Sheffield Wednesday officially appointed Dave Jones as manager on Friday and the focus with 13 games to go in League One is firmly on promotion to the championship.
The decision taken during the week to part company with Gary Megson was met with disappointment by large sections of the Owls support but they will without question give their backing to the new manager and his team as they look to achieve the aim of getting the Owls back into the 2nd tier of English football.
Jones, who has achieved promotions with Stockport County and Wolves during his managerial career, has enjoyed success at all the clubs he has led, receiving an LMA award whilst in charge at Premier League Southampton and despite narrowly missing out twice on promotion with Cardiff in his last job he did lead them to their highest league finish in the best part of 40 years as well as guiding them to an F.A. Cup final.
The 55-year-old has the advantage of picking up the reigns at Hillsborough with the club in a good position. They are comfortably in the play-off spots and although they are 5 points behind rivals Sheffield United for an automatic spot having played a game more there are still 39 points for the Owls to play for.
The view is that Gary Megson’s working relationship with the board had become strained to an unworkable extent and this was a major factor in his tenure coming to an end. Chairman Milan Mandaric has pointed to the fact that results were on the slide prior to the victory in last Sunday’s Sheffield derby and defeat at Chesterfield a fortnight ago was the tipping point in the decision to consider a new approach.
The job done by Megson during the past year will be viewed as a good one by many Wednesday supporters. A Wednesday fan, having followed in the footsteps of his father to play for the club, Megson took over last February with the club seemingly lacking in passion and direction.
Having steadied the ship towards the end of the last campaign things have been much improved this time around. The Owls didn’t lose a home game until they were defeated by league leaders Charlton in mid-January and they already have more points now with 13 games still to go than they accumulated in the entire 2010/11 season.
Megson was criticised in certain quarters for the direct style of play that the owls had sometimes adopted as well as being a little negative at times, something which is perhaps reflected by the comparative goal differences of the teams in the top six of the division but his forthright approach had renewed pride and belief amongst much of the fan base.
If Dave Jones can continue to steer the club in the right direction in terms of their promotion challenge whilst at the same time offering perhaps a more attacking brand of football then the supporters will continue t give the team their full backing along the way.
Source: FOOTYMAD
