Source: FOOTYMAD
Double delight for Wednesday as focus returns to football
Owls earn football league recognition Sheffield Wednesday are looking to put what has been a very tough week for the club off the field behind them and focus on football matters, the club have been given a boost on this front with the news that both the League One manager and player of the month awards have gone to the Owls. Manager Alan Irvine has been rewarded for a start that has guided the Owls to the top of the division and new signing Giles Coke’s performances during August have stood out above those of anyone else in League One. Having lost a host of players at the end of last season following relegation Irvine was faced with a tough task to rebuild the squad that would be expected to challenge for promotion regardless of the well documented financial problems. Nine new faces arrived on free transfers and loans and although plenty of quality has been added it remained to be seen how long it would take the team to come together. Despite perhaps not consistently playing the fluent football that they are capable of, Irvine has managed to make the Owls into a solid unit from the off and an unbeaten month in the league was capped with a 5-0 victory at Hartlepool, 3 wins and a draw giving Wednesday 10 points to top the table at the end of the first month. Giles Coke was one of Alan Irvine’s summer acquisitions at Hillsborough and although he may not be as high profile as some of the signings he has wasted no time in making his mark. An energetic opening day performance against Dagenham and Redbridge enabled the Owls to get off to a winning start and his winning goals in the cup tie against Bury and the league clash with Brighton oozed quality. Coke was also amongst the scorers in the demolition of Hartlepool. Peter Beagrie, a member of the npower football league player of the month panel commented that “Giles Coke has lovely balance and a great turn of pace.” To view the comments in full and see who Coke beat to the August award visit the official football league website at, http://www.football-league.co.uk/league1/news/20100909/coke-named-player-of-the-month_2248206_2148351/0,,10794,00.html The manager of the month award is often said to carry with it something of a curse, hopefully the Owls got that issue out of the way early with the weekend defeat at Brentford and they will be looking to return to winning ways when they face Carlisle in the table topping clash at Hillsborough on Saturday.
