Owls safe - or are we?

Last updated : 07 May 2008 By Andy Parsons

Sunday was a great day - big crowd, good result and a party atmosphere at Hillsborough for the game against Norwich - alas the smiles are just covering up the bigger disparaging picture at S6. I was not happy that we avoided relegation on the last day - relieved for sure but it is not exactly success to relish.

At the end of the 2006/07 season, Wednesday made fantastic strides by almost getting into the play-offs, playing an exciting brand of football and having a fantastic young team with players of real promise. We all came into the 07/08 season with great optimism but of course that was short lived.

My first rumbles of discontent is when we got rid of three of our top players in Steve MacLean, Chris Brunt and then later Glenn Whelan - the heart and soul of the side. We desperately missed Macca's precise finishing, Brunty's deliveries and Whelan's midfield guile. These three players were our most important players and we should have done everything in our power to make them stay. Can you imagine Manchester United getting rid of Ronaldo, Rooney and Scholes? Of course not.

Losing these three players gave me the impression that the club was going to go nowhere this season. Macca's replacement Franny Jeffers, despite moments of quality, turned out to be as injury prone as we all feared he would be, numerous combinations in the middle could not match Whelan's contribution and however hard we tried down the left, Brunt's distribution was sorely missed.

I know we have had our injuries - that is very unfortunate and we have the makings of a very, very good defensive unit with Grant, Simek, Beevers, Wood and much-improved Spurr hopefully going to be our back line for years to come - alas I wish I could say the same about our lightweight midfield.

In came an abundance of loan players who did a decent job without really standing out. A handful of vital goals from Susarski, Sahar and Bolder all helped the cause although Kavanagh, Songo'o and Showunmi went missing at vital spells - unfortunately too many loan players can sometimes take unity from a squad.

High praise though for Lee Grant, who inspired after a shaky start in blue and white, Deon Burton who had a cracking end to the season and Lee Bullen who will be sadly missed after being Wednesday's best captain since Nigel Pearson.

Akpo Sodje looks like he can become a Hillsborough hero if he can stay fit while Marcus Tudgay's decent season was ruined with injury. Steve Watson never failed to impress where ever he played and Tommy Spurr came on leaps and bounds.

Although the main grip of contention from me is how the club is being run. Cheap tickets for the Norwich game was a great idea and one which should be implemented more although I fear it was just the club offering an olive branch to supporters who were deeply upset with the massive hike in season ticket prices and boardroom issues.

The way our club is run this season has been shambolic to say the least; many argued against Dave Allen although he was a leader and the club were in a much better position with him at the helm rather than not. Our club at the moment is completely bereft of leadership and quality from the boardroom.

Fans are getting excited about a takeover, not me. I have been here before and seen takeovers disappear into thin air. The glass is always half empty when it comes to anyone taking over the club and until I see a guy in a suit on the back page of the Sheffield Star holding a blue and white scarf over his head saying we will be in the Premiership in two years (blah, blah, blah) then I will be more pessimistic than optimistic that our club have new owners.

The club has got massive potential - we have seen that with it's terrific following and impressive academy although it needs a massive injection of cash, leadership and ideas if we are going to do anything rather than be perennial strugglers. We used to laugh at how Sheffield United were run but if our club was a quarter as well as the Blades are, I feel that the mood around Hillsborough would be a lot more positive than it currently is.

The club have to take more notice of the fans - just look what happens when they do that like they did against Norwich. I actually sent an email to the club asking a simple question recently which was sent three times - on every single occasion it was deleted and not viewed according to my read receipt - I just wonder how many other people have experienced this kind of poor service from their club.

This time last year, the club had made massive strides forward - fast forward twelve months and Wednesday unfortunately have taken huge steps in the opposite direction on and off the field.