A new TWW signing and plenty of Sheffield Wednesday transfer talk

A new era has arrived for The Wednesday Word, and on top of the launch of our new shop, we're also welcoming fellow Sheffield Wednesday journalist, Dom Howson, to the family.

He'll be joining us every other week on the show, and will be able to bring some fascinating insight to the table after years of covering this beloved club of ours.

Head over to thewednesdayword.com for more info on the shop, and thanks - as always - for listening!

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:07

Hello and welcome to a new era of the Wednesdayword podcast. You might recognise this bloke to my left. Dom, how are you doing? Welcome to the family. Oh, it feels glorious.

SPEAKER_01 0:19

Like a new signing, aren't they?

SPEAKER_00 0:21

Yeah, exactly, exactly. I had to get him a new top sorted out, you know. Couldn't have him coming in with some of his rotten gear. None of my doing.

SPEAKER_01 0:29

You know who pushed this, by the way. This is a one-off. It's an amazing feeling.

SPEAKER_00 0:34

I'm gonna write it into his contract that he's uh now he's now he's under my employment, he has to wear this every single day.

SPEAKER_01 0:40

I think we're gonna have to change the tune of this contract.

SPEAKER_00 0:42

Um Dom, generally, thank you so much for being on board. It's it's a bit of a weird full circle moment, isn't it? Like I you moved on from the star, I took your place at the star, and now we're here together working on something like this. It's uh a bit nice, in it. Just one great big happy Wednesday family as part of a new era, so exactly happy days. So, yeah, as uh as part of this sort of new rebrand that I've done with the Wednesday Word, we've got Dom who's gonna be jumping on board with the with the show. Um, we are getting launching some merch. You might have seen me wearing some of the tops uh over the last few episodes. Dom's got one there. We're not sure about this one. If you do like it, we might put it on sale, but we'll have to wait and see. Um, we've got this one, which is obviously John Sheridan. We've got a few more that you might have seen. So that's another thing we're working on. And also we've been lucky enough to have Lee Wild Goose come in and give us a brand new spanking logo that you'll have seen at the start of the show. As for the rest, that's pretty much normal. We're just gonna be talking Wednesday, talking Wednesday news, and who better to come on board than a man who has been following Sheffield Wednesday for a long, long time. Dom, how nice is it to be being positive about Sheffield Wednesday again?

SPEAKER_01 1:49

It's just so weird, isn't it? It's just to go from where we have been for the last 18 months to two years with this football club to it just feels like everything about yeah, yeah, just like the energy, like the buzz, it's um everything's sort of changed and it's feeling like it's changing for the better. And so it's uh it's just I just we just hope that like the team when we get to the starting line next year, that they sort of ride the momentum of record season tickets, uh, and then the raft of signings that are going to get made between now and that first match, and um fixtures have come out, and it's it's it's all very exciting, and I you can't not be like really optimistic and um really um upbeat about like the the team's prospects for the future and just on and off the pitch, everything feels like it's falling into place very nicely.

SPEAKER_00 2:46

I will warn people that we are reporting with recording this uh on the Thursday of the week before this goes out. There is a high chance that a lot will have changed by the time um by the time this episode goes out. Today we've seen Max Lowe sign a new contract. Yes. Uh we've seen Liam Cooper recently sign a new contract, Ricardo Santos has come on board, um, cover different names being linked and things like that. Obviously, the big news today, I think, the one that maybe caught people by surprise the most is Svansey Ingelson leaving. Um I know he's not officially gone yet. Um but it is a blow, isn't it? Especially considering what he did at Wednesday last season.

SPEAKER_01 3:23

Yeah, in really difficult circumstances, I thought that um Svansey Ingelson, who'd been a bit part player the year before and hadn't really nailed down a place. I mean, we all remember his debut against Plymouth, and you're thinking, what a world beater Wednesday signed here. But he never really reached those heights in the first year, and then last year I thought he was consistently one of Wednesday's best performers.

SPEAKER_00 3:47

You know, in it was an absolute work course as well, attitude-wise was so good.

SPEAKER_01 3:52

Yeah, and one of those players that he's just got so many good attributes for the modern midfielder that you look for too of his size, his physicality, um, his ability to get up and down and cover a lot of the ground. And so um it is disappointing to go, but I felt like it was inevitable, really. Of the of the players that Wednesday had in their squad going into the summer after they triggered options and um things start to take shape. The two players that I think we were all looking at thinking who are gonna move on were Piers Charles and Svans Ingleson.

SPEAKER_00 4:27

And this club has to get better bouncing the balls. I was gonna say that, that was gonna be my next thing is like it's actually quite refreshing to see they want to sign a new contract, they can't agree terms, he's got a year left, so you go, alright then, well, let's find you a move and we'll sort something out. Because that's not something we've seen before in recent years, you know, like how many players have Wednesday lost with with a value that have been an asset and they've ended up walking away for nothing, um, because that's just the way that Chansey used to work.

SPEAKER_01 4:59

That there haven't been loads of player sell sales. I'd actually, if you go back to pre-Chansi, uh I think the big sale would have been Mikel Antonio, which still was a cut price deal, really. And I remember Stuart Gray was furious that it was like a million and a bit, but historically, this club hasn't been good at selling players and buying and selling player trading, we know it is so important, like that you have to get it right and uh because it funds every aspect of the club, doesn't it? Yeah, no, it does, and so it's great to see that the new leadership group um as part of Sheffield Wednesday that I I you know that you can tell that they're so switched on that you know, with Simon Wilson coming in, sport director, you know, and it's it's the statements that you get as well for uh player contracts. I I've been watching as someone who's covered other clubs in the Yorkshire region, been keeping like a really close eye, and like that's the type of stuff that they would they've been doing for years, where like it's just another example to me of like on the communication side through no fault of the media team at Wednesday, their hands were tied by so much of what people can do.

SPEAKER_00 6:08

Another example of that is like it's quite nice here, contract length in there, isn't it?

SPEAKER_01 6:12

Yeah, I know, you know. I it's just it's nuts that like these shouldn't even be talking points, but they have been at this club because of the way that it was operated and like almost working in the shadows, and whereas this, you know, with David Bruce, Simon Wilson, the stalkers, arise, it's quite clear that fan engagement is is the mantra, and it is and like it's just clear, isn't it?

SPEAKER_00 6:37

So professional, yeah, yeah, yeah. The whole the whole thing just feels professional. I mean, you see the pictures that they're that they they're doing with the announcements, like they're being done by you know in a studio, like it's like it's like it's a it's um it just it everything feels fresh.

SPEAKER_01 6:52

The whole thing feels what what do you make to the fee that Wednesday gonna end up getting for Swanda Engels?

SPEAKER_00 6:58

It's one of those, in it, because it's like I you know we understand it's it could exceed a million, but like we don't know if that means 200 grand up front and seven, you know, 750 if he does this and then an extra 50 like it could be if it if it comes to a million, I think that's fine. You know, if eventually it comes to a million, he's out of contract, he he obviously, you know it's a tough one when he's only got a year left, and and he wanted to be back in the championship. And if you if you've tried and tried and tried and tried to sort a new contract and it's not working, I think there is an element of like if it's all done in good faith, you go, cool, you've done your bit, we're not gonna price you out of a move. So he gets his move, he goes on good terms, everyone's sort of happy, and you know, and it's been done early enough that this is not something that's dragged on as well. So I think that's another key thing because you know there was cause for Svan Dingelson to be like in the captaincy conversation, wasn't the last season, because of the way that he he handled himself. So I think to have a player like that who was so well liked and was so was such an integral part of last season, to have that sort of a draw a line drawn underneath it, there probably is an element of just like cool, we'll everyone can go and do their thing.

SPEAKER_01 8:08

But you've been all over the last few weeks, and now it's been confirmed over uh Max Slow and Liam Cooper staying put as well. I mean, how important do you think that is for Wednesday going into League One?

SPEAKER_00 8:19

Massive. I think for for different reasons as well. I mean, I I think you'd be pushed to find a better left back than Max Lowe in League One, period.

SPEAKER_01 8:26

Like, not just like That's if they definitely play. I know that Henrik has said to you in DC you did it looks like they're gonna go for a back four, yeah. Which would make sense, but Max Lowe, we've seen in the last two years though, it's the versatility, isn't it?

SPEAKER_00 8:39

Yeah, well, yeah, because if you do want to play him as a left wing back, you can. If you want to play him as a left centre back, you can. Um, also a great guy. Like you speak to anyone about Max, and everyone loves him. Like he's just like a really good egg.

SPEAKER_01 8:50

Um I thought it was telling in Simon Wilson's statement as well, and I thought it was bang on that he would have had interest from championship performances. But the reality is that Wednesday's got a guy who is a legit, I'd say, mid-table and bare minimum championship performance playing a little below his level.

SPEAKER_00 9:11

And because he wants to as well, I think that's the that's the key, is that he wants to be here. Like he's he's not a a player that's like been stuck on a contract and had to come down to League One because to try he's actively made the decision to stick around at this football club. You could see in Max's interview, you know, after the West Brom game, how affected he was by that. You know, by he you could see was it he was genuinely emotional about that game and and the atmosphere of it all. And I think you can say a similar thing about about Liam Cooper as well. He obviously he hasn't had the same impact at Wednesday on the pitch because he had a bit of time injured and things like that.

SPEAKER_01 9:48

I sort of felt that I felt a little bit sorry for Liam Cooper in the fair play, he put his hands up and he came in to help Wednesday in a dire situation, but he wasn't match fit either.

SPEAKER_00 10:00

And I don't think at any point was match fit, like he was he was constantly just trying to do his bit for the cause, you know, like even his first his his debut, he had to fall off the bench when he shouldn't have been, and it was almost like he was on the back foot the whole time. And I think that's the one of the big things with Mac with Liam Cooper this summer is that that they're going, Well, we'll give him a full pre-season, we'll get him where he needs to be. And you know, he's he's a fantastic leader, you know, like a brilliant he's done so much in his career, he he's he's had such a role to play at big club, so he knows what it's like to play in that kind of environment.

SPEAKER_01 10:34

But what what role do you think he is going to play next season? Because in my head, if if Henrik is serious about going to a back four, I don't think Liam Cooper will get in the best 11. I feel like he'd be more of a squad player who could be third or fourth choice.

SPEAKER_00 10:50

Do you know what? I think it might be, you know, Darren always Darren Moore always used to say horses for courses with how he picked his side. And I think looking at the way that Wednesday are working in the transfer market, you know, you've got Deshaun Bernard who is probably not going to be fit to start the start of the season, but you know, he shouldn't be too far off, who is an absolute Rolls Royce for a player in League One if he if he gets back to his best. Um obviously Gabotugbayo did his bit last season, he's probably gonna fall down the picking order now. Ricardo Santos, very experienced campaigner in League One. Ernie Weaver. Ernie Weaver, who went fit. I mean, Ernie was great when he came in last season. He's such such a talented little player and and and so vocal and so confident. And yeah, I think uh I think Ernie's uh he's a great find for Wednesday's academy. But I do think we'll we're gonna see uh see a situation where Henrik changes things up based on who they're playing. You know, you look at the they're looking to bring Tayo Adderamola back, and you know, you've got um you've got different kinds of players and on on both wings. Max Lowe is a very different kind of left back to Adramola, and you know, maybe you play Tao as like a left mid at some points. Sometimes if you're wanting to be a bit more attacking, you start him as a a left back and you push Max more central. Like you've got all these options. I do think we're gonna see a lot of that with with Henrik next season. I think we're going to see a lot of like he wants to put a squad together. And I imagine more even more so after last season, when he had no squad to put together, he probably wants to find options at different, you know, uh different points of well, a lot of his squad, as we know, was so youthful.

SPEAKER_01 12:25

He had no option but to turn to Academy players to just bolster out a bench, yeah, but knowing that a lot of them weren't ready for action, and and that's where it's great, I think, in the centre back department that we're expecting at a time recording, there probably will be another centre-half that's coming in, at least one. Yeah, but then you're thinking it'll take the pressure off Gabog Odok Beo, who I felt developed and came on leaps and bounds last year. But then it takes the pressure off him and an Ernie Weaver, of where you can almost not pick and choose, but you don't you can drip feed them, and you don't have to be thinking that they should be playing as much as what I think it's gonna be interesting to see what happens with some of those young boys because it's very difficult to sort of you've almost taken it away from them now.

SPEAKER_00 13:17

You know, they've been they've been in the mix and they've been part of the first team squad. Some of those lads are gonna be asked to go play under 21's football now, and for me, that's where the club have got to get it right, because there's a lot of those where I don't think they should be playing 21's football. They should be out on loan somewhere. If they're not if they're not gonna play, you know, if they're not third, fourth choice centre back or wherever they are in their position, there is probably an argument to just be like, well, let's go get you playing in League Two or you know, top end national league, or think something like that. Because I think that's again something that Wednesday was so bad under Transferia.

SPEAKER_01 13:50

Well, it was more that they would send players, I thought, largely to non-league, though, whereas I think there were players capable of playing in the academy, certainly at league two. But then it was always on deals of where, you know, like the emphasis, we always would get t told stories constantly of where trying to, you know, hard bargain over oh, you know, the other club has to pay a huge amount. Wherever the reality is get the guy playing.

SPEAKER_00 14:19

I mean, I always think of I always think of Alex Hunt, and look, Alex Hunt will, for me, 100% play in the football league, you know. Like he he's I mean, he will be playing in the football league now with with York City. Um, but I think I think Alex will go higher, and I think he's one of those players that Wednesday handle horribly. You know, I think he did he needed to be out on loan a lot earlier than he was. Um and I and I think that Wednesday needs to stop making mistakes like that, and they it's you can't just cling on to players for the sake of clinging on to players. So, you know, like with a with a Gabot bio, for instance, like if it becomes apparent when everyone's through the door that he's not going to be you know playing regularly, let him go play somewhere.

SPEAKER_01 14:59

I I think that's so important, and um from the initial impressions that we've got of Simon Wilson as well, well connected, great pedigree. I think that's what he's gonna be. I think it's very well respected as well. Yeah, yeah. Well respected in the game. I think strategically that's what he's gonna be looking at, isn't he? You know, of where if there are young players that where their path is maybe blocked into getting first team action at Wednesday, and you also have to remember that the expectation levels now are just rising and rising more. Nothing like getting carried away. No, what the fuck they're gonna, what is it, HMS, you know, League One next year. We can I think we can say it because it's HMS Bistrian. Clip like clip that clip like yeah, I I think there's um it's just gonna be fascinating. I it's just it's an amazing period, I feel like, in Wednesday's history of where um we've gone from the dark days and now it's just everything, and it's all happening like really quickly. And the the it's like Simon Wilson and David Bruce have said though, in their sort of media engagements, though, of and I think this is what people have to hang on to there are no quick fixes.

SPEAKER_00 16:09

Yeah, in the element as well, football field, yeah, stadium, training, nothing's a fast fix.

SPEAKER_01 16:15

Yeah, yeah. It it will all take time to come together, and you can see from what the club have done as well, with straight away, even with the training ground, the modifications, the trying to make these upgrades, they've then clearly still got to finish off and do all the work that's necessary for Hillsborough. Yeah, uh, and it's a big help that the first game is not at Hillsborough next season. Oh giving them the extra week as per request. So um win-win on that front. So yeah, it's um it's it's just as I keep saying, exciting.

SPEAKER_00 16:46

Yeah, we've got to talk about Barry Bannon. Um, me and you have watched that man play football quite a lot over the last uh what decade? Um live, you know, we've been at a lot of games, watched Barry play again at the time of recording, uh Barry Bannon is not a Sheffield Wednesday player. That uh I think most part what all parties are hoping that'll change at some point. How big a player could Barry Bannon be for Sheffield Wednesday in this rebuild? Knowing knowing how take away how good a footballer he is, which we all know what kind of quality he has, but as someone who needs to help new players understand what this football club is, he's gonna be huge, you know.

SPEAKER_01 17:28

There's a bit of a split, I think, amongst some sections of the fan base over is it a good thing that Barry Bannon is returning and he's gonna be 37 later this year. I get the age argument, but I I can't really get past the fact that the last time that Wednesday got out with this division and yes, he's older, but as we saw in snippets of when he played in the championship at a promotion chasing team in the championship, the man's still got it. You don't lose it, and um Baz knows his strengths inside and out, and so um it's his club. I to me it just fits of where um it's everything from the commercial side of it, and when you know we get round to when the the kit comes out and everything of where like what what who are Wednesday fans gonna want on the back of their shirt? Yeah, who's gonna be the most popular? I know who I know who's gonna be the most popular. But we're not buying him for that reason, but that's what you're getting with Barry Bannon, and and we know that there's been speculation and interest in Jamie Vardy, another one that to me that might. Vardy 9 might do it. Well, but but you know there'd be that argument over, and and we know that you know you reported that there was that interest around Callum Patterson as another guy, and you don't want I think too many players, and this is what I think Simon Wilson is preaching, isn't he? About he wants players who are across like the age um spectrum.

SPEAKER_00 18:57

And I think that is by standard what you know with the Kyrgyz Lisby. Obviously, Kairi Lisby went to to Redden instead, but um that is the the the field they're working in, right? You're looking at 22-year-olds, but you're also looking at 26-year-olds, and you won't be looking at many 37-year-olds, but you know what I mean, uh that that other end of the spectrum, and and they're all going to have an important role to play in all of this. Like, I think with um with Liam Palmer, like as a as a tone setter in this team, yeah, I don't know how much Palmer's gonna play next season in terms of like I would think he's a he's a little bit older now. Same with Baz, like you wouldn't be expecting them to start every single game, like um that they can probably be managed better now because of the nature of the squad.

SPEAKER_01 19:39

Whereas last year they were flogged to death exactly. They had no choice, but that is that is a really important point. That um where I think it will be crucial with Baz and Liam and Liam Cooper will be managing the minutes, managing the workload, and not flogging them so that Wednesday could, if they're really successful, successful next year, or if it's the playoffs, as this club knows only too well, um, of the ups and downs and the roller coasters, but they could end up playing 60 matches next year with the virtue trophy, too. You know, so you do need like a a big squad to be able to contend with the Saturday, Tuesday, Saturday, Tuesday. There could be weeks where Wednesday playing three games a week, and so they have got to have the quality and the strength and depth to be able to cope with that.

SPEAKER_00 20:27

Yeah, and I think there's gonna be a lot of bumps in a road. Yes. You know, there's a whole new squad coming in. Like we we've seen rebuilds at Wednesday before when you know Dallamore had to bring 15-16 players in, but like we I don't think we've ever we've ever seen anything like this, not on this scale, like the sheer amount of work that needs to be done on this squad this summer is outrageous, isn't it?

SPEAKER_01 20:49

Yeah, absolutely. And I was gonna ask you as well. I mean, we've had clarity in the last few weeks, it just in case people were in any doubt, Henrik Pedersen will be leading Wednesday into battle next year. And so, I mean, what do you make to that? And I mean, and how crucial is it gonna be for Henrik that Wednesday in that first 10 games of next season are up there, they're all there.

SPEAKER_00 21:12

I can't I can't think of a man in football that deserves a crack at something more than what Henry does Henrik Pedders deserves at Wednesday at the moment. I think what he dealt with at Wednesday last season, I think people know parts of it. We've reported parts of it. I don't think anyone can fully grasp what that man went through trying to keep things ticking long at Wednesday last season. Like the the the fact that the there wasn't any sort of like mutiny or you know, he kept thing when when things were going horribly bad off the pitch, with all the stuff that was happening, he kept that shit look, it was a rough season, results were uh that me right, results were awful. Um, but there's a reason behind it. You know, it's like it's it's not like just everything was glorious and the results were awful. Um But yeah, I think you're exactly right. Like this season has to start well for Henrik. Yeah. Because you they I think Arise will look at the situation and go, well, we're giving him you know, we're giving him a chance, we're giving him he deserves that, which he absolutely does.

SPEAKER_01 22:14

Um it's quite clear as well for Arise. But yeah, you know, from the statements that they've made as well, of where they really respect the job that he did in such testing circumstances, the way he conducted himself. But I've always been quite clear that you can't get past he won two matches out 46. And I do 100% get the argument of if that was a non-league club playing in the championship, even with the players that Wednesday had, you probably would still, FA Cup style, expect them to win more than two matches in the season, and so that's where I think that the pressure then comes, but this is where people will be judging Henrik like they've never judged. But the thing is, I think that's I think that's only right is where Henrik should be judged, and and he gets a chance to build his squad in his image and to play the way he wants to play, because we know as well often he it was back to the wall or it was playing with a low block last year, and that like he was forced into doing that with what you're coming up against.

SPEAKER_00 23:14

I think ultimately what it comes down to is no one actually really knows that Wednesday, no one knows whether Henrik is capable of doing something with this team or not, because he's not had a chance to do anything with this team. Yeah, yeah. You know, like he and and I think that with with Henrik, he has he's proven enough for me, I think, to be given a fair shot. But the you know, you know what this game's like, you know, it doesn't matter how well things are going on off the pitch, if it's not if results aren't coming in, you know, people are gonna start asking questions.

SPEAKER_01 23:47

Yeah, I mean, all eyes are gonna be on the first five-ten matches to see if Wednesday can get off to a fast start. I think it's it's tricky though, it is under pressure and the expectations have risen, but uh that there will be that Wednesday they can't start slow, even though they're gonna have a brand new squad, and that's where it's hard, he's got to get the results.

SPEAKER_00 24:07

It's about it's about it. I think it look results will dictate it, yeah, but I think it's also the manner of them as well. You know, if if the if people can see progress, yeah, you know, Sam Wilson's called for patience, and I think that's a big it's a big thing now with Wednesday. They need to see they need to see that that patience of um on on sort of what where the club is going, even if it's not necessarily the results.

SPEAKER_01 24:35

Yeah, I agree, and uh I mean patience is a thing that you don't get very often though in in modern football, and so like that's like the problem of where um you know people expect instant results, but it just doesn't work like that, yeah. Um, and so that's where it's hard. But I I I feel as if that Henrik, if they can get on a roll because of what, like I was saying before, with the momentum and everything that built up, then I think they can get built up like that huge head of steam, and where I think that there can be that positivity that we're seeing now, and um I think it's just gonna carry on like throughout the summer, though. If when you get a new kit, and then we're gonna have maybe up to 15 signs plus.

SPEAKER_00 25:15

Every bit's a boost, isn't it?

SPEAKER_01 25:17

Yeah, yeah, yeah. So it's just all gonna add the football starts, and then the football starts, and then we'll see how long it lasts. But but yeah, yeah, all right for Bradford for the first home match. Um, you know, is it no like full house? Like you could be looking at York Starby, 30,000 plus, it's just gonna be special. Yeah, I wonder what Alex Moore's gonna do. Well, we know which team it's gonna support.

SPEAKER_00 25:36

It's all love, it's all love, Miller. Is it um Dom? Thank you very much for joining us. Um, this is going to be it from now on. So every two weeks we're gonna be doing a show with Mr. House, and uh we'll be, I suppose, I'm gonna say you'll be hosting it, but it's gonna be a co-hosting situation, I suppose. Um but yeah, join us again in a couple of weeks. Me and Dom will be back, and that one will be um slightly more up to date because we won't be doing it um we won't be doing it a few days in advance when Wednesday are going through what they're going through. But yeah, thank you very much for watching, and we'll see you very soon.