Cup Run Please, Mr Irvine?

So we start our Carling Cup campaign with a very winnable home tie against Bury, could this be a good year for Wednesday in cup competitions?

Year after year we have a wave of excitement whenever a cup draw is made - whether it be the Carling Cup or FA Cup.

Of course, we also have that major competition that is the Jonhstone's Paint Trophy (no disrespect intended) to contend with this season, too.

I wouldn't say I was having sleepless nights ahead of this morning's League Cup draw, far from it in fact - I only realised the draw for the competition was so soon about 24 hours before.

But I couldn't help refreshing my screen every few minutes around the 9.30am mark in anticipation of our first fixture announcement of the 2010-11 season.

Despite the fact that we were seeded and could only play unseeded teams in the northern section, narrowing down the opponents somewhat, I was still semi-excited at the prospect of the draw.

Bury, then, and a great chance for us to progress to the second round at least, and also, hopefully, get some much-needed winning momentum at the start of the new season.

It also made me desperately want a good cup run this season, whether that be in the League Cup or FA Cup.

Success in the JP Trophy, for me, will only be if we get a good day out at Wembley for the final.

When was the last time we had a decent cup run?

It seems whenever we do get a good draw - and by good, I mean someone with some quality from the Premier league - it's always against a team who aren't what you'd class as a 'pull' - no disrespect to recent(ish) cup opposition Fulham.

It means that it's not as exciting as your Liverpool, Manchester United, Arsenal, Chelsea, Manchester City etc, but there's still a very, very good chance that we could get beat.

You know what I mean...

We've never had Alan Irvine in charge of us in a cup competition - could he be the man to lead us on a good cup run in 2010-11?

First thing's first, promotion back to the Championship is of course the main priority.

First round exits in every cup competition this season will be fine as long as we axchieve our ultimate aim of promotion.

But wouldn't it be nice to have an extended run in a cup competition, maybe get some television exposure, see some quality Premier League players in action at S6, and have the chance to travel to grounds such as Old Trafford, the Emirates Stadium, Anfield, Stamford Bridge etc.

Even more so given our demise to the third tier of English football again.

But also from the club's point of view, some much-needed revenue which comes from good cup runs wouldn't go amiss, especially in the current climate.

We achieved the semi-final of this competition when we were in the Championship not so long ago, so why not try our hand again this time around?

And I'm sure we all still remember Wembley in '91.

We may not be too excited at the prospect of facing Bury at S6 in August, but hopefully that game will be the start of a good cup run for the Owls next season.

Here's hoping, anyway...

UP THE OWLS.

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