darren Moore is starting to lose the faith of the Sheffield Wednesday fanbase (Picture: Steve Ellis)
Sheffield Wednesday manager Darren Moore is starting to lose the faith of the Sheffield Wednesday fanbase (Picture: Steve Ellis)

Delusions of grandeur has been part of what has held them and others back – sometimes on the playing staff, sometimes the manager’s office, sometimes the boardroom and often on the terraces. Whilst parts of those clubs look down their noses at teams who are now their equals, the likes of Rotherham, Wycombe, Oxford, Plymouth and Milton Keynes Dons – usually clubs whose managers have been in place a long time, although the Pilgrims recently lost theirs – and who understand and respect the division, get on with the job in hand.

Last summer was the third time Wednesday had dropped into the third tier – the second in the 21st century when the gaps between the top three divisions have become yawning. They have never won promotion at the first attempt.

Leeds United were marooned in the division for three humbling years, Sheffield United for six. Nottingham Forest and Southampton had two-year sentences.

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They sorted themselves out by finding managers who probably drew as many groans as excitement in facing up to reality.

Leicester in 2008-09 and Wolverhampton in 2013-14 bounced back at the first attempt under Nigel Pearson and Kenny Jackett respectively so it can be done but those who assume it is a foregone conclusion are kidding themselves.

As 2021 came to an end, Rotherham began to look like the best team in League One but even they might not go up, so tight is the nine-team group the Owls sit bottom of. Losing one of the last 23 games has given the Millers a one-point gap at the top of the table which will go if Wigan win two of their three games in hand.

A good transfer window could put the Owls firmly in the running, a bad one could see them drop off the pace.

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It is not about chasing “next level” players, it is about accepting where they are and making the signings for this level. Thinking about Championship players for next season will only ensure there is no Championship next season.

Wednesday’s next game is against Plymouth – a team better than them – so they need to outwork them, outfight them, and they need their supporters to help them, not let their understandable frustrations out when they find it a struggle against opponents with just over half their gates.

If bouncing back was easy, all the big clubs would do it.

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