It’s that time of year again – the telly is blaring out
pictures of beaming fans cheering (rather than miserable away trips), Jeff
Stelling is receiving his final waterproof coating, and fans of clubs in the ‘FL72’
as we’re now called - like a flu virus, are preparing for joy, despair and the narked
indifference of predictable home 1-0 defeats.
Yet for Wednesdayites the clichés of wanton optimism and
dramatic anticipation just don’t fit. Kids won’t proudly be marching through
Hillsborough Park with the name of that new striker we needed stamped across
their back for one simple reason – there isn’t one (yet). Until recently there
wasn’t even an away kit.
For the source of frustration one only has to look at the
front of our shirts, which bear the legend ‘Azerbaijan Land of Fire’. In May it
adorned the shirt of the Champions League finalists Atletico Madrid, and in
June it seemed that the man behind that move, Hafiz Mammadov was set to
take-over at Hillsborough.
No one expected Wednesday to rise to the heights of Atletico or even gain promotion like his other club Lens - at least immediately,
yet in June and early July expectations were understandably raised towards the
top half of The Championship. It may be a sign of the moral cowardice of the
modern football fan that our hopes and dreams are now placed in the hands of a
billionaire from a country which isn’t high up in Amnesty International’s
places to visit. Yet to understand why the collective psyche of a venerable
club like Wednesday is so fragile is to understand the bonkers economics of The
Championship.
Azerbaijan - Land of Liars?
In 2012-13 (the most recent figures available) Wednesday had
the 21st highest wage bill in the Championship yet still made aloss. We were one of the few clubs to even approach the 70% wages to turnover
ratio that indicates a financially healthy club. Despite having one of the
largest attendances and fanbases in the division that relatively sensible (but
still loss making) financial management was only achieved through behaving like
minnows compared to rivals. The reason
for this insanity is simple – the riches of the Premier League and their
parachute payments.
This year’s new boys from above will get £60m over four
years, or Wednesday’s entire turnover each year on top of their own. Other
clubs with spendthrift owners will invest to keep up and gain a share of those
riches – the hope was that this year that at least we’d move up a level to at
least join the league’s spending also-rans rather than its coupon cutters.
Crystal Palace, who surprised the league by making a run for
the play-offs that season (2012-13) should in theory be the model – yet their wages to
turnover ratio of 150% tells a different story to the plucky media fairytale. To
do anything more than survive you need huge financial backing to even compete
on a severely tilted playing field.
It puts a club like Wednesday in an impossible position that
sucks away all optimism. Despite a huge stadium and large fan base the club has
essentially been left in a vicious circle of decline by complying with the
football authorities latest ‘solution’ to the game’s gaping inequalities. The
situation is only getting worse – recently relegated Fulham spent a sum close
to our yearly wage bill (£11m) on Ross McCormack.
So those hoping for a share of Azeri oil profits aren’t
those desiring us to become the latest Premier League Petro-power, but those
who want the very future of the club safeguarded. The alternative is bleak
indeed – promising players poached not by the Premier League but by divisional
rivals with inflated pockets. Struggling Season after struggling season before succumbing to the
inevitable and returning to being subjected to features from The Football
League Show’s Clem about ‘sleeping giants’ in League 1.
Since mid-summer’s optimism though Mammadov’s takeover has
descended into a stolid farce – his other club, Ligue 1’s Lens are facing a
transfer ban. Fans were told all that was between us and an end to 15 years of
pain was only a signature and the likely acquiescence of the Football League (surely
forthcoming after Massimo Cellino bought Leeds) away. Two months later ‘business
difficulties’ have delayed the takeover to the point where few expect or even
want it to happen. Another announcement today (August 8th) designed to reassure said
virtually nothing new.
Ready to shine? Sam Hutchinson
With new ‘signings’ largely restricted to tying down last
season’s players (be they loanees or lacking a contract) and competition for
Chris Kirkland, Wednesday have been left in the worst of all possible worlds –
waiting to go after major targets but unable or unwilling to sign the journeymen
who might at least give the squad a sense of depth and momentum. Tom Lees, the
notable exception, has strengthened an already solid and relatively deep defensive
group that includes Glen Loovens, Lewis Buxton, Joe Mattock and fellow signing
Sam Hutchinson who also strengthens a decent central midfield.
The last straw for some was the recent sale of Michail
Antonio to Nottingham Forest for roughly £1.5-£1.8m. After watching Leeds
receive £11m for the 28-year-old McCormack, and those with no need to sell demanding
vast fees for their key starters, the sale of perhaps our most talented
prospect for far less was a stark reminder that the game is rigged, but we have
to play. Typical Wednesdayite black humour suggested we pack it in and go back
to our original sporting endeavour – cricket.
Time to hit the pavillion?
Despite all this though, on the field there are some grounds
for optimism. What matters about that Antonio fee is how it is reinvested –
despite his undoubted talents the winger wasn’t key to our minor successes last
season. Instead Stuart Gray’s appointment as caretaker manager saw a listless
team resurrected in his image – likeable, understated, hard-working and playing
decent if unspectacular football. Keiran Lee, Chris Maguire and Liam Palmer emerged
as senior players in a team that went unbeaten from Boxing Day until February
and had crazier fans dreaming of the play-offs. Lee in particular showed welcome class in central-midfield that was the basis of some of our best footballing performances in years. Former loanee Hutchinson’s
arrival could prove a bargain should he shake off fitness worries and show the
ability that convinced Chelsea to persevere with him despite terrible injury
problems.
Those who watched Wednesday last season will be aware though
that the turnaround was also instigated by one Connor Wickham. The winless run
that got Dave Jones sacked saw us draw more than a cowboy with Tourette’s – his
goals turned honourable failures into wins. Leon Best also played the role in
more muted fashion after Wickham had returned to do little at Leeds and save Sunderland. Our runs of
good form and the odd performance to treasure ensured another last day escape wasn’t required, however a
disappointing finish should mean that even the optimists are aware that it
wouldn’t take a lot for things to go badly wrong.
Keiran Lee - essential to Wednesday hopes
Which brings us back to the Antonio money – if reinvested in
quality to partner improving loveable lummox Atdhe Nuhiu, decent loan signings and
a penetrative replacement for Antonio then it could turn us into a side who can
relax into mid-table mediocrity and enjoy a favourable battle with Leeds and
Rotherham for Yorkshire supremacy. What’s worrying is that battle may currently
being fought in the mind of a young Scottish rock fanatic called Stevie May –
both Wednesday and Rotherham have had bids accepted for the 21-year-old who
took the SPL by storm last year with 27 goals in all competitions. If our
prospective new cult hero decides to head to New York then the naysayers of the
Kop may start knocking in their willow once more. If May chooses Rotherham, then the money must still be spent and spent well.
Without those two or three extra players who can turn decent half hours into 2-0 leads, or nick goals against those with more feted players - with only Nuhiu and Gary Madine (an unknown quantity after a spell in prison) as out-and-out senior strikers it could be a very long season for Wednesday, although perhaps not Stuart Gray.
So what are our hopes for the new season? After a pre-season
that has resembled a production of Waiting For Godot curated by Sacha Baron
Cohen it’s now the safety of mid-table and the permanent signing of a few good
young players who’ll permit us to perform the pantomime again next year – this time
with a more salubrious cast and slightly increased hopes. The fear is that if a squad that looks decidedly threadbare going forward doesn't get the breaks with injuries and nicking wins, last season's winless autumn could almost repeat itself - but without Wickham to shake us out of our malaise.
Stevie May - Kop and goal Star?
Yet one can’t help but feel sorry for Chairman Milan Mandaric
despite the fact that he could’ve obviously handled the takeover and transfer business
better. That’s because unlike just over a decade ago, when we were bumping
along the bottom of the then First Division and praying for a takeover it’s not
rottenness within the club that’s the ultimate cause of a sense of gloom around
Hillsborough. Instead it’s rottenness within football itself - and although it's nigh on impossible to beat 'em, joining them too has tried the patience this summer.
Prediction: A 16th place finish with some woeful,
some brilliant performances, relying on the latter to drag us away from the
inevitable dross at the bottom. Hafiz Mammadov to be revealed as Neil Warnock
in a fake moustache, and the Azeri tourist industry to see a drop-off in
bookings from South Yorkshire.
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