Alex Miller: Whatever happens this week, give Darren Moore the keys to Sheffield Wednesday

And as the sun stretches itself over South Yorkshire, as the world tip-toes its way back open and spirits soar, it could well be that by this time next week Sheffield Wednesday are staring glumly into confirmation that they will be a League One club next season. Timing, Eric Morecambe said, is the key to comedy. If you don’t laugh, you’ll cry.

As bookies and analysts alike settle on a one-in-25 chance that Wednesday will stay up this season, what’s next? While the playing side of the club make reassurances that they are focusing only on the next five games and that while the maths is there they’ll be chasing the great escape, what’s bubbling under upstairs?

There’ll be decisions to make on all sorts, from ticket pricing to squad budgets, contracts on the football side and, sadly, possibly off it. The mooted £8m loss clubs shoulder when relegation to League One strikes will lead, you’d think to continued changes to the face of Sheffield Wednesday FC.

But what of that face? Who should be driving the club, perhaps slowly, back to the Championship and away from the stinking hellhole that has been the last 18 months?

Surely it should be the man in situ; Darren Moore.

A run of two wins in nine matches is not the sort of start he or anyone else would have liked, but it’s apparent there is something broken beyond the dugout at Sheffield Wednesday, in a group of players that simply aren’t quite good enough to have overcome the storm crashing from cloud to cloud above them.

The summer will be longer and will see an opportunity to go again, on a lower budget, with space to work.

It’ll be at a club bigger than most they’re likely to be sharing a League One stage with, making them more able to win out in the race for coveted signatures.

There will be a reliance on the loan market, a hunting ground Moore has an incredible record in, and perhaps a lowering of expectations; that this time it might take some time.

But fans have long since hankered for an identity, a style of play at S6 that hasn’t been present since Carlos Carvalhal. They’ve wanted a sense of personality and calm that hasn’t been there since Carlos Carvalhal. Above all, they want to win games at the rate Carlos Carvalhal won them.

And in his own way, Darren Moore can do that.

It won’t be easy of course, nothing worth having is, but the appointment and freedom of the right man could even pave the way back for Chansiri in the hearts of the fanbase as it has done at other clubs.

As you read this, this column could well prove to be a complete waste of ink and the deal may already be done. The club’s desire to keep managerial contracts a closely-guarded secret is a curious one; Moore may have signed until 2025 for and might be knee-deep in plans for the future.

Let’s hope so. Despite the defeats, despite the turmoil, it’s becoming clearer that Moore provides a way forward. Give him the keys.

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