Westfield Owl

Hirst played for our first team at a young age. I’d say the Championship and League Cup are a decent level. Wouldn’t you? Leicester offered us £2 million quid for Hirst before the club’s relationship with the player had turned sour. If the club didn’t think he was worth the salary GH was wanting, I totally understand the club not agreeing to pay him more than he is worth. I mean, that type of thing must happen with many players at different clubs up and down the country. It will be a very common occurrence in the football world. It makes us look totally incompetent that the club turned down a £2 million quid transfer fee, for a player that ended up leaving for next to nothing 2 years later. Yes I know it’s easy to shrug it off as ‘only’ £2 million. But we’ve been in multiple transfer embargoes over the last few years because of poor financial management of the club. Bullsh*t like this is part of the reason why we are in such a mess off the field and on it. Also, Hirst being cheeky and asking for a raise in salary, doesn’t justify freezing the player out of the squad, just to save our stupid chairman’s pride.

At least Barnsley came up with something. They have given paying supporters an option of a refund. Fair play to them for that. Wednesday have done nothing yet. Do you think it is unreasonable for supporters to ask why that is?

The whole situation was a total c0ck up on our part. Totally unprofessional how this kid was demonised by the club’s hierarch for not signing a new contract and essentially forced out of the club he’s supported his whole life. And anyone that thinks it’s ok for Chansiri to be getting involved on who plays and who is ‘frozen out’ is part of the problem.

Why is it taking so long for Wednesday to offer something like this? They’ve had 10 weeks to get it organised. After all, as our useless chairman once said “Your money pays for nothing” - so how about a refund then DC?

The irony being that this pandemic will have put so many EFL clubs dangerously ‘in the red’ when it comes to finances.

2 wins in the last 14 league games. Monk has had his chance for me. His contract here is up next month. We shouldn’t extend it.

I’m sure the club’s reasons for not wanting to resume have nothing to do with us torpedoing down the league since Xmas.

Someone should tell Chansiri. “Your money doesn’t pay for anything” That’s what he said to a venue full of SWFC fans. Wonder if he’s since changed his mind.

Woah there, who said anything about ‘gambling’ on promotion? An example if I may... This time 13 months ago, *says through gritted teeth* the pigs were on the verge of going up. Their finances were totally sustainable. They didn’t spend stupid money on transfers/wages. Getting promoted with a modest budget was just the cherry on top of the cake. Sorta like Huddersfield had done in 2017. But the Premier League cash has sorted them for a generation. If Covid had hit the UK in March 2019, rather than March 2020, almost every pig fan you know would be demanding for the season to be concluded. Right? It’s only ‘fair’ they would pleat. Thing is, they would kinda have a point. Why should a club miss out on a £200 million windfall? Because of something totally out of their control too? I’ve no idea what West Brom/Leeds/Fulham etc finances are like. This season’s accounts won’t be released until next year. That’s why pigs/Huddersfield examples were used. You’d have to test every single player/manager/coach/chairman/tea-lady very regularly. If one person tests positive, they isolate themselves and are not involved in training or matches at the club. Not that difficult in fairness. Well yeah obviously. I mean, we can all do the ‘if money wasn’t an issue’ hypothetical. If money wasn’t an issue, football clubs wouldn’t go bust. Because football brings joy, interest, humour and that sense of belonging to so many. But the sad reality is, many clubs will go bust by this time next year. An indirect result of Covid. The majority will be League One/Two, Conference or lower down. But this situation will also wreck the finances of Premier League and Championship clubs too.

Neither do most fans mate. But that horse bolted years (decades?) ago. £200 million to get promoted to Premier these days isn't it? Who would want to miss out on that... Me neither. The club's chairmen do. They are driving the discourse/decisions here. There's too much money involved to cancel the season. Unless it's the very last resort. I don't like it. But I can understand. And I bet if we had a sniff of promotion, 90% of our fanbase would be demanding the season be concluded. Or some other 'solution' that means we get a favourable chance of promotion.

Imagine being in a promotion race and sitting in one of the automatic promotion positions with 2/3rds of the season done, then Covid-19 happens. Promotion is cancelled and your club's finances are f*cked. Wouldn't you want the football authorities to do all they could (without risking/players public health) to TRY and get the season concluded? Unfortunately, whatever football decides to do, there isn't an easy/simple/painless solution here.

Which will probably result in many lower league clubs going bust - like Bury did. Which is nothing to celebrate. The Premier League are likely to come out of this relatively unscathed IMO.

Comparing players from different eras is always a tricky ask and it's probably not fair to do so. Professional footballers these days are so much fitter than their predecessors. And whilst the likes of Carlton Palmer, Chris Waddle and John Sheridan will always have a special place in many Wednesday fans' hearts, the harsh reality is that English football was in a bit of a state in the early nineties. Post-2000, the club has missed out on this 'boom' period that has brought in a much higher standard of fitness and professionalism You could put our early-nineties 'greats' (even in their peak years) up against a modern day era Premier League side and they'd run rings round us. In recent years, the physical side of the sport and the preparation that goes into each game have reached levels of incredible intensity. Sadly, players like Kyle Walker, Enda Stevens etc are in a different class to anything we've seen at Hillsborough.

An allocated ‘singing’ section in the stands to get the atmosphere going. Renovate the kiosk areas. Improve catering. The current setup is a joke. Quicken up speed of service. Ifollow feed on big tv screens around the concourse, so fans can get food/drink whilst watching the match. Some actual half-time entertainment, rather than having none at all. Modern turnstiles, as access to the ground is a nightmare. Improvements to parking near to the ground would be welcomed. Warm/hot tap water in the bogs. It’s 2020, not the stone age. That’s just a few off the top of my head. Some very easy wins there. Not exactly rocket science this is it? I love this club but I’m disillusioned with the direction we are going both on the pitch and off it. The club is stuck in the 1980s with how it treats its supporters IMO. Is it any wonder there is so much apathy on match days?

Let's ignore incompetence.