We are broken and we have to fix ourselves

[M Royds]

Why fix it when it aint broken and the people who broke it are asking others to fix it!

[NYCOWL]

People will complain about anything. Whilst Leeds are still in league one; portsmouth enter administration, Cardif face a winding up order - we have a chairman who tries his very best to get this club running financially well by pleading with the fans to get on-board. Yet, we prefer to argue and complain that our team isnt doing as well as what was hoped. Ungrateful.

And those of us who choose to support him get called brown nosers etc.

Let's get this straight, I don't want to be Lee Strafford's friend, I don't agree with everything he says, I think he's made mistakes.

But how does bringing all this stuff up help? Will it make us better?

Ask yourselves what you want, do you want a successfull Wednesday team or not? If you don't believe that Lee's the man to achieve this, then get down to Hillsborough and wave your shoes in the air like a bunch of halfwits.

poo poo or get off the pot.

[Guest Walkley_Owl]

Hey Walkley

You have something in commen with him and Bobby G

You all hate Wednesdayite

Bit harsh mate, I don't hate Wednesdayite.

[airborne_rat_of_s6]

It "was" not our fault.

We "were" the victims.

But its been over a year now and we are no longer being mislead by our club. We are no longer being taken advantage of. Yet far too many of us are behaving like the abuse victim that turns round and then becomes the abuser. As a consequence we are not backing this team (emotionally as well as financially) as it struggles through a tough season that management execution (absence of) created. Yet we have backed squads in the recent past that are nowhere near as good as the one we have today.

Our club will not progress until everyone moves on from the negativity that has seeped into our very bones this past 15 years or so.

Reality - We are a struggling championship club trying to lift ourselves financially, emotionally and by best practice up to being a strong championship club. We have the opportunity to do this because our fan base is large enough and the rest of football is melting down. We have a genuine opportunity, but only if we want to make it happen.

To do this will take us all adopting a positive yet pragmatic (not unrealistic) mindset.

To do this will take us all maintaining our football budget at £6m-£7m a year for a period long enough for AI to shape our squad and develop a new Wednesday football identity. Then we move forward again.

For us all not to want to make this happen would be insane, you would think. Yet so many just want to carry on the negativity and the mistrust and the infighting. This being behaviour that we were conditioned to by those wonderful people that created the problems at our club...................

Its time to wake up, the relegation battle effort needs us and the club being driven forward only happens if we all push in the same direction (emotionally and financially)

Lots of us have committed to moving forward (that's what keeps me going), but many are threatening to stop and many more have just not woken up still.

We all pull together and we can retain our position in this league and take the opportunity in front of us together.

We let this all unwind and I fear it will all end up a lot worse than 18 months ago.

Regards

Lee

I agree with your sentiment here Lee, but have you ever tried imparting your passion for the club on the current squad? Do you regularly get amongst the dressing room before some matches? Sure that if they took some of that on board then would would see a tad more effort on the pitch. IMO the thing that is and has held us back this season has been the lack-luster performances - we wouldn't mind so much if they gave 100% and were beaten. Hopefully we will stay in this League - and employ some new players with a tad more mental strength - winners.

[i used to be sc_owl]

Started reading the OP and made it half way through...

On a day where Portsmouth have entered administration and will probably start again debt free, and a club like Chester have been booted out of the conference I just wonder why I even care about football anymore.

I think to compare SWFC fans to abuse victims is a bit strange. Football just isn't that important. Don't get me wrong, I love football and I still get that buzz from watching Sheffield Wednesday play and win, but the thing is it is only football.

I'm soon to move back to Sheffield and I would like to think I'll get a job where I can get a season ticket again, but that's about all I can do for the club and even then where does that get the club? Another few million that can be chucked down a financial blackhole so we can tread water for another few years?

Football clubs and their fans have a reciprocal relationship. The SWFC fans have been loyal, and long suffering. I doubt there is a larger fanbase in English football that has had to put up with so much crap on the pitch for so long without sign of a recovery. The fans have done enough in my opinion, and it's about time the club and the players delivered something. Some people call it a chicken and egg situation. I don't believe that anymore. The ball is firmly in the club's court now to do something to inspire the fans.

[Mr Farrell]

I've not read the whole thread, so apologies if it's been discussed aready, but playing devils advocate, I would ask a couple of questions.

I'm a lifelong Owl, love the club, but for whatever reason, I seem to have found other things to do with both my time and disposable income. To be honest, I enjoy the extra holiday I get a year, and the meals out etc etc , more than than a game at Hillsborough.

Why should I pay a large proportion of my disposable income, on something that offers me little or no enjoyment, to pay the wages of a group of players paid more in a week then most supporters earn in months, and who appear to not care for the club I love ?

[Mike Hunt]

Bit harsh mate, I don't hate Wednesdayite.

Just the Majority of the clubs board then

Are you travelling tomorrow Reesh ?

Silly question i suppose .

[Mike Hunt]

I've not read the whole thread, so apologies if it's been discussed aready, but playing devils advocate, I would ask a couple of questions.

I'm a lifelong Owl, love the club, but for whatever reason, I seem to have found other things to do with both my time and disposable income. To be honest, I enjoy the extra holiday I get a year, and the meals out etc etc , more than than a game at Hillsborough.

Why should I pay a large proportion of my disposable income, on something that offers me little or no enjoyment, to pay the wages of a group of players paid more in a week then most supporters earn in months, and who appear to not care for the club I love ?

Just get your season ticket bought and shut the rumbleingswearwordfilter up .

Edited February 26, 2010 by hugeowl

[Guest Walkley_Owl]

Just the Majority of the clubs board then

Are you travelling tomorrow Reesh ?

Silly question i suppose .

,

aye 7am start

[O_D_A]

I agree with everything in this thread

[caw_owl]

"When one door closes, another opens; but we often look so long and so regretfully upon the closed

door that we do not see the one which has opened for us.

Alexander Graham Bell

[Mike Hunt]

,

aye 7am start

Good man .

Hope the team show half the dedication .

[Guest Walkley_Owl]

Good man .

Hope the team show half the dedication .

Aye, just not in the drinking stakes..................

[Mr Farrell]

Just get your season ticket bought and shut the rumbleingswearwordfilter up .

Shush. You are old school, so your view doesn't count.

It's all the yuppie youngsters spending their cash on poo we have get in.

[caw_owl]

While im in the mood - !

"The price of greatness is responsibility."

"We make a living by what we get. We make a life by what we give."

"A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every

difficulty."

"Success is the ability to go from one failure to another with no loss of enthusiasm."

"If you are going through hell, keep going."

Winston Churchill

[airborne_rat_of_s6]

I've not read the whole thread, so apologies if it's been discussed aready, but playing devils advocate, I would ask a couple of questions.

I'm a lifelong Owl, love the club, but for whatever reason, I seem to have found other things to do with both my time and disposable income. To be honest, I enjoy the extra holiday I get a year, and the meals out etc etc , more than than a game at Hillsborough.

Why should I pay a large proportion of my disposable income, on something that offers me little or no enjoyment, to pay the wages of a group of players paid more in a week then most supporters earn in months, and who appear to not care for the club I love ?

I agree. Supporting our club is like having a delinquent smack rat teenage child - robs you of your money, generally abuses you and requires unconditional love with little or nothing in return.

[PEARSON]

I've not read the whole thread, so apologies if it's been discussed aready, but playing devils advocate, I would ask a couple of questions.

I'm a lifelong Owl, love the club, but for whatever reason, I seem to have found other things to do with both my time and disposable income. To be honest, I enjoy the extra holiday I get a year, and the meals out etc etc , more than than a game at Hillsborough.

Why should I pay a large proportion of my disposable income, on something that offers me little or no enjoyment, to pay the wages of a group of players paid more in a week then most supporters earn in months, and who appear to not care for the club I love ?

Not really a Wednesday issue is it; that's a football problem. Think everybody knows football costs too much and players get paid too much but what do you expect to be done about it? If a team tries to change that they effectively stop competing. If you prefer to do other things then you should do other things, that's how I see it. Supporters don't have an obligation to turn up; it's your money, your free time...

[Mr Farrell]

Not really a Wednesday issue is it; that's a football problem. Think everybody knows football costs too much and players get paid too much but what do you expect to be done about it? If a team tries to change that they effectively stop competing. If you prefer to do other things then you should do other things, that's how I see it. Supporters don't have an obligation to turn up; it's your money, your free time...

Indeed, but our esteemed chairman wants many many more of us to turn up on a Saturday, and invest in a season ticket, so I'm not sure, 'it's your money, do what you want' really works as a marketing campaign.

[TheBoyBeevers]

Our aim this season of 16.5k season tickets and an average of 24,300 on matchdays was based on us competing in and around the top 10.

We've spent most of the season at the bottom, and tbh our ST sales will reflect that for next season (i expect to see 13-14k for next year.) and no amount of LS's tubthumping CardiffOwl-esque threads will change that.

We've got plenty of stupid fans who will renew regardless of league position (i'm one of them. ) but we haven't got 16.5k of them.

[airborne_rat_of_s6]

Be interesting to know what the attendances would have been this season, had we played to our potential and (IMO) be sitting comfortably in mid-table. Considering the football and general abject lack of anything to be inspired about on the field (cup runs, stand-out performances, derby victories etc), I think we have done well to manage the crowds we have. If the relegation death ride turns out in our favour with the possibility of a derby victory then no doubt there will be a reasonable up-take in season tickets. Shame that AI will have a major replacement as opposed to addition program in the summer, swallowing up whatever revenue we have from ST sales - whatever league we end up in.