Popular Sheffield Wednesday cohort must not pass-up golden opportunity to prove nay-sayers wrong

The Owls have suffered a miserable start to life back in the Championship, are winless in 12 league and cup matches and have scored only once in their last seven outings.

It’s been the worst start to a league season in the club’s storied history and the bookies have them alongside neighbours Rotherham United as the team most certain to be relegated.

But through the bleakness is now shines a ray of opportunity for a number of players after the departure of Xisco as manager.

The Spaniard had his own ultimately unsuccessful way of doing things; tactically, in selection and in the messages he chose to put out publicly. These pages have chronicled the immense difficulties thrown at him throughout his short time in South Yorkshire, but much of the conversation around the team’s failures often centred on how he went about picking his team.

The core of the side that was promoted in the 2022/23 season was cast aside in large parts, taking with it an immense sense of team spirit and a knack for winning.

The fact is, as was described by Xisco and club captain Barry Bannan in a recent press day, that those wins came in a lower division with much lower demands. It could be argued that the side had to change.

But change to the extent of Xisco’s want left some confused. The decision to abscond the squad’s two naturally left-sided players were a source of constant bewilderment, the lack of minutes for Michael Ihiekwe and Will Vaulks seemingly enacted in no small part due to individual errors early in the campaign. Michael Smith was in and out, so too Liam Palmer.

Some argue that this was a natural decision for the Spaniard to make; that these players were well-suited to League One football but needed to be upgraded once second tier status was achieved. The Championship is faster, tougher, more dynamic. The record-holders were no more ‘all that’ - “They only scraped up, after all”.

Though he denied it publicly, it seemed Xisco’s mind was made up on certain individuals. He was a man with strength in his convictions. Had things gone a little differently, the understanding is that Vaulks could have moved on towards the end of the transfer window, so too the yet-to-be registered Marvin Johnson. Who knows who else was subject to the chopping block?

But with the Spaniard now an ex-Wednesday manager and with a new man - possibly German Danny Röhl - set for a fresh entrance, these players have been handed a lifeline and an opportunity to prove themselves to be as vital to the Owls’ survival effort as they were to promotion.

Saturday’s Neil Thompson one-off was far from spectacular but showed a renewed solidity, albeit against a side that seemed to be lacking any sense of danger going forward. His starting line-up included 10 players to have achieved League One play-off medals, many with a real point to prove.

There are 35 matches left in the season and the death of Wednesday’s Championship status has been prematurely announced.

At some stage soon, there must be a fading of the lines between the so-called ‘old guard’ and ‘Xisco’s signings’. To a man, the men in the changing room are simply Sheffield Wednesday players and any relevance to when they signed for the club must not be a focus.

There should be no suggestion that bringing certain players back will flick a switch on fortunes - or that Wednesday’s next manager will even elect to do so. The Championship is a tough league and is undoubtedly a tougher challenge than that below.

But with a new pair of eyes to impress in the coming days, the promotion-winning players whose star had waned under Xisco will be offered a chance to prove him and the nay-sayers wrong. Only performances on the training ground and on a matchday will do that.

For themselves and for Sheffield Wednesday, it’s important they take it.