SWFC est. 1867 – Is This What We’ve Become?

More wasted money and time watching sad excuses for men that don’t give a damn about the fans or, more importantly, the kids. The fans of tomorrow, who consistently see a lack of effort on the pitch. I was so sickened by the abject inability of a group of so called professionals, that I’ve been awake since 3am thinking about it. Where do these players come from? There MUST be better players out there in the non-league who would try harder and to greater effect.. this shower are an utter disgrace.

Get them out… the whole lot of em. They are a disgrace to this club’s name.

I’d like to say we could fight relegation. We all believe in that last minute goal, the last game of the season. What I’d like to say is:

Is this all that Sheffield Wednesday Football Club has become? A team that fights a relegation battle and sees that as success if we beat going down?

The whole rot started years ago. Misguided chairmen, lack of leadership, financial mismanagement, a failure to appreciate the talent we had in players like Paolo DiCanio and support them when needed, and managerial decisions borne out of panic and not common sense.

And now a new chairman, whose heart is in the right place, but whose visions are sadly.. just visions and dreams. The only vision that is must become reality is the cashflow to stave off our demise. We as fans are asked to continually keep raising our game, digging deep and supporting the club. Lee Strafford on his part is trying to put some credibility back into the club. I understand that and respect him for that, but the players are letting him down.

It’s now down to him to sort them out, not the fans, not the food etc etc. He’s done his bit. We continue to do ours. It’s now way past time there were players in place to do theirs.

The reality is on the pitch. Not the colour of the toilet walls, or the flavour of the pies. But on the pitch. The young lads and lasses that will be the fans of tomorrow don’t remember what the pies tasted like, or whether the toilets smelled good. They remember their HEROES!

That’s what you and I remember, the Rodger Wyldes and Terry Currans and Gary Bannisters and David Hirsts.

Who today will the young kids remember? No-one. Because currently there’s no-one good enough in the squad, to make the fans sit up for a split second. Not one single player brings about any excitement when they get hold of the ball. This is now constant, every single week.

The new manager. Instills the confidence of previous incumbent into our team. Same problem, different face.

A honeymoon period where the players thought they were playing for their skins, and now.. ah well, it seems thats enough for them this season.

And Investment… a carrot to catch a few more season tickets… make that bottom line look a little brighter to stave off the bank.

I’d like to put some of LS’s comments from the Forward Together meeting into perspective.

‘We all want to see Hillsborough full, I would love to see a start of half-full and positive.’

Improve the team then, give them something to cheer. We can all create a community atmosphere without involving football players… we cant however keep the fans happy without a team that tries and competes.

‘My memories of the promotion season is that is was the supporters that lifted the team and became the 12th man’

Because the squad gave effort and the fans ran with that.

‘…to lift this team the way that SWFC fans have done in the past’

You cannot keep placing the onus on the fans to do all the work. The team is shocking.

‘We’re not in the position to get six new players in, due to the history of what has gone on here..’

We aren’t asking for six players. Just effort. If we performed at work the way that these players perform, then we’d be out on our backsides. Get rid of the dross, and get someone in that will at least give effort.

I’m waiting for Lee Strafford’s biggest fans to come along and say ‘Get behind the team’. I do, every single week.

But people have to face the reality that this is a FOOTBALL CLUB. Not a creche, not a community drop-in centre. Along with the hearts and minds doctrine, there has to be an understanding that all that matters to fans is whether we win or lose but in losing, at least that we have tried to win the game.

The endemic ethos of blaming the fans for ‘not getting behind the team’ doesn’t cut any ice anymore when the team really couldn’t give a damn about their performance. It’s been a long-used avoidance technique for the inability of the management team at SWFC to provide a team worthy of the name.

Please stop relying on us year in year out. Ask the team to give something back as well, because looking from the stands, that’s not happening. This is a two-way street, Mr Chairman.

Im not asking for great success, just some effort and a squad of players that try. This has clearly become the biggest problem that besets Wednesday today. It needs addressing. Difficult I know with the finances, and reading the Portsmouth forum thread I see some superb comments by Scoobyowl regarding debt and football. But something needs to be done, because the fans that are so crucial to the club’s finances won’t be around forever, and we just cannot rely upon grants and community building in a financial climate where public money is being cut back. That’s no long term strategy to pin the hopes of the entire club on.. now is it?

Would you rather young fans stared at posters of the latest Pukka Pie and marvelled at the toilet facilities?

Or do you want them to look at players they respect giving their all for the club?