Why Pearson could prove the game- changerforWednesday
SHEFFIELD WEDNESDAY – a club who have lost their mojo since Danny Ward saved Fernando Forestieri’s penalty on May 17, 2017 and raced the length of the pitch to celebrate with ecstatic Huddersfield Town fans.
A momentum shift in their own city – triggered by the events of just over four months later in a painful Sheffield derby defeat – further wounded Wednesday’s self- esteem.
Carlos may have had a dream, but Wednesdayites were woken up by the equivalent of a bucket of cold water in their face. It has been hard reality ever since.
Instead of being ‘ on our way back’, Sheffield Wednesday went back to going around in circles and drifting in the Championship’s hinterland – as they did before Carlos Carvalhal inspired fleeting hope for two seasons in isolation.
After doing some good things, the Portuguese lost his way and outstayed his welcome.
Jos Luhukay’s era was forgettable and muddled, Steve Bruce’s spell in charge was brief and Garry Monk’s time never generated any momentum. After taking over in September, 2019, he registered back- to- back Championship wins on just two occasions.
The reservoir of goodwill from Wednesdayites towards Dejphon Chansiri has diminished somewhat in the process. Although, it has to be said, his decision to dismiss Monk has been met with something close to unanimity among the club’s fanbase.
Given the benefit of the doubt after a 2019- 20 campaign which chiefly revolved around getting to the end of it and parting company with a number of big- earning players and effectively starting again, Monk needed to hit the ground running this season.
Sadly, despite all his good intentions, he did not walk the walk.
Now the baton awaits for someone else as Wednesday go down a familiar route of appointing a new head coach/ manager. Their ninth in the last decade.
If Chansiri is to reclaim trust among an increasingly tired, worn and agitated fanbase, it is a decision he simply must get right.
Speaking last week about the
future of Monk, Chansiri, somewhat matter- of- factly, said: “He knows what he needs to do.” It was a case of when and not if.
Four days later and Monk was given his cards, with Wednesday said to be in talks with at least three candidates with the names of Nigel Pearson, Tony Pulis and Paul Cook leaping from the page.
Each are the sort of names who will not be out of work for long.
It is the name of Pearson which will excite fans the most and not just for sentimental reasons.
Very harshly treated at Watford, the former Owls captain is ready for his next challenge. A weekend interview in The Times publicly said as much and its timing may have been significant.
Despite the cruellest of years which has seen him lose his mother suddenly, contract Covid
19 and be sacked by Watford, the ‘ fire’s still there’ in the words of the 57- year- old, whose main family home is in Sheffield.
A lover of the outdoors and nature, Pearson considered joining the RAF before becoming a professional footballer. Navigating the right course again for the Owls – potentially the defining challenge of his career – would surely sit well on his shoulders.
A Hillsborough return for Pearson would tick many boxes, with Owls fans entitled to be conscious
of their city rivals’ success in recruiting ‘ one of our own’ in Chris Wilder in July, 2016 with Sheffield United at a low ebb.
Pearson’s appeal and natural affinity with the blue and white half of the city could be similarly energising and in these difficult times, how you need hope.
A move for Pulis, a senior figure expert in organising teams and making them hard to break down, would also have its merits.
Short- term, Wednesday would get back on an even keel and appointing the Welshman, the successor to Monk at Middlesbrough when he was sacked after a win at Hillsborough at Christmas 2017, would dispel any relegation fears.
Cook’s exemplary conduct in dealing with an off- the- pitch maelstrom at Wigan in the second half of 2019- 20, allied to the adept way he sets up teams would make him a strong candidate.
Having earned his stripes in the lower divisions like Wilder and someone who has the full respect of everyone in the football world, Cook is the sort of figure whom players gravitate towards.
Wednesday may be joint- bottom, but the recent halving of their points deduction after breaching ‘ Profitability and Sustainability Rules’ to six points represents a win in many respects. Should Cook get the gig, then he will have dealt with much worse.
Other names will be thrown into the frame, but can Chansiri afford to take a punt this time?
Wednesday may have been here many times before, but it is hard to think of a more key appointment in their modern history. They need a game- changer.
The ‘ fire’s still there’ in the words of the 57- year- old. Leon Wobschall on the prospect of Nigel Pearson returning to management.