Sheffield Wednesday's impressive new owners and Jack Charlton's aura - we chat to Alan Biggs

Alan Biggs has seen plenty during his time on the beat in South Yorkshire football, and has been there for some of the best times in Sheffield Wednesday's history.

From Big Jack Charlton to Ron Atkinson, and across numerous promotions and relegations, 'Biggsy' has seen it all at Hillsborough.

In this week's episode of The Wednesday Word Show we sat down with him to discuss the past, the future, and his top three favourite Owls players of all time.

Don't forget to come back for more if you're a fan of what we're doing!

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Wasn't I in awe as a young reporter of that man? I was.

SPEAKER_01 0:11

Hello and welcome to this week's edition of the Wednesday Word Show. And I'm joined today by a man that is referred to as the godfather of Sheffield football. You've uh you've been around a little bit, you've seen a few things. Um Alan Biggs is kindly joined me. Alan, how are you doing? I'm very well, thanks.

SPEAKER_00 0:26

A bit overdressed for the weeks.

SPEAKER_01 0:28

Well what we're here at Millhousers Park Cafe. It's lovely here. I used to come here with my granddad, and when you suggested coming to film here, I was more than happy because it's a lovely little spot.

SPEAKER_00 0:38

Absolutely, I've come here with my grandkids quite regularly, yeah. Fantastic.

SPEAKER_01 0:42

So before we get into, I suppose, your history and your and and and what you've done in in the game, where'd you head up with Sheffield Wednesday now? Because it feels like the club's in quite a good space.

SPEAKER_00 0:53

You can say that again. I mean, I'm out of practice, I don't know whether you're out of practice. I think every journalist that's been around the scene for any number of years, doesn't have to be as long as me, is out of practice in saying good things about Sheffield Wednesday. And right now, there isn't a single bad thing that you can say about them. And so the change of gear from ten years, well, not quite ten years, I think the first two years of Shansiri we've got to give credit where it's due, uh, even though it was entirely money-driven and there was no plan. For eight years, um, we've all quite rightly been very critical, um, to a greater or lesser degree. And so to suddenly change gear to find an ownership that has read the Shansiri manual and said, right, we're gonna do the exact the exact opposite.

SPEAKER_01 1:41

They have in some way got a manual, haven't they, of just go like, well, just follow that and do exactly the opposite.

SPEAKER_00 1:46

They have exactly that. It's just, I mean, people say it's not rocket science and it's easy wins, which they are easy wins when supporters have been starved of communication and any direction and any plan. They are easy wins, but not every football club owner takes those easy, easy wins. Yeah, 100%. Um, you know, there are many examples, particularly of foreign owners who are aloof, who feel they don't have to communicate. And I I don't get it because as the storch group have proved, you've got supporters eating out of your hand if you do the right thing by then, and that's the way it should be. Yeah, because they literally can do no wrong at this point. No, nothing at all. How dare you say anything critical? I can't find anything. And as I was saying, you know, I'm totally out of practice. I mean, I only write a weekly column effectively and little bits and bobs that I pick up on uh on X. Um, but I can't find a damn thing bad to say about it or anything. Even constructive criticism. Long may it continue, by the way.

SPEAKER_01 2:48

Yeah, but no, absolutely. And one thing I did want to talk to you about is um the the reconnect that they're going through at the moment with the the club's former players. We we saw so many of the the the former legends who have been either you know made to feel unwelcome or or in some cases completely ostracised from the group. You know that photo that that Steve Ellis took the other day of all the players together, Howard Wilkinson in the middle, as someone that's dealt with so many of those players over the years, that must make you especially pleased.

SPEAKER_00 3:18

Oh, I'm delighted. And again, it's an easy win. All those people are there to support Howard Wilkinson, great manager of Sheffield Wednesday, I would say the best manager of uh of my time uh of Sheffield Wednesday, which is debatable. And for somebody like him and his knowledge to be ostracised from a football club that he's passionate about is a crime.

SPEAKER_01 3:41

Yeah, I mean literally a boyhood fan, and you know, like to have that taken away from him, it's horrible, isn't it?

SPEAKER_00 3:48

It is horrible. I mean, do you talk in Chris Waddle who I see? I see Chris Waddle and David Hearst quite regularly because they go in one of my locals on a Sunday, and it's it's always an education just to sit and listen to them. And occasionally they'll buy you a drink, you know. It's uh it's not all one way. And mind you, I owe them plenty for sort of just the knowledge that they impart and the passion. And obviously, a lot of what's been said in there in recent years has been unprincipled, and quite rightly so, quite rightly so. And I've said unprincipled things as well, and you and I have both said many hard principle things, and they were we were right to do so. Yeah, because you cannot tolerate that level of incompetence, right? And also, dare I say, stupidity.

SPEAKER_01 4:32

And I think with you look at that that group that were there the other day, and it's like it ri literally is decades that it's spanned, you know, to see Jim McAliag and David Ford there, who you know were around at Wednesday in the 60s, all the way through to Jack Huntley, Gregory, Danny Poodle, like, and and everybody in between. Like it's it's important, isn't it, to to remember what all these guys have done for Sheffield Wednesday because they all achieve different things, you know. You know, you look at like Hursty, and he was a star in the Premier League, and he helped win actual trophies at Wednesday, which was not something that we've seen too much. But then you've also got people like Jim McAllag who FA Cup finalists in the 60s, guys who helped Wednesday get out of the third tier back in the day. Like the there is the Wednesday story, is is uh it's been a roller coaster, hasn't it?

SPEAKER_00 5:18

And it's worth celebrating, yeah, and it should be celebrated. And I I credit to the owners for the depth of their research to go back so far. You know, I actually saw David Ford, because he he lives quite close to me a few days before that get together, and he was quite he said I've been invited to this reunion of former players, and he was he was really impressed that they, you know, 1966 when he scored an FA Cup final goal is a long time ago, as any England supporter will also tell you. Um so I think for them to embrace the history and not just pay lip service to it, but to to really study it and go back, I think it speaks very highly of everything that David Storch, Michael Storch, and Tom Costin are doing.

SPEAKER_01 6:04

And like you say, it is an easy win, isn't it? Like it's one of those things that is a very simple, in the grand scheme of things, a very simple thing to do. But for someone like David Ford, who, you know, again like a Sheffield, he's a Sheffield lad, and like to he played for his team and to feel part of that again must be so lovely.

SPEAKER_00 6:22

It is, because it it's it's it's been tragic, really, the fact that they didn't feel welcome at the ground. They wouldn't go the the former owner wouldn't even know who they were, etc. etc. And uh obviously Leighton Palmer is one of those who will be uh very very well very welcome. And I think he was there, wasn't he? Yeah, yeah. Carlton was there, you know, and picking fights with people who were justly critical of the running of the club was not the way to go. No, not at all. This is the way to go, so yeah, and I get the feeling now that it's um Sheffield Wednesday and everything associated with it is like a precious piece of porcelain, and don't dare anybody drop it and smash it on the ground because we know that football is capable of doing that to the most precious piece of porcelain. If you don't treasure it and guard it, you know, the togetherness I feel at the moment between every facet of the football club is is is stronger than I mean, it's a big statement, than at any time I can remember. There is at this moment there is more togetherness from the football club, the people who work for it, the supporters, the players, everybody. And it's so important that nothing, for instance, like here's a for instance, um the only real debate that Wednesday fans have had has been about the manager Henrik Pedderson. I happen to be in the camp of this guy deserves a go. Not an indefinite go. No, of course. You'd expect to be competitive in League One, but this guy deserves people behind him because he was such a unifying force, he kept everything together, he's such a great guy. Okay, people are saying only two wins. I agree with um the point that was made, I think, by um Simon Wilson, saying that he won without winning in many of those games because they shouldn't have been in them and they never were in them.

SPEAKER_01 8:18

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 8:18

And I think it's important that if Wednesday get off to a slightly sticky start, that we don't get that backlash against Pederson. You know, give him give him a little bit of time, you know, allow that it is a new team, it's going to be an absolutely new team. And just remember as well, something that stands out for me. Chris Turner built the League One promotion team of uh 2005 with some brilliant astute signings. You can go through them in the summer. Chris Burton and Glenn Wheelan stick out a little bit. Absolutely, there were so so so many. And um Lee Bullen was among those, a real top character who led the team to promotion. But patience ran out with Chris quite early. Paul Stark took over, brilliant appointment, did the job. Yeah, but he was the first to say, Chris, you built that team, thank you very much. Yeah. And he was a victim of political circumstance because Ken Bates was trying to get in and it suited the owner, uh, the chairman at the time to change the manager. But let's hopefully not go down that route. Uh I can see it happening, but you know, let's perhaps remember how precious all of this is. Yeah. And and and not drop, not drop it.

SPEAKER_01 9:34

Yeah. How how nice has it been to see? I think refreshing as well, like in a new ownership group go into a team like Wednesday, that I've got the history and the heritage and the culture and all that kind of stuff. And I've not heard a Premier League mention once. You know, there's no like we'll be in the Premier League in five years, or we're gonna do this, or we're gonna do that. Like the the when Simon Wilson came in, I think he the first thing he spoke about was sustainability and and and making a team that can be, you know, people can be proud of and doing that sort of thing. And that's quite it's quite nice, isn't it? To hear them come in and not go, we're going to do this by this time. Because Wednesday fans don't need that now. They need a club that they can they know is going to exist properly again.

SPEAKER_00 10:13

I totally agree. I mean it's a a theme of my sort of most recent uh column for the for the star is it's it's brilliant that there are no rash promises. We can take these guys for real on two levels. You know, this in a short time, they're not experts on football, but they've appointed people who are have expertise in football. But they already understand it enough to know that you can be very foolish making those promises. But also, what stands out for me is in not making those promises, they're indicating that they're really in it genuinely for the long haul. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 10:48

There's no quick fix here for them.

SPEAKER_00 10:49

No. And and there isn't. We know there isn't, and I think it's good to condition supporters in that way. And I believe that supporters appreciate and respect that, and they will go, yeah, fair enough, this is going to take some time, we're gonna back these guys.

SPEAKER_02 11:04

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 11:05

Um, and like you said, uh a football club is not purely and simply about winning and losing or winning trophies, it's about being an organization that people can get behind, a proper football club where the people can be respected. Yeah. And I think if any good has come out of Wednesday's recent uh torrid turmoil, it's that everything's been stripped back to that value. So it's very clear. So that central value.

SPEAKER_01 11:33

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 11:33

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 11:33

Yeah, 100%. And I think you look at like the the work that they're doing with like remembering Quixaw by doing up the Quixaw room and and Hursty's and they're doing things to to do like an immediate um, I suppose an immediate nod back to to the people that have helped build this football club of ours.

SPEAKER_00 11:56

That's history, isn't it? And those those are great names. And yeah, those are names, you know, sadly, uh, you know, an outsider that you might meet on holiday and you mention Sheffield Wednesday, they're not going to mention any recent players, possibly apart from Barry Bannon, they would know.

SPEAKER_02 12:11

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 12:11

Um they'll go they'll go Hearst or Waddle, you know, and the older ones will go to Quixall and uh and others way, way, way back. Yeah, so that's why it's so important.

SPEAKER_01 12:25

It's not as if you know you're rolling out legends all the time. Speaking of way back, we'll go way back to when you when you started. Yeah. Um, because I did want to ask you about that. Like the industry's changed a little bit, hasn't it, since uh since you got into it?

SPEAKER_00 12:38

Not necessarily for the better. I mean, you know, I I um I feel immensely fortunate and lucky that I that the bulk of my career, you know, was in an era when you could get players' home phone numbers and mobile numbers and managers' home numbers, before mobile even. Uh and it they were even more contactable when mobiles came in because you weren't taking up their office time. And it was always give me a ring, I'll be on my way home in about an hour. You know, that's what I'm saying. I'll be in the car, give me a call, yeah. Ron Atkinson, especially, you know, he'd uh either be driving or be chauffeured, you know, to and from down into the West Midlands. And I think he'd welcome a car. It wasn't an irritant to him. It was so simple. Yeah, exactly. Well while away the time. Um, and that has gone, um, unfortunately, yeah. Where random things can be picked up and they're all set pieces, you know, club controlled. I'm not having to dig at any of the media offices because they work in a different climate, but it's sad that some of that kind of personal contact's got gone out of it.

SPEAKER_01 13:44

Yeah. Do you do you remember the first time like you spoke to a manager or a player that you thought, oh, wow, this is a bit mad? Like, do you remember the first interview you did that that was really sort of a I suppose not a not it didn't put you uh put you in a difficult position or anything, but you know you were a bit starstruck about that?

SPEAKER_00 14:04

Absolutely, yeah. I mean Jack Charlton I'd only come face to face with once before he became Wednesday manager, and that was when he and his family were picnicking on a beach at Weymouth in 1966, having just won the World Cup. Now, can you imagine that today?

SPEAKER_01 14:20

Yeah, slightly, slightly different than if you were you were.

SPEAKER_00 14:26

So uh I I uh was one of I was in a queue of uh little lads and bigger lads and adults as well, who were getting them. Jack was patiently signing these. Um and then the next time I clapped eyes on him, he was Sheffield Wednesday manager. And yes, was I in awe as a as a young reporter of that man? I was.

SPEAKER_01 14:51

Um I imagine with Big Jack it would be in it would be difficult not to be because he was such a like a big, big bloke, had such like an aura around him. He did. Um I imagine that must have been like pretty awe-inspiring.

SPEAKER_00 15:03

He always felt he could be brittle. You know, it wouldn't take much to set him off. But what I found with him is what you see is what you get. Total honesty, and I'll tell you what, he never harboured a grudge about anything. I mean, he had a right go at me once over over something that was a bit comical. You better ask Terry Curran about that sometime. He's he's made a play of it, but it was a snooker game and a point of law in snooker, and Jack was wrong and Terry was right. And I found out that Jack was wrong and Terry was right. He did not like it one bit. And it was one of those, you know, when I next rang him up, I had to hold the phone away. But no sooner that his was his terraid out of the way than he he said, uh now then what do you want? Threw it away, it was gone, it was gone. Yeah, and you know, he had a humorous side, and little things would please him. I remember interviewing him in his office once, and all he was concerned about, well, I've got myself a drinks cabinet, is look at that, look at that there. And he was so pleased that he got this small drinks cabinet put put into his office. So he was a right character, but yeah, um that was uh somewhat awe-inspiring. And Ron Atkinson to a degree, although I was a fair bit sort of older and hopefully wiser by then.

SPEAKER_01 16:18

Yeah. Do you remember the first um obviously you're you you've covered sort of South Yorkshire football, not just not just Sheffield, not just Wednesday. But was there a first Wednesday game that you remember? Like the first one that you went to, either as a you know, as a fan or as I know you're not a Sheffield Wednesday fan, but you know, either just in the stands or a game that you went to as a as a journalist that really sticks out?

SPEAKER_00 16:39

Yeah, I do I do remember that because my family moved. I'm I'm I'm a soft southerner by by birth, you know, and uh you have to forgive me for that. I'm trying to adopt myself to Sheffield, but your formative, very early formative years were spent down in leafy, leafy Kent. Um so my father moved with his job to Chesterfield, and obviously I supported the local team quite naturally and still do. And I would nag him to take me to Bramble Lane and Hillsborough, and he took me to Bramble Lane two or three times, uh, around about the mid-60s, uh, but said, well, son, you know, Hillsborough's a bit further, and you know, it's a bit more of a journey and everything. But I'd heard how relatively palatial Hillsborough was, and I nagged him until he took me to a couple of games there. And I remember I think the first one, I remember gazing up at the Cantilever stand, we stood on the cop, uh, and uh I think it was something like 33,000 there, and Wednesda scored a very late winner against Manchester United at the at the cop end. So, yes, that is a that is a memory. And I remember just being awestruck by just what was a really modern stand at that time, and the first of its type, I think, in uh English football. And the shape of the cop and the immensity of it. So, yeah, I remember that. It did make a big impression on me, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 18:06

On that note, I suppose, uh how how excited are you to see what these guys do to Hillsborough? Because it's I think to say it's been in need of some TLC for a while is an understatement.

SPEAKER_00 18:16

Yeah, I I well exactly, yeah. I hope that they reconfigure the Leppings Lane end. And uh I think David Storch has mentioned that terrible tragic event without expanding very much on it, but that shows to me that he's mindful that really the configuration now is every time you see it a reminder of what happened.

SPEAKER_01 18:39

I mean ultimately it needs to be knocked down eventually, right? Like that is the the it the leppings lane end needs to not be the leppings lane end anymore. Um but obviously that is a very difficult and expensive thing to do, so it's it is it's maybe not a a quick fix, but I think what you're saying is like figure out a way to make it different, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 18:58

Very, very different. Yeah. But I've always thought people say you know Hillsborough's a rust bucket. Yeah, it it's been a bit anybody who's been to Ellen Road in recent years can tell you that three three sides are are like that at Ellen Road. It's only that skyscraper East End, which is always in the camera view, yeah, you know, that that is really modern and impressive. So I think with it, and I'm pleased, I I I actually think that um they are intending to stay at Hillsborough for the foreseeable future and to redevelop Hillsborough. And I think spiritually that is the ideal.

SPEAKER_01 19:36

Yeah, you know, exactly. I I agree, I think you you know you want to see it get a look of paint and you want to see it improved internally in terms of like how things work at the stadium, so you're not having to turn the electric off in one place so it works in another and all that kind of thing, because I think that has been one of the problems at Wednesday, is it is just not it's just not been looked after. You know, obviously there's there's also the Northstand that is was actually dangerous and that needed fixing from a safety perspective. But I do think there's there's so much that could happen at Hillsborough that will make it nice again. I don't think it would take too much. Uh look, I I say too much, I don't have money for it. But um, you know, like for in the grand scheme of things, I don't think it'd take too much to get it looking looking pretty again, and I think it is important for a you know for a spiritual home like Hillsborough for Shaffrey Wednesday fans. Um it's important for the club to keep that, isn't it?

SPEAKER_00 20:30

It is, and there's cavernous amounts of space underneath those stands. A lot of it can't be being put to any use. So I think the space is there. Is the capacity there? Well, because of safety restrictions, I I like the fact that I think they're gonna that uh northwest corner, uh a lot of people really enjoy the view from there. And if they could actually make that safe, put seats in there, maybe cover it.

SPEAKER_01 20:56

I don't know what the plan is for that, but that's gonna be interesting because it is like it's just a dead space at the moment, isn't it? Like there's no I remember you know seeing it sold out at the Wickham game back when they won promotion, and yeah, it would be nice to see Hillsborough actually full again with a you know like a real um because we actually don't really know the capacity of Hillsborough anymore.

SPEAKER_00 21:14

Officially, I mean it's probably about 30 36, but uh in reality it's probably reduced to 32 or 33 with safety. But it'd be lovely to think. I mean, dare I use Shefford United as an example, but they filled all the corners in and made it circular.

SPEAKER_01 21:30

And annoyingly, it looks really good, don't it does it? Ramalane looks really big, it does.

SPEAKER_00 21:34

And so that there is sorry, sorry, yeah, but there is a way that Wednesday can improve the aesthetics and increase the capacity. Yeah. How much capacity would you need? Ideally 40,000. I think I think so.

SPEAKER_01 21:47

I mean that's what it was, wasn't it? Like, you know, uh I think when I was growing up, capacity at Hillsborough was always I think 39, 40, something like that. So it'd be nice to get there. And look, you don't need anyone that at this point in time. Wednesday are hopefully. Club on the up and you're on the rise, and um look, the season ticket sales have been mental.

SPEAKER_00 22:06

23,000 crazy crazy thousand, unbelievable for League One. But that just shows again if you make the right noises, you say the right things, and you genuinely mean them. I mean it's okay saying the right things, but Storch is David Storch has been over several times when he needn't have. Uh he's made a point of connecting with individual supporters and uh and with the Alles Trust, uh Sheffield Wednesday supporters trust whose role in everything cannot be understated. Absolutely. I mean, they you know they knocked effectively without them Shansiri would not have been removed, or at least removed by now. And also without them, you wouldn't have seen this upsurge in support because they were instrumental in the Storch Group being encouraged to, as the right people, to pursue a bid. Um, so it's all good. And I also think that uh if I've got a criticism of Wednesday over the years in comparison to United for a lot of that time, Wednesday have had delusions of grandeur. Now it is a grand football club in terms of the stadium, in terms of its tradition and history, but the people running it and the boards there have by and large been aloof. Um not least the the most recent, but not only him.

SPEAKER_01 23:28

Yeah, because I think that that's an important point to make, isn't it? Is that yes, it was rough under Chancellor, and it's probably been as rough as under practically anybody, probably anyone. But he's not the only bad owner that Wednesday have had.

SPEAKER_00 23:42

No. He's not the only owner that's failed to appreciate supporters and the value of supporters. And he can even go back, you know, to my early years, and there was always a little bit of us and them about it. And I I I I feel that that is it's just been smashed down. You know, it's not us and them, it's together, and that's the right way.

SPEAKER_01 24:05

Yeah. I completely agree. I think the the the way that the storchers and I suppose you could call it arise, the consortium as a as a group, the the way that they're talking to fans, the transparency of what they're doing, the people they're bringing in, like, they are just ticking every box that you want to see, aren't they?

SPEAKER_00 24:22

They certainly are. Um and I I also although they've said a lot of words, there are plenty of actions too, aren't there?

SPEAKER_01 24:30

Because I mean they they've said that, haven't they? Like they want to be judged on what they're doing, not on what they're saying. And so far the proof is there.

SPEAKER_00 24:39

You know, I I think everybody knows that they're gonna sign at least 10 players. They won't fall short on that, I'm absolutely sure. And so important to get those fundamentals right. Three key appointments behind the scenes, you know, where there was a distant owner and a manager trying to get on with it and no point of reference to get things done. And oh it's and David, uh the chief executive, uh David Bruce, strikes you as a very impressive, he comes across really, really, really well.

SPEAKER_01 25:11

I think he's he's definitely a man with a plan, and you know, even even the stuff that they're they're putting in place now, it just you know, I I I like that they're they're involving the local community. You you see the sort of people they're getting involved, you know. You've seen James O'Hara for who you know he's done so much in the local community in terms of hospitality and stuff like that. You've got Peter and Paul who are involved doing the the graphics and you know the the branding and all that kind of stuff, you know. It it just feels like it's becoming uh a community football club again, right?

SPEAKER_00 25:41

Well, it just shows that you don't have to give people a lot of encouragement, you just have to give them basic courtesy. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 25:47

And this this city's not short of creatives either. No, you know, like that there are people here who are Wednesday fans who want to help, they will give their time for free a lot of the time because it's their club.

SPEAKER_00 25:57

They're showing that, and although the donations to less well-off supporters to to help them to enjoy the match they experience, it just goes to show that you don't have to reach out very far uh for people to rally round. Yeah. And uh I'm sure that it'll be an enjoyable season. But I think people ultimately can enjoy uh a normal season, and I don't necessarily mean that has to be promotion. Yeah, that's it.

SPEAKER_01 26:25

It'll be to be honest, it'll be nice to complain about a 1-0 defeat again.

SPEAKER_00 26:28

Absolutely. Yeah, well, you know, um, I mean I I don't know about you, but I I could never have envisaged writing supportive columns about a manager who only won two games all season. Crazy, and that is just unique in my experience. But I felt that he deserved it.

SPEAKER_01 26:45

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 26:45

You know, and um I hope, I really hope, that he gets the necessary results to convince people that the storch group were right to keep him uh at at the helm. Um, you know, I I people say, oh, nice guys don't, you know, but everything that the Storch Group has stood for has been about respecting what the club is, respecting how people within it kept body and soul together. Yeah. The people, the office staff and everybody, they've not gone in there with a sledgehammer and said, right, you're out, you're out, you're out. And they've seen that Pederson has been, you know, a key man in just when everybody should have been despairing, uh, somehow he's kept kept morale high in that dressing room, and that needs acknowledging.

SPEAKER_02 27:38

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 27:38

Um so with a new team, you know, I hope he gets a fair run at it. But that's not to say that, look, heaven forbid if Wednesday are struggling in the depths of League One, then, you know, you'd expect pressure to have it.

SPEAKER_01 27:54

And I think, you know, Henrik knows that. The players will know that, you know, that they've had um they've had a lot of support over the last year, and rightly so. Um, even in tough times, even with you know, difficult performances, they they've had um, I suppose to a large extent, unwavering support because people understood the situation that the other thing.

SPEAKER_00 28:15

Yeah, you know, I keep getting replies as you probably do on X and from people who frankly I feel don't understand.

SPEAKER_01 28:22

Yeah, but you're always gonna get that. That's uh you know that's just part and parcel of the sport that we work in. But um just before we we wrap up, I did want to just ask finally um if you were to pick your top three players that you have you have seen play for Wednesday during your time in this job, who would be your three and why?

SPEAKER_00 28:44

Okay, um I'm gonna disappoint one or two close pals here. Um the top one would have to be Chris Waddle, because he did does things on a football field that nobody else can aspire to. Uh certainly nobody in a Wednesday shirt in my time of watching could possibly aspire to. Uh David Hurst, the most explosive uh striker, could do anything you'd wish a striker to do. Had it not been for injuries, it could have been anyway. Funnily enough, in the pub, if anybody mentions Alan Shearer, it's oh don't mention that name. It's all done in jest and a very jokey way, but uh he would have to be there because barring injuries, there's no telling what he could have done. And I mean, pick two attacking creative players. I'm just gonna have to go, I feel, and there are any number I could say now, John Sheridan, Carlton Palmer, for for differing reasons, who've been outstanding, and Barry Bannon as well would come into the the the equation. Um I'd just pick Roland Nielsen as just an immaculate footballer, classic. A right back who, you know, uh appearance-wise, he was immaculate, not a turn around a place. And he played like he looked, and he was just perfect.