Sheffield Wednesday News 24/7Writer: Nick 
Date:Monday July 9 2007
Time: 9:00AM
UK time is: 13:31:11
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Mixed Pre-Season Feelings
If ever there was a time for blind optimism it was the football pre-season, but it seems this summer brings a mixed bag of emotions from Wednesday fans.
Owls boss Brian Laws guided his men to a stunning end-of-season run of just one defeat in 13 games last term, and the news that a takeover of the club could be completed before the start of this season meant Owls fans were all set foran action packed close season.
But the lack of activity on both the takeover and transfer front has left some fans underwhelmed, and a very mixed bag of emotions are coming from Vital Sheffield Wednesday users, shown by last week's weekly poll.
We asked you how you felt about the club at the present time, with all five options ranging from very positive to very negative grabbing a fair share of your votes.
28 per cent of users felt very positive of the new season ahead, with 21 per cent also feeling in positive mood this close season, while 15 per cent felt pretty average as far as pre-seasons go...
But the lack of transfer activity and takeover talk led to 23 per cent of Vital users feeling negative about the club at the moment with 13 per cent feeling very negative - quite a story considering the end of season success last term.
And the majority of the talk on the Vital Sheffield Wednesday forums was regarding the negative aspects coming from S6 this close season.
Forum member NicNac said: 'Negative, but I wasn't sure whether to go for Average or not...
'Letting Macca leave, no signings (ok, Grant and Hinds, but they don't exactly fill me with confidence) and no sign of this so called investment that will happen before the beginning of the season. I know there's another month to go, and usually no news is good news, but I'm just finding it far too frustrating!'
And OrtonOwl said: 'Gutted at the lack of signings. Really needed to keep the club on the upwards spiral after a good end to the season. Looks like that could all go sour very quickly. We are supposed to be showing our key players that we have ambition but that does not seem to be happening and some of these players could leave.'
So it's a mixed reaction from Vital users on the state of the club at the moment. Let's hope for a bit more action on the transfer and takeover fronts in the coming weeks, but we shouldn't hold our breath...
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Your Comments
As I have mentioned on here a few times, why are we not signing someone who makes a statement to all the fans and the other teams that we mean business ?
Juninhio has had talks with Hull City, who cares how much he wants paying, 5000 extra on the gate at a minimum of £20 a ticket is over £100,000 every single game. Why are we not challenging Cardiff for Robbie Fowler ? What is their average gate ? I want to pick up the paper and see a big name in a Blue and white shirt with Brian Laws and the Chairman saying "Now we mean Business".
Having a good run last season means nothing if you don't try and build on it. Where was the £2.5 million of Bougherra's money when Freddie Eastwood was going cheap at £1.5 million ? No big name will want to come to a club that is deflated with no ambition. Did we even think about talking to Nicky Weaver ? Lets be honnest, we all know where he wants to play, so why sign 2 unknown second rate keepers, when Nicky "Sheff Wed" weaver was there for free ? I have been accused of being negative on here, and that is so far from the truth. I have so much desire and passion for this club, I want to build on last season, and see us challenge for a top spot.
haxeyowl
The money is in the bank :) Would you rather we were linked to players like Juninho and then pull out, like Hull appear to have done?
Auckland Owl
Plus... we can't afford Fowler's wages.
Auckland Owl
I agree with some of what haxeowl is saying, the bit about the club needs to show the fans and the key players that it as some ambition or the decent ambitious players will not want to come to this club and those here that want to play in the Premiership will start to leave. Dave Allen and Brien Laws must understand that actions speaks loader than words.
Nightowl
what is the big deal with been linked with signing big names! we're hardly Chelsea! were the likes of brunt, carson, bougherra and so on big names when we signed them?? and look how well they did! agter signings like watson, turner and johnson last season im sure brian knows what he's doing!!
FUTURES BLUE N WHITE
I trust Laws to get best out of players, but just want the club to show a statement of ambition. As I started earlier Aukland Owl, extra 5000 on the gate at between £20 & £30 a Ticket is between £100,000 & £150,000 a game, so that would pay Fowlers wages.
Hull may have pulled out, it may have even been a pubicity stunt, but their fans are thinking WOW, we really are looking to try and pull something big off, rather than pick up a few freebies from the lower leagues.
I know we are not Chelsea, but in 1993 Chelsea fans were wishing they were sheffield Wednesday. Don't forget, we have been a top half Premiership team, and I for one want us to be back there.
Bougherra was a big loss, and Laws said he was not going to spend the £2.5million then, but keep it for summer, but so far we have been picking up Freebies, are we going to pull off one big signing, or has the money been used to fund the super duper high tech plastic pitch at the training ground instead ?
haxeyowl
i get the impression u cry bout this every night dont ya!! think u need to find samoethin else to occupy ur mind!!!
FUTURES BLUE N WHITE
Maybe I care about the team more than you ?
I don't cry about this every night, I am just sick of the lack of ambition of the club.
Maybe the reason we are like this is that most of the supporters are like you, and accept any rubbish that we get served up on a Saturday ?
haxeyowl
have you been reading what people have wrote back to some of your comments cus i have!! and yet you still believe that your ramblings are justified!! u keep bangin on about lack of ambition and the fact that we are only after freebies! however u r obviously forgetting the fact that we got permission to talk to billy sharp!! which must surely mean that we offered £2m+! but i guess u left that bit out as it would destroy your entire argument!!
FUTURES BLUE N WHITE
Wow, we got permission to talk to a S ****horpe United striker! How ambitious of the board to dare to tease us with the prospect of such a mammoth signing!
onedeaddj
If a movie theatre plays only crap films that no one wants to see, they aren't going to sell many tickets. Wednesday can't even clean up some rainwater after two weeks meaning no one has been able to renew their season ticket since June. With the lack of interesting new signings on show, I suspect many won't bother.
onedeaddj
£2m would have been pretty mammoth for us yes!! but he chose his boyhood club which any player would have done!!!
FUTURES BLUE N WHITE
I doesn't matter which way you look at this, SWFC are not showing one ounce of ambition. We cannot afford NOT to afford wages for the likes of Fowler, if he can provide the meal ticket of the "promised land" that we all want. We have to get in players that have proven track records, otherwise we can forget the play-offs. And if anyone wants to argue with me then go ahead, but I will make you look stupid come the end of the season.
Smurf
And another thing - to think Wednesday didn't have a backup system for their online ticket ordering feature smacks of a club run by complete and total amateurs. We have two backups for our subscription website and we are not a national franchise with an annual turnover of 10 million quid.
onedeaddj
I was not wanting an argument FUTURES, We did not bid £2m for Billy Sharp, I understand why he went to his club he supports, but is Feddie Eastwood a Wolves Fan ?, or was he conviced by Wolves that they were going places ? I think we have some great players here already, but I cannot see a team that is capable of gate crashing the Premiership party. We are now doing what we always do, waiting and waiting for the cheap option that is left, probably the night before the season starts, so he will not do any pre season training with us. We have done this almost every season, so why change now ?
haxeyowl
Thankyou for your message Smurf, I was begining to think I was only one who wanted us to pull our fingers out and show the rest of the division we kean business.
I don't want us to just blow the Bougherra money, Billy Sharp at £2m would have been a risk, but Freddie Eastwood at £1.5 not such a risk. I still would like to see Kenwynne Jones on the End of Brunty's crosses every week, Kenwynne has already proved himself here, so it would not be a risk, and he would excite the fans into buying tickets, but I still would like to take Fowler as an investment, and use him to generate money so we could pay his wages, and see if he can fire us into the Premiership. He might not get a game at Cardiff when you considder the competition at Cardiff, and the way everyone on here bangs on about Steve Maclean as if he was the best striker in the world.
haxeyowl
Another quote? Many more and I'll have had my 5 minutes!
Macca may not have been the best striker in the world haxey, but he was certainly the best we had at the club...
NicNac
I am not arguing with that NicNac, but I now want to see us step it up a gear, Maccas lack of pace and the fact he struggled to be fit for a full season was his downfall, I only hope we have not got rid of him for us to not buy a replacement. I would rather he be here, than us start the season light up front, but with the money in the bank, we need to be saying "Macca has gone, how can we better him", and to me that is by signing someone like Eastwood or Fowler
haxeyowl
Wednesday have sold the only natural finisher they had - a guy with a goal every other game record - and have signed a S ****horpe United utility player and two reserve goalkeepers. I haven't been able to renew my season ticket since they are too incompetent to run an ordering system if it rains a bit. Suffice to say I am having second thoughts on laying out £300 to watch Richard Hinds and Rob Burch.
onedeaddj
Well all I can say is if the board had the passion some of you guys have we would be going places. We can only hope that this big signing comes but unfortunatly I just can't see it happening. Only time will tell and with any luck Laws will prove us all wrong and show you don't need to spend money to make things happen. Fingers crossed eh!
Owlsmad
As the saying go`s you pay peanuts, you get monkeys!
Nightowl
If that's how you feel onedeaddj I'm surprised you still follow the owls and call yourself a fan, because you probably should've deserted the ship when we were down in League One... :O
P.S. Please don't make light of what was actually a disaster. People lost their lives, their homes and all their posessions. I fail to see how that can be classed as 'it rained a bit'.
NicNac
well said nicnac!!! onedeaddj we dont want fans like you! the ticket office has been closed from 25th june, i got my renewal in my hand in May so its not as if u didnt have the chance!! haxeyowl is too negative n that got to me a bit but u are just a to***r and i wouldn't be suprised if u were one of the people who sit near me and just moan for 90 mins!!! and macca was our third choice striker who has no pace or strength and he is a selfish player! burton and tudgay play well together, scored as many as macca each and had a hand in a lot they didnt score so dont see the problem!! it wont be hard to replace maclean!!! so lets stop moaning and get to halifax on saturday with me n the boys n show some support!!! and ya can have a pint whilst u do it!!
FUTURES BLUE N WHITE
It is so fecking infuriating when people come out with retarded comments like that. A true supporter of the club wouldnt come on here and make comments like that.
Skeggy Owl
Last time I checked, no one lost their lives in Hillsborough. Granted, the pitch is a different story, but to consider they can't get 3 employees and a small office set up two weeks after is ridiculous.
THE FACTS
Deon Burton - Played 52, Goals 17
Marcus Tudgay - Played 53, Goals 16
Steve McClean - Played 66, Goals 35
Conclusion: Yes folks, we just sold our best striker, the first guy to score 20 in a season since Bright and the guy who got us out of League 1 - for nothing!
Deal with it.
onedeaddj
20 of those goals in league 1 where he was a auperstar! but championship he just doesn't contribute enough! as ive said before, burton and tudgay got goals and assists last season! maclean is no big loss and will be very easy to replace!!!
FUTURES BLUE N WHITE
If you think Burton and Tudgay are good enough to score enough goals to get us into the Premiership then you're very sorely mistaken. Wolves got Eastwood at a snip for 1.5 mil and we weren't even mentioned in the same breath. We couldn't afford to pay Sharp enough to prevent him going back to the pigs and we're nowhere near Fowler, whereas the "mighty" Cardiff City could snatch him having already poached our top goalscorer. This is not the behaviour of a club attempting to gain promotion and anyone who pretends otherwise is naive.
onedeaddj
I seem to have upset a few people. Why is wanting us to have quality players and wanting to win every game negative ? Utter *********. The problem is that too many at Hillsborough accept mediocre as the norm. I have mentioned it before, and have been shot down for it, but there are too many old fashioned Socialists in Sheffield, and if we did sign Fowler, and he got 30 goals, and got us in the Premiership half of the fans would moan he was earning too much. This is the 21st century, and money talks, nowhere more than football, having the Bougherra money in the bank is no good, we need to invest in quality now, who cares how much they want paying, it will be worth it in the end.
haxeyowl
Nothing with haveing quality players but we just cant attract them any more it's as simple as that!!!
will it ever happen
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