Massive Step Backwards as Relegation Confirmed

It's been a while since I added to this blog. Infact it was at the start of the season when I last posted, looking at the huge task ahead for the club as they looked to overturn a huge points deficit, whilst moulding together a new squad after big names had departed during last summer.

Quite frankly if I had tried to keep up to date with everything going on throughout the season since then with a blog, I'd have had to have been paid.

Managerial changes galore, "successful" appeals off the pitch, abysmal, limp performances on it, Covid outbreaks, wage issues... It's been a season where the club have just limped from one disaster to the next.

As much as I wasn't a fan of Garry Monk, I decided a clean slate was best going into this season, after all he had spent the previous season attempting to make do with a squad of players that weren't his own (although I still laid a lot of the blame for the capitulation during the second half of that season at his feet).

Come the end of October, Wednesday were still stuck firmly in the relegation zone and were on a four game losing run, the last three games of that run coming against teams around them in Luton, Rotherham and Wycombe. All Wednesday had to show for those three games was zero goals, zero points, two red cards and eight shots on target. By this time I'd given up on Monk once again... Nothing seemed to have changed, the squad was lacking in certain areas (mainly attack), games seemed to be passing them by and the player's looked resigned to relegation.

Despite two clean sheets and four points to kick off November, Monk was relieved of his duties as Chansiri caved in to fan pressure somewhat.

In between Monk's last two games, it had been revealed that lawyers appointed by Chansiri to represent the club in their legal challenge against the EFL for their points deduction was somewhat successful as it was reduced by half meaning Wednesday only had a six point deficit to make up. I'd been confident before the start of the season that the squad was capable of staying up with a twelve point deduction (blind loyalty/naivety playing it's part in hindsight), so with that halved, surely safety was more than a possibility.

With the background noise from legal disputes now slightly quieter, Wednesday needed to plan for the immediate future and making Championship survival this season a priority. Chansiri turned to Tony Pulis. I wasn't overly excited by the appointment personally but could see the logic in terms of wanting to just get through the season and survive. Pundits and fans alike came out saying how safety was a near forgone conclusion given Pulis' reputation and experience. The one thing people did say was that this was an interesting appointment given the fact Pulis stated he wouldn't beat around the bush when it came to telling Chansiri what was needed to take the club forward both on and off the field...

What followed on the field at least during Pulis' short tenure was nothing short of dire.

The football was negative (as you'd expect from a defensive aspect), with Wednesday without a win in Pulis' first eight games. During those eight games, Wednesday took the lead in four (managing to hold out for just two points), scored just four goals and continued to be hampered by poor discipline and red cards.

After managing to get his first win at the ninth attempt Pulis maybe thought the squad would use that as a kickboard, however just like the fate of his predecessor, Pulis was sacked despite taking four points from his final two games.

Whilst rumours are part and parcel of football and things are generally kept behind closed doors due to personal preference or legal reasons, it was widely believed there had been words said between Pulis and Chansiri that contributed to his eventual departure.

The run the club were on and the approach to games made the decision on the face of it not too surprising, but with everything taken into consideration, fans were divided as the club from the outside were starting to look like a laughing stock. What owner brings in an experienced manager who would have been on decent wages and sacks them after TEN games?!

Neil Thompson was promoted from the Under 23's to oversee first team duties whilst a successor was found and whilst Chansiri maybe thought he would have to make a rather quick decision to save a desperate situation, the turnaround in immediate form under Thompson brought about some much needed time to really look at options going forward.

Three wins in all competitions and five league wins from his first seven games showed there was more to the team from an attacking aspect than had been previously shown and somewhat seemingly justified Chansiri's decision to get rid of Pulis .

Early on in that run the club was hit with a Covid outbreak that saw a host of the first team squad initially miss the FA Cup win at Exeter before the training ground was shut down and no game played by a large majority of the squad for three weeks.

Having come through that and initially discovered some form under Thompson (who was now well over a month into his caretaker stint), Wednesday hit another dire run of form that saw them lose their next seven league games and go without a win in eight.

Clarity was needed for the players and more importantly the fans as frustration was growing towards the chairman over his running of the club.

Darren Moore was brought in after the club agreed a compensation package with Doncaster where Moore was doing a sterling job, hence their reluctance to let him leave.

Moore came in, in the midst of the losing run in question, seeing his side limp through his first game against Yorkshire rivals and relegation rivals Rotherham and seemingly snatching a draw against ten men before losing in the seventh minute of stoppage time. That showed the fragility and weak mentality of the squad just as much as the previous game when they chucked away a two goal half time lead at Luton to lose 3-2 in the last five minutes. By this point I'd started to give up on survival. I convinced myself the squad didn't have it in them to show the bottle required when the going got tough.

What has followed since under Moore has been encouraging at times. There has been more of a clear identity as to how he wants his team to play and more consistency in performances and team selections but unfortunately, the consistency hasn't reflected in results.

The team put in arguably the Championship performance of the season against Cardiff City, winning dominantly and commandingly 5-0, with as good a performance throughout the team in every aspect as I've seen a Wednesday team do in as long as I can remember... The next game they looked all over the place defensively as they lost 1-4 at QPR.

At the same time Moore's reign hasn't been without it's difficulties, not just on the field but off it as well. He came down with Covid during the crucial run in and was forced to recover away from the club and even when he was given the all clear to return first time around, he had a bad reaction and suffered pneumonia due to the side effects of Covid.

All in all, I'm personally relieved the season is over. A large portion of the fans and media will put the blame of relegation firmly at the door of the chairman (especially given the six points deducted would have kept us up on the face of it) and whilst I agree his running of the club has been at times shambolic, chaotic, divisive and naive, he's not the only one to blame here.

Players don't like been accused of not giving their all game in game out and often point to bad luck here and there and whilst I agree bad luck plays it's part here and there over the course of a season, it doesn't for the majority (and by majority I mean near enough all of the season).

The players simply haven't turned up. They've approached most games with a weak, defeatist attitude that has seen them finish the season with stats such as winning just ONE point from a possible SEVENTY TWO (24 games) after going behind, dropping TWENTY NINE points from a winning position, averaging less than a goal per game over the season.

Chansiri has released a statement at the time of writing this in which he states amongst other things that he's fully committed to turning this around and that Darren Moore will 100% be the manager who takes us into next season.

I'm pleased with the latter as I think Moore is an exciting young manager who can put a young, exciting squad together and put foundations in place to take the club forward on the playing side from the youth set up all the way to the first team.

As for Chansiri, he has a LOT of work to do to turn his relationship with the fans around. He can only do so much in terms of on the field with the squad but the chaos behind the scenes with advisors, finances and decisions at board room level are what has cost the club in recent years and what's driven a wedge between himself and the fans and if recent weeks and events have taught us anything when it comes to owners of clubs and fans of clubs, it's that the fans have a bigger say than maybe the owners seemed to previously think.

For now we wait for news in the near future of who will remain at the club and who will have abandoned ship and left behind a club in despair and the part they played in putting it there...