The Pre-Season Predictions Of Sheffield Wednesday Fans

It was in May 2018 that I first posted a collection of pre-season predictions made by Sheffield Wednesday fans. Back then The Blades had just finished a creditable 10th in our first season back in The Championship and it was great to look back in hindsight at just how wrong the Owls fans were about our chances, team and manager.

As I posted the original ‘Pre Season Predictions From Wednesday Fans’, the next installment was already being written. Once again the Wednesday fans were absolutely sure that The Blades would struggle and that the season before had been a flash in the pan. Once again their forecasts were proven wrong by Wilder and the team as United secured automatic promotion to The Premier League.

I wondered after that season whether that would be the final chapter in the ”Pre-Season Predictions From Wednesday Fans’. Surely they would just keep quiet now and be a little more humble. A little more tentative. More measured. Less brash.

Luckily for us, this wasn’t the case……

Once again taken from the popular Sheffield Wednesday forum Owlstalk, here are the Pre-Season Predictions Of Sheffield Wednesday fans for the season 2019/20:

“I’m genuinely interested if he’ll set up to play the same as last year. When you see the pace that Liverpool are playing at tonight they’d get utterly embarrased playing that way. “

“They’ll be losing in games no matter what system they play – they are currently the weakest set of players in the premier league. Any current premier team would take the current pig team to pieces Obviously i expect them to strengthen – but can they strengthen enough to keep them out of relegation trouble? I don’t see it tbh”

“They will get torn a new one. Not because of their system, but the fact that they lack quality players at this level.”

“I really can’t see that they have anyone at all at the moment who can consistently play premier football”

“Wilder has a choice to make… so far he has had his success with british players. But in the prem!? For a start would cost far more than they have, the brit players they have now, plus the ones they can afford will take them down. Plain an simple.. The only chance he has is a bit of a foray into the cheaper foreign market.. now will his managerial skill set work? Wen they first went up i thought they would stay up… but right now i just cant see it.”

“They’ll have a good squad when they come back down but these are not players that are going to keep them up.They are in for a tough season”

“They’re miles off being a competitive premier team imo”

“Could be very conceivable that the pigs are gonna have a worse squad than us and they’re in the Prem!  Hope we get them in the cup. “

“I hope should we ever get back up there, we actually try build a squad to survive and get to mid table rather than one to prepare for a Championship promotion push in later seasons. How much Premiership experience does their squad have? Genuine question. Jagielka, Sharp – anyone else? I’d be pretty concerned”

“Its almost like they are trying to create a average mid table championship squad.   They do realise they went up to the premiership and not from league 1 to the championship??? “

“I wasn’t laughing at his signings in league 1 and 2. I thought they were astute most of the time.  Im laughing now because these players are about to get ripped a new one by some of the best players in the world.”
“I wouldn’t swap their squad for any that Chansiri has assembled since he’s been here.”

“Out of the pigs side I’d put Norwood and Egan in our starting 11”

“Can’t see where the goals are coming from. They’ll go down”

“Is that back 5 good enough for this level? Have my doubts, but time will tell.”

“Not strengthening at the back will cost them.”

“As mentioned before the defence does look low on quality and numbers for the Premier League”

“They did well last season but I’m not sure any of those defenders are Premiership quality.”

“Unless they make major improvements to their defence they’re going to struggle, there is no way they will out score enough premier league teams to survive.  They’ve had some tremendous luck over the past two seasons, you make your own i suppose but they will need a boat load more to stay up.”

“Seriously though.. Their defenc is weak for PL. Egan is the best and he’s not exactly the best defender in the Championship. Seems like they’re also relying on that kid from Man Utd coming back on loan. He’s a decent keeper but very young and raw. That could be their downfall. They’d be better paying a few mil to get a more experienced keeper in.

“They will be relegated before the end of March”

“For me utd will finish bottom, I don’t care what anyone says about don’t speak to soon, it’s just my honest evaluation there defence will get run ragged and they haven’t got the attacking threat of Norwich.  If i was holding a grudge with them being pigs I would say they are only going to get 15 points”

“The only two teams I think will struggle for sure are Utd and villa.  I know villa spent a lot of money but most of it was on players they previously had on loan in the championship and unknown entities, And I don’t think Utd have got the right players to keep them up. I think mcburnie will be a good long term signing but will he keep them up?  Nahhh”

“can’t see anything but a relegation scrap – unless they perform the kind of major surgery on their team that they just don’t do”

“If McSue loses the legal case Wilder will be on his way !! It looks as it could be a interesting season again at bumhole lane. “

“Can see Wilder getting sacked fairly early on though. After all this spending its not going to take much for the owners to become impatient, especially with what is pretty much a championship standard squad. “

“We stopped them last season easily. If teams do the same then wilder already proved last season that he does not have a plan b, shock and awe is his only tactic. Against much better players and tactically astute managers, hopefully will cause many troubles for them”

“All this pashun and effort will mean fizz all in Premiet League. They can’t punch above their weight forever.

“Surely they know none of their players have Premier League class? Surely?”

“They need a new team IMO”

“Just read on twitter that’s £37m on 3 strikers, and I’ve only heard of one of them. Relegation next season and the crash has the potential to be wonderful. “

“I would be concerned if I were them.They have signed decent Championship players but apart from Jagielka no one with previous Prem experience.I don’t get all this money they are spending. Surely it would be better to go in for the likes of Carroll, Welbeck, Sturridge? I know they would all demand big wages but they would save a transfer fee as they have all been released “

“Can’t wait to see O’Connell go past Kyle Walker on the overlap and then not get the ball. Lol”

“Don’t worry, They’re coming down.  Cant wait to see O’Connell going on the overlap against the likes of Kyle Walker”

“Having Chris Basham starting week in week out next season will be embarrassing for him, there’s only so far being a hard working pro will get you before you start to look silly”

“Still don’t see where they get 3pts from? Maybe Norwich at home. McBurnie isn’t near being a PL striker imo. “

“15 pts maximum this season, and that’s at a push! “

“You know what, i might just have a little flutter on the Porcine Scrubbers on having one of the lowest ever points totals in the EPL. my prediction 21pts. “

“Their manager’s magic will run out next season. He’s done a cracking job so far but he’s believing his own hype now and with the players he’s bought and the team he’ll have, he’s effectively brought a Vauxhall Corsa to an F1 race. They could beat Derby’s record lowest points total though – you can look forward to putting that on their ‘Honours’ board. “

“they look like they’ll go down with a record low points total. I thought they’d struggle when they came up from the pub league though so I really hope I’m right this time.”