I'm Back and So Is The League!

Hello again and apologies for taking some time off but I've used my league off time for getting things done that are less important than football (most things :) ).

I watched the Oldham game on TV as I have to say I care much less about cup games than the league and especially when we're on TV so I can watch.  I wont say much about this as it just felt like a pre-season and I hate to start complaining so early on in the post, although I assure you some are complaints coming.All I'll say is 2-0 down and I got so annoyed I started lifting weights (yes,weights!) as I was so pissed off, but by the time the game finished I was grinning so that's good.

Onto yesterday, I was up bright and early and very excited, nothing like my Saturdays getting back to usual. Paced around the house,was ready about an hour early and practically sprinted to the train station. Derby is....lets be honest here, a little bit shit but a nice enough stadium even if it is on an industrial estate and seems far away from everywhere despite being 15 minutes walk from the station. As I approached the ground I could here The Wednesday and they seemed in as good voice as ever, if not better. 

To take 6500 people and be louder than 21000 Derby fans just shows who we are and what absolutely fantastic fans we have. If you compare Hillsborough on the first day of the season (when we're there!) with yesterday then you understand what a special place Hillsborough is and what amazing atmosphere we have. Pride park was beautiful, a really great stadium (especially when you come up from league 1!) but lacking in any atmosphere. There seemed no equivalent of the Kop, the whole place was like the south stand on a Tuesday evening mid January.

Here's what you've all been waiting for, my complaints and it's not the obvious that we can't keep giving away 2 goals, our defence needs sorting and the players need to pretend they've had a bollocking before they start the game. This has to do with a tiny minority of the fans. As I said earlier I was sat in the SW corner and obviously everyone stands as we're away but there was a group...what's the collective name for a bunch of idiots? Asshats? Lets use that. So there was a bunch of asshats stood in the isles, smoking (rather you didnt) and generally being aggressive. Not interested in the game except to occasionally call the referee a c*nt. So the stewards come over and very politely ask them to stand in their seat location, remember this is what they get paid for and if they dont do it they get fired. Unfortunately the main steward asking happened to be a woman, big mistake on her part as this makes her 1) a c*nt 2) a slag and 3) she should get her tits outs. She was a small woman and a bunch of about 10-15 drunk, large men decide it's ok to scream abuse and be generally intimidating to her. I dont know about you but as a women this doesn't make me feel welcome or comfortable at football. I wouldn't go to an away game on my own and I was pleased that there was an older man separating me from the men as to be honest I got very close to telling them to stop being sexist pieces of shit, to shut the f*ck up and watch the bleeding game. But I imagine that wouldn't have gone down well. Instead I just mouthed "sorry" to the steward despite having nothing to do with it.  Then to make matters slightly more annoying when we scored the first goal the asshats decided to barge into the man next to me sending me flying and leaving me with a very attractive bruise. Like I said, this was 10-15 people out of 6500 that I saw but it does affect your day, shame it cant just be about the match.

Now to the match, like I said the less said about giving away two goals the better but it needs sorting. I thought we were lethargic and off the pace apart from one player who we all love (as much as he frustrates us), JJ.  JJ was the JJ that you wish he would always be (could learn to finish!). We seemed to wake up about 5 minutes before the end of the first half and that goal by O'Grady was beautiful.
Then I dont know what Jones does in the changing room but it seems to work and we came out as a all together different team, not everyone was on form but at least not everyone was off form. I thought Pecknic seemed pretty ineffectual, I can see he may be a player who when he's good is brilliant (seemed to see a little of this against Oldham,second half) but when he's not he actually a liability (first half against Oldham). Antonio was totally not the player we know and adore, it's got to be the worst performance I've ever seen from him. He seemed almost scared of the ball, yes they may have been man marking him but he has to get used to this. Madine was an improvement on Pecknic obviously didnt make a difference but seemed lively enough. The defence needed a strong captain amongst it to keep them working as a unit and we may miss Rob Jones for this reason.  Another solution to that may be Danny Batth who didnt make the Wolves 18 on Saturday so perhaps he'll be willing to come back for a loan?

All in all a good result and I look forward to Tuesday and Saturday at Hillsborough.

RJ
Xxx

Fixture Day

Woke up this morning with the same feeling I get on a morning of a game, a mix of excitement,butterflies and nerves, now as anyone who knows me the slightest will know it's not because the Euros. I've had this day circled in my diary for as long as I have known about it,yes it's fixtures day!

Here they are and it has reminded me what a damn difficult jump it is between league 1 and the Championship, in a good way (No Shrewsbury), but how ready we have  to be to make a good go at it and make sure we are at the very least middle of the table safe.

I'll be going to almost all home games as a ST holder so expect plenty of responses on here but also hope to go to a fair few away games, namely Brighton,Notts Forrest, Derby,Huddersfield, Barsley,Burnley (possible),Cardiff and perhaps a few more if I can afford to. I really feel it when the football season is over,it's like missing a best friend, the Euros are ok but honestly the only football I'm passionate about involves or influences Swfc. I appreciate good football and the drama but you will never find me with an England shirt on. Maybe it's because I grew up abroad and never really watched football with my family, maybe it's because I feel disconnected to the million pound players who care so little for their country (and clubs). Who knows but I do know that come the 13th (League cup) and the 18th I will be in my blue and white shirt as excited as a child on Christmas. Until then I have a life to plan as I promised so many people I would let them know if dates were ok come today.

Dates

Being a tad obsessed with making sure I know exactly when everything is happening (without my diary I am totally lost) I thought I would give you all a few Swfc dates to jot down if you haven't already.

Today: Season tickets go back on sale. Please dont complain about the rise in price as you were given the opportunity to purchase them early at a lower rate and there is finance. I'm beyond happy as for the first season ever I have taken the leap and got a season ticket!! I cant tell you how annoying I've been randomly bursting into chants and "Hi Ho Sheffield Wednesday" but I'm beyond excited. I'm sat in the South Stand as all the good centre line tickets had been snapped up in the north and I am nervous of sitting behind the goal (a story for another day,lets just say JJ was involved). You'll recognise me as the loud one( or the only alive one :P) trying not to swear to much!

Season Ticket Pricing

 The prices are very reasonable and the kop ones are the lowest in the league!


Today- Second leg play off semi final between the b*nts and Stevenage 7:45pm Ko

Tomorrow - Second leg play off semi final between Huddersfield vs MK Dons 7:4pm Ko

Tomorrow- Rumour that the retained list will be out (according to Rob Statton)

Saturday 26th May- Play off finals for League 1

 Monday 18th June- The day we all love in the summer,it's fixture release day. I love waking up and rushing to the computer (usually to find i'm hours too early) to plan the next 10 months of my life.

Saturday 4th August-- Play West Bromwich Albion at Hillsborough,kick off 3pm

Saturday 18th August- Start of Season- delayed due to the Euros of

There will also be a trip to Portugal and apparently Scotland,more details to come.

The Downside of May 05th

Right now it feels that Saturday could not have been better if I had won the lottery (which I actually played as I felt that lucky). The feeling of being promoted at a full to the brim Hillsborough was indescribable but that is it,no more league games until August. I know August isn't that far away but come on, I suddenly have this huge gaping whole in my life. No more Saturday morning excitement, no more praise or grumble (that could be a good thing...),no more travelling to Sheffield and getting nervous and excited as we approach Hillsborough. Don't get me wrong I didn't want to extend our season with the playoffs,I will enjoy watching them but as much as I might want to I'll never be able to cheer on any other team.  Yes,I'll try and see the world and reclaim my Saturdays, I will be reminded by friends and family members who do not understand football about all the times I refused to do things or go places because "Wednesday are playing". I will remind myself of all the miserable Saturday and Tuesday evenings after we had lost and how much I cursed the affliction of being a Owl. You see the thing is,we love it,we love the inability to plan things on Saturday,we love the nerves,I even think we love moaning when we f*ck up. Us football fans are a bit like kids when the summer holidays come around,we're so excited at all this free time and all the plans we have, this lasts for all of about 3 weeks then reality hits us. The reality that the summer is long and we miss our friends (the players) and even miss the stuff we complained about. Then come August we cant wait to get back to Hillsborough ,then it gets cold,wet and we lose and we long for the happy days of close season.

I love the pre season build up, the names flying around and the signing of new and exciting players. However last years long,stretched preseason seemed to take it out of me. The constant rumours flying around with so little being finalised until basically the start of pre season.  Should Manderic or Jones be reading this (how bloody likely!) can I beg you to space out the signings so we have little nuggets of Swfc news to get our teeth into every week or so.


I'm off for a little bank holiday DIY, putting up a signed 2011/2012 Wednesday shirt,don't ask how I managed to get it,just say I owe a dog a HUGE thank you!

Twitter

As those who know we may already know I love twitter and have an account @gweimo. However since I tweet about loads of topics there I thought it made sense to start one just for football/ Swfc. So from now on you can also find me at @blueanwhitegirl.

Someone Pinch Me!

WE ARE GOING UP,WE ARE GOING UP!

Sorry,had to get out my system first,been chanting that almost continuously since the final whistle (not before,I'm superstitious and those singing it before were giving me a heart attack with nerves over it all going wrong-wawaw?). I apologise for not updating since the derby,life has been a tad difficult with family tragedy.

I wrote a blog about Dave Jones joining but it seems I forgot to press "publish",what a numpty I am at times. Anyway today is not for that, today is for savouring us Wednesday fans actually getting a bit of luck. I know,it's rare,so rare I almost forgot what it feels like for football to go our way but it has and we are now in the Championship and going in the right direction,what a feeling it is. To overcome the other side of the city (I hate the term pigs as I quite like pigs and don't like the blunts) being 5 points ahead of us with 2 games in hand is frankly,amazing. Dave Jones has worked miracles, do I think Megson would have done the same, how can I know? I do believe the derby win would have pushed him and the team on,I believe the signing of Michael Antonio was vital to our promotion and to our form. Since Ben Marshall had left we were seriously missing a second wide player and Prutton wasn't cutting the mustard. However all that is hypothetical,all we know is that Dave Jones came in (much to the concern of many-including myself) and has been superb.

I was at Hillsborough,after about 3 hours sleep (how can you sleep when you're so nervous),having planned to go to the final game (as always) since the fixtures came out we had the perfect seats, South Stand(north was full and being so full the south was surprisingly awake!) on the centre line 10 rows back, could not be better. We were in the seats by 2:25 as I was so nervous we would be late but to be honest being in the seats and ready to go made me feel even more nervous. I tried everything,reading the programme (which was brilliant-well done to those who made it!),listening to my mp3 player,counting the people in the north stand,watching the players warm up and just when I thought that the waiting would never end the clock turned 2:55 and we were all up and running.

We played well,no really! We were calm,in control,trying so hard but managing to remember how to play, I dont know what went right. Whatever it was can we please do it more often! No need to come back from behind or desperate defending as our goal is tested time and time again. I dont think I've felt as comfortable and relaxed at a game for a long,long time.

The only thing I was initially worried about was that we wouldn't score,we have recently been known to have lots of chances but not put many away and it seemed it would be the same yesterday. That was until the 26th minute when Nile Ranger set up Michael Antonio,beautiful! Antonio then looked to have re payed Ranger when a rebound off him allowed Ranger to tap in a goal that the linesman decided was offside (someone get him glasses) shortly before half time. Ranger did get his official goal on the 56th minute after being set up by Chris Lines. We bossed the game from start to end,Wycombe had no chance,they maybe had 5 minutes of any possession but even that was easily dealt with. Bywater made one save that I can remember and that he likely bothered to dive as he was feeling a bit cold.

If the team were good (and they were) the crowd was flipping amazing,37500 SWFC fans absolutely packing the beautiful Hillsborough,that is how she is meant to look. Relegated Wycombe brought just under 500 very loyal ( big respect to them and good luck) fans, around them were the only spare seats. 

Danny Batth Being Worshipped

If you want a laugh and who doesn't,you have to watch the smaller aka shit Sheffield team being mocked by the mighty Exeter http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uRqzHip-nQc&feature=player_embedded . Nicked some pics from all over the place,took some myself but to be honest they're not as good as some on owlstalk and the like.

Finally,you have to watch this now, Hi Ho Sheffield Wednesday as seen by the Wycombe Wanderers fans,I've seen it about 10 times today and it never,ever gets old and I cant see that it ever will.

WOW! Notice the spare seats-that's the Wycombe fans

This swells my heart with utter pride

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Highs and Lows- Winning the Steel City Derby and Losing OUR Manager

Apologise for not writing about the most amazing day I have experienced as a Wednesday fan. Words seem to abandon me when describing exactly how it felt to be at Hillsborough with 32000 Wednesdayites when we beat the blunts. I have a full post ready to go and was finishing it last night when I received a text that made me delete it. It was an innocent,questioning one from a friend asking why Swfc had sacked Megson.Initially I thought it was a cruel joke but I knew that wasn't something she would do. Then I felt like someone had punched me in the stomach. Obviously I rushed to owlstalk (which was in total meltdown) and put on the radio (through blades player as it was blocked online as they were playing-I feel dirty!). What can I say that hasn't been said by so many Wednesday fans? Obviously Megson and Milan fell out and I truly believe that Milan wanted us to lose on Sunday so he could sack Megson easily. I don't think Milan had any idea how much Wednesday fans absolutely adore Megson,he's OUR manager,he's one of US. I believed he would be with us for many,many years to come. The thought of someone else standing in his box on the sideline makes me want to cry. I know this awful feeling of anger,betrayl and a member of your family being sacked will go and of course I will always follow Wednesday. This just makes it hard right now.

That's Our Megson

Goal Celebration

Winning-This Says It All

On Sunday we were sat in the south stand (only decent tickets) and being close to Megson we could hear him (well pretty much the whole ground can,but we could really hear him) and see him mess around with the blunt fans.I have never felt so proud as when I saw him lift up his shirt,kiss the badge and point to his blue under top. We saw the tail end of his goal celebrations (after we stopped jumping all over the nearest people and singing) and saw him go and shake the hand of every blunt player before celebrating with all our players,now that is good sportsmanship. We saw how he didn't want to leave the pitch,how no Wednesday fan wanted to leave the stadium (I was ready to stay for days :) ). Now I think back over the most perfect of days,the most amazing feelings towards our team and our manager I cant understand and cant help feeling I'll have to wait a long to to feel like that again. If (now this seems an even bigger IF) we get promoted,it will be Megson's promotion not the new managers. Yes we will take to whoever it is (once we finish grieving) and they will become one of us if they do well but they wont REALLY be one of us. You see,Wednesday chooses you. You cant choose it,you can be picked by Milan to be a true Owl, you either have it (Megson)  or you don't (Irvine).
  I believe that one day Megson will be our manager again,after Milan sells us, when the time is right. He is so adored by the fans,he adores the club and I have never seen any manager show such passion. Until then someone has to keep his seat warm,so who will it be. I believe whoever it is already has the job,I believe this was done before the derby and this is disgraceful but we will have to leave Megson to sort that out. Who is it then? It seems the top contenders are Dave Jones,Mick McCarthy,Paul Ince or Lee Clark. I would automatically scrap Ince and Clark as they were sacked by teams below us in our division and because I took a dislike to Clark when I saw him at Hillsborough, As for Jones and McCarthy, I think the only one out of those two that would be a slight step forward would be McCarthy. Yes he's a dingle but we have to look past that and see he has a good record,he's feisty (please no boring managers- Jones!) and is available. He would also fit in with our playing style and players we have available, no point hiring a manager who only plays attractive football when we have a large,strong team. I do wonder of McCarthy will come down two leagues for us. I have to admit I've followed McCarthy at Wolves for a while and have a fondness for him,not really sure why, I guess I admired him keeping Wolves up last season and saw passion in him when we had a boring awful manager called Irvine.

 Goodbye for now Megson,we hope to see you back here soon. As for the new manager,he'll be welcomed and we will support him,we just need to get over the shock.