MOORE THE MERRIER
Boss has Owls flying again
ROSS HEPPENSTALL
By
IT WAS May 2000 when Sheffield Wednesday last played in English football’s top flight.
Not much has gone right since.
Right now, a grand old club which staged European football and reached the finals of the FA Cup and League Cup in the first season of the Premier League finds itself seventh in League One.
Darren Moore took over towards the end of last season after jumping ship from Doncaster.
It was some leap of faith and the former West Brom defender could not keep the Owls in the Championship.
The onus is on Moore to engineer a strong second half to the campaign and perhaps edge into the automatic promotion places.
It will be no easy task for the 47-year-old, but Wednesday – whose home game today with Burton was postponed due to Covid – are unbeaten in 12 in the league and belief is growing they can mount a serious charge in the months ahead.
Moore said: “We will let the media talk about the unbeaten run. We will carry onto the next one.
“I have not changed my messages and it is about working through each fixture one by one. We don’t talk about the run. We have to focus on the next game.”
Off the field, a desire for a change of ownership stirs among the Owls’ fanbase.
Thai businessman Dejphon Chansiri bought the club from Milan Mandaric for £37.5million in early 2015 and targeted promotion to the Premier League within two years.
But the club has been on the slide in recent seasons.
And their decline has left deep scars on the blue-andwhite half of a footballobsessed city.
“Wednesday were deducted 12 points last season, later reduced to six, for breaching spending rules, wrecking their chances of avoiding the drop.
But one player who has proved his worth this term is summer signing Lee Gregory (right). The former Millwall and Stoke striker has been a revelation since moving to
Hillsborough on a free transfer, hitting eight goals and contributing four assists in 21 appearances across all competitions.
Moore added: “You want strikers scoring and that’s why Lee is in the team. He wants to score goals.”
For skipper Barry Bannan, it is Wednesday’s defensive solidity which gives him the confidence they can achieve their end goal this season.
The Scottish schemer said: “We’ve been scoring
goals and also had the clean sheets, which is important.
“But we aren’t just relying on the defenders, we are defending from the front, as a whole team and it’s getting results.
“We’re always a goal threat, so we know if we can keep clean sheets we’re likely to go on and win games.”
Moore has spoken of his desire to keep on-loan keeper Bailey Peacockfarrell amid fears he could be recalled by Burnley early in the new year.
The Northern Ireland international is on a seasonlong loan and Owls boss Moore said: “We’ll have a chat with Burnley in terms of where we feel he is.
“We’ve not had that chat yet, but we will be doing.”