Millwall v Sheffield Wednesday: Why 'the noise' never registers with Di'Shon Bernard

It should serve him well on Saturday at one of football’s most intimidating grounds.

Bernard's Sheffield Wednesday are at Millwall's New Den, just as inhospitable as the old one closed in 1993. C-bombs will be bouncing with V-signs for the hard of hearing. Bernard will just toddle on.

When asked "What's it like going to Millwall?" he chuckles.

"The fans will be very hostile against us, more so Barry (Bannan)," says the Jamaican international from Wandsworth. "But we've been before and got three points.

"I think everyone picks on Barry Bannan. I don't know why but I think he thrives on it so I'm sure he'll be all right."

So will be the centre-back, who could have a new partner in south London with Dominic Iorfa a doubt.

"Not just Millwalll, anywhere, for me personally once the whistle blows it's like you can't really hear too much of the fans, you just concentrate on the game at hand and on what your team-mates are saying, not the fans," he insists.

"Maybe if it's a throw-in, you may hear some of the fans creep in but mostly it's quite easy to block out the noise."

Blocking out "the noise" is vital at Sheffield Wednesday – not just in the literal sense. The Owls a club about whom there always seems to be a buzz, be it grumbles or euphoria. Usually reality is found in the middle.

Now 23 years-old, but mature beyond that after over 100 league games and a fledgling international career, Bernard had a good schooling for it, in the academy at England's most talked-about football club – love 'em or hate 'em Manchester United.

"They tell you to shut out the outside noise as much as you can and concentrate on your game – only concentrate on the noises within the building because they're the ones that are going to help you as a player," he recalls.

His first loan at Salford City, a polarising League Two club thanks to their Class of 92 owners, was gentle in that respect.

"I didn't have too much pressure from outside noise because it was during Covid and the stadiums were empty," explains Bernard. "I think that made it a bit easier just to concentrate on the football.

“It was definitely the main driving factor to where I am now, I wish I'd gone on loan earlier. I went straight to the Champ after that (loaned to Hull City).

"To say I'm in a bubble is probably me to a tee as a personality, on and off the pitch."

His manager, Danny Rohl, is similarly level, as he has already shown this season after a brilliant opening-weekend win over Plymouth Argyle was followed by consecutive defeats to Sunderland and Leeds United.

"He knows it's a process and a journey," says Bernard. "He knows Sunderland didn't show us as a team. Even Plymouth, he knows it's just the first game and there was a lot of improvement we needed."

Rohl and Bernard are steady presences at a gloriously unstable club.