"Gross incompetence" - Sheffield Wednesday "fear" raised as Owls face academy graduates plan of action | OneFootball

FLW's Sheffield Wednesday Fan Pundit discusses the possibility of the Owls needing to rely on academy graduates.

This article is part of Football League World's 'Terrace Talk' series, which provides personal opinions from our FLW Fan Pundits regarding the latest breaking news, teams, players, managers, potential signings and more...

News around Sheffield Wednesday continues to be dominated by issues away from the pitch, whether it be takeover talks, calls for Dejphon Chansiri to sell up, or the late payment of players and staff.

Now, it appears there could be a mass exodus of first-team players due to the well-publicised situations of late wages and soon-to-expire contracts. The latest missed payment has opened up the potential for a walk-out of players, the Sheffield Star has reported.

That could force the Owls, who are also set to need a new head coach with Danny Rohl heading towards the exit door, needing to follow what Bolton Wanderers did during their troubled time and rely on young players in place of senior professionals.

“Will be counterproductive…” - Sheffield Wednesday claim on potential of academy players covering for exits

We asked our Sheffield Wednesday fan pundit Patrick McKenna if he thought the young academy graduates would be up to the heavy task of filling the boots belonging to the potentially departing pros.

He said: “I think Sheffield Wednesday are going to be introducing academy graduates into the team to see what they can do. If they are ready to step up, it has to be done in the correct circumstances.

“To throw in a host of academy graduates to make up spaces in a squad that has been decimated because of the gross incompetence of Chansiri, I do fear the outcome.”

Patrick continued: “This is in no way doubting the ability of these young players to step up, I think players like [Gabriel] Otegbayo and [Bailey] Cadamarteri have got some team experience. And, have shown that they will be good enough for first team football.

“But, not playing every game as key starters. For these sorts of players, you need to be bringing them on initially as sub appearances, just to get them into it.

“What is crucial as well is you need to have senior players to put their arm around them, to guide them, to give them that bit of reassurance.”

Players such as Josh Windass could soon be exiting the Owls, with rumours growing by the day.

“And, if we do have quite a lot of senior players maybe leaving, then that’s not going to help them,” Patrick said. “If the younger players are taking over the positions that the senior players should be in, if they suffer a heavy defeat that is just going to wreck their confidence and stall their development. So, what good is it chucking in an academy graduate and throwing them to the lions?”

“The potential situations they will be thrown into will be counterproductive and I fear it can do damage to them,” he added.

Troubled waters show no signs of dissipating at Hillsborough

The troubles at Wednesday show no signs of slowing down, with a new crisis seemingly every day.

The Owls’ owner Chansiri is looking to sell the club, but has rejected offers put to him over recent weeks, while the crisis of unpaid wages and a black hole in finances that needs to be filled only deepening as time goes on.

If the situation rumbles on much further, then the first-team may be forced to rely on young academy talents instead of the senior, experienced hands that could be on their way out of Hillsborough during the crisis.