A Bit Of Pre-Season Optimism?

The new season is moving ever closer, and there seems to be that little bit of pre-season optimism in the air around Hillsborough.

Optimism and the start of another season back in League One shouldn't really go together - and I never really thought it would following that dark day at S6 when Palace sent us down in May.

But a few new signings later, and people seem to be looking forward to the new season - and there's no reason why they shouldn't.

I'm not sure if it's just Wednesday, or if this is the case at every football club up and down the country (it probaly is), but no matter what's gone before, there's always that optimism before the start of a new season.

'We're going up this year!', 'I've got a good feeling about this season', 'This is our year!'.

Of course, after such a long break from the beautiful game (as far as Wednesday are concerned anyway), we're all looking forward to getting back on to the terraces to follow our club.

But people are expecting big things of Wednesday in 2010-11.

Promotion back to the Championship has always been the aim following relegation, even before the signings started coming in.

But Alan Irvine's player recruitment has got Wednesdayites sensing a successful season back in the third tier.

Chris Sedgwick, Jon Otsemobor, Paul Heffernan, Daniel Jones, Giles Coke, Gary Teale and Neil Mellor have so-far strengthened the Owls squad over the summer.

Irvine has also gone on record to say that the players coming in would do a good job in the Championship, let alone in League One.

Wednesdayites tend to agree, with some of the signings at least.

And it's given us a sense that we shouldn't even be contemplating the play-offs next season, and that an automatic promotion spot should definitely be within our reach.

There's a fine line between being optimistic and being over-confident though - League One will be no walk in the park.

Just ask Nottingham Forest and, more recently, Leeds United.

But on the other side of the coin there's also Leicester City, Norwich City and Scunthorpe United, teams who've all bounced back to the Championship at the first attempt.

I didn't think I'd be looking forward to the new season, but, alas, I can't wait for the first game of the season now, and to see the new recruits in action in some pre-season friendly matches.

The pre-season optimism is here, and I'm loving it.

UP THE OWLS!

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