Wednesday's manager and board made a priority of keeping the club's 23-year-old skipper when Coventry made a vigorous attempt to sign him at the end of last month.

It is known that there was much displeasure in the Hillsborough hierarchy about Coventry's tactics. The issue remained alive a fortnight after the Sky Blues were rebuffed in a fresh £1m plus approach, suggesting the player could have been serenaded behind the scenes.

That suspicion hardened amid confirmation from boss Brian Laws, pictured, that Wood had submitted a transfer request which was then rejected.

Wednesday kept the exact circumstances under wraps. What isn't known, either, is the content of the talks Laws conducted with the player at the time.

But I believe that Wood, who is on contract until the end of next season, will be invited to negotiate a new deal before the end of the current campaign.

If Coventry did use the backdoor then it is reasonable to suppose Wood was made aware that he would make more money by moving, perhaps by a substantial margin.

That, I think, could well have been the background to his shock request to leave. Ploys of that sort by the potential buyers are, of course, technically illegal (remember how the Owls reported Plymouth to the League after Peter Gilbert, too, had a transfer demand turned down) but they are also commonplace in football.

The club holding a player's registration can then find themselves morally obliged to a man they want to keep. It's the way of the world.

Certainly, it would be unfair to question Wood's loyalty. These are normal circumstances and everyone has his value in the market.

Besides, a new deal for Wood would probably have followed naturally at some point because, as Laws says, he is a key defender and a player around whom the team can be built in the long-term.

Wednesday's useful start to the season will be fully tested in the next four days. Watford at home and then Reading away are games against teams expected to be in or around the top six. A return of, say, four points would give Owls fans real cause to hope they can be up there, too.



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