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.

The First of the Two Derbys

Apologies for not getting this up yesterday but I've been ill. I thought I couldn't feel any worse but apparently I could and listening to (couldn't get tickets) SWFC play Chesterfield did exactly that. I dont like people who call Praise or Grumble and talk about a game they haven't been to so I will always warn when i'm talking about a game I have attended (or watched on TV). I did feel however that it was important to make a few points on yesterday. I'm going to start with the positives because to be honest if I spend any more times thinking about the negatives i'll go barmy.

1) We started well, we sounded really up for it (as we should be!) and according to Megson we had the best start to a game since Tranmere. Given that starting badly has been an issue for us I think this is a real positive.

2) JJ started well again and looked good. I have to say I am impressed at his turn around in form and keep believing it can't last. Long may he prove me wrong.

3)  Nice to see Ryan Lowe starting and he seemed to do well.

Now onto the negatives.


1) JJ getting injured, that has to be one of the most frustrating and gutting things to hear. Please be some master plan by Megson to fool the blades

2) John Bostock - Please send him back he is awful. We should have known this as Brenford cancelled his loan early. I know Megson thinks he can get performances out of lazy,couldn't give a shit players and I think with JJ he has but Bostock is something else. I would be very upset to see him play on Sunday (or at all really).

3) We didn't turn up in the second half. I don't know what goes through the players minds when they cant turn up for such an important game.


4) We lost,simple as that really.Maybe it was a soft penalty,maybe we should have had one earlier but we can't change anything and we threw away 3 points.



We maybe do need perspective and I imagine if the blunts weren't involved would we all be feeling so low. It's not unusual to have a wobble and really we have done well this season but I understand we need to get promoted and to have a wobble now is not good but I do believe we can get through it. The way we started on Saturday was a huge positive and made me believe that more than ever that we can get out of this slump. Yes I'm nervous as hell for next Sunday but I'm always nervous as hell for a derby,yes I would have felt better going in on the back on 4 wins not 4 losses but there's fuck all we can do about that now. All we can do as fans is support our team and manager,whether we feel like it or not. Hillsborough is amazing when it's rocking and no matter how cliched this is we really can be the 12th man. 

I'm off to play Football Manager, I do love it but have to restrict myself normally as I could lose weeks on it! At one point last year I was so addicted I burnt my other halves Birthday dinner as I was so lost in the game and didn't want to stop.

Being a Female Football Fan

Might as well get this post over and done with as it has to be done.  Firstly I shall answer the most important question, do I understand the offside rule? Yes, really it's not complicated.

As I said in my introduction post my family aren't football fans except for watching England play during the world cup and even then it's only if they're doing well (so not often then) however this is actually a lie. You see I'm speaking about my adopted family here, my genetic Mother doesn't just follow football she's a huge Wigan Athletic FC fan. She's a season ticket holder,lives 5 minutes walk from the ground, follows them away a lot,she had her reception at the JJB Stadium and her general football knowledge would put most people to shame. It's for her husband I hear you cry! Nope, he doesn't go,he's interested because his wife talks about her team but it's her team,she's the big fan, not him. She goes with a few female friends, all season ticket holders of many,many seasons, most of whom leave their husbands at home.

When I tell people I'm a Sheffield Wednesday fan they automatically turn to my other half and direct any football questions to him. I have to admit,he has been a fan for much,much longer than me and his knowledge is impressive but mine isnt bad at all. The fact is 99% of those we talk to havent got a clue that i'm a fairly new fan they just assume that as a woman I must follow Wednesday because my other half does. Whilst I started my love for Swfc because of my boyfriends there is no doubt in my mind that I have as much passion for them as he does now,as every fan does. If for any reason we weren't together I know I would still follow Wednesday, still wouldn't miss a match,still would haunt Owlstalk, still would listen to praise or grumble and football heaven.  You see I am now Wednesday through and through,I cried (along with plenty of men) when we got relegated,I mourn over the summer when my beloved team aren't playing and there's no morsel of news, I don't sleep for 48 hours before the big derby (who can?) and I over analyse every word from Gary Megson. I see being a football fan a somewhat of a disease,once you have it you never get over it so you might as well accept it.


I have to say I have had very few problems with other football fans, I thing generally Swfc is a very friendly place and I have been treated as one of the lads. I shout and sing and join in just like everyone else (perhaps louder than others at times but that's me!) There have been the odd occasions when someone has made a comment but I think I scare them by turning around (they're always sitting behind you-cowards) and staring at them, seems to shut them right up. 

I do think there should be more women in football, I think it's a disgrace that there isn't one female football manager in the male league. I don't see why a female manager who is successful with a female team would not be successful with a male team. I understand the relationship would initially be strange and unusual for the players but they're not idiots,they're capable of following instructions and taking directions from a woman just as they do a man.  You see I believe the best person,man or woman, should get a job, that you shouldn't be held back from doing what you want to because of your gender (or sexuality either!).  The same goes for Radio Sheffield (really all football programmes I've heard), I think it's amazing (in a bad way) that not one of their commentators is female. There are many women who are passionate about football and would be brilliant commentators. Initially viewers/listeners would find it unusual but before you know it it would be commonplace.

Welcome and Hi

Hi, I'm Rj and woman and I’m a Sheffield Wednesday fan (for my sins).

  I haven't had the fortune (or curse as it often seems) of growing up as the Sheffield Wednesday fan or as a football fan full stop. My immediate family can't stand football and I grew up in Hong Kong where football isn't popular at all. I came back to the UK the University at age 18 and within four months met this lovely guy who was pretty perfect apart from the fact he was totally and utterly obsessed with this very strange, unknown to me, football club called Sheffield Wednesday. All I knew about them was that when we were together on Saturdays we had to be next to a radio from 3 PM until 5 PM for this game then 5 to 7 p.m. for this radio show called praise or grumble (which I quite liked). Also if they lost he was a grumpy sod.

  Anyway, I missed most of the 2007/2008 season being  that we had just started dating and that I travel back to Hong Kong at regular intervals for fairly long trips (that's being University student for you). Fast forward to January 17, 2009 (after stupidly missing the Sheffield derby for a reason I know must have been important but can't the life of me remember) I went to my first ever football game. If only I had known this would be the starts of the total and utter obsession... would I have still gone..of course!  Sheffield Wednesday were playing Charlton at home, we had seats in the North stands about 12 rows back and on the centreline. As we approached the stadium  the excitement built up inside me and by the time that the first  ball was kicked I was totally and utterly hooked. I can't explain it, I've tried to but I guess it’s like a religious experience.  My family think I'm absolutely mad (apart from my extended paternal family who are Manchester city season-ticket holders). I don't know whether it was being surrounded by almost 29,000 people most of whom were chanting for one team, I don't know whether it was the electric atmosphere that feels Hillsborough before kick-off, I just can't explain it but suddenly it was like someone flicked a switch and I went from hoping for M’s sake that his team would win to them being MY team and it meaning the world to ME what happened.  I guess it helps that we won 4-1, it was a brilliant game. It was decent season too, finishing 12th and doing the double over United.

Sadly the next season didn't go terribly well but let's not talk about that or the manager who took over from the generally brilliant Brian laws.

Flash forward to now and if I could afford to I would go to every game but I can't. We go to roughly one in every three games and I still get the same feeling as we walk up to the beautiful, beautiful stadium that is Hillsborough. I couldn't not listen/or watch when Sheffield Wednesday are playing, it’s just not possible I feel like part of me is missing if I try. Gone are my Saturdays from August to May from 3 PM to 7 PM.  Gone is my good mood if Sheffield Wednesday lose or draw in some cases however when we win I am the nicest sweetest happiest and generally most lovely person in the world. Now the summer feels like a horrible ordeal where my Saturdays are empty and I long for August.

I have to say at the moment I'm a little bit concerned with Wednesday our consistency has been ... well we haven't had any. We seen to believe that we've won a game before it's even begun and seemed to have forgotten that you have to earn the right to win them. Saturday (against Exeter away,lost 2-1) was case in point. I can't tell you how angry I was, how upset, how gutted but that was Saturday. We're kicking off in 10 minutes playing Stevenage at home and I am as nervous as hell I have trust in Gary Megson but I'm not sure I truly trust our players to turn out when it's important I'm not sure what else we can do. Over the last few days I've threaten many, many times to not listen tonight, to totally and utterly ignore it but here I am with 10 minutes to kick off my Wednesday shirt on nervous but no way in hell would I not turn Wednesday player on couldn't do it you see like every other Wednesday fan probably every other book or fan I believe that my team needs me. I'm not going to pick the result because like I said I'm in a fairly pessimistic mood and I never ,ever predicts that the beautiful blue and white wizards lose. I also do hope we can make a comeback tonight, that we can dust ourselves off and put on a true performance, one that will make us proud to be Wednesday fans.