There doesn’t seem to be a day gone by without something controversial happening at Sheffield Wednesday.
Whether it be a transfer embargo or high ticket and membership prices, there’s always something happening at Hillsborough that will provoke debate and arguments within the fanbase. And at the very least, the latest incident revolves around a footballer rather than finances.
It’s about Keiren Westwood. Commonly regarded as one of the best goalkeepers in the Sky Bet Championship, most expected him to return to the Owls first team after he missed most of last season with injury.
But that didn’t happen. In Wednesday’s opening game of the season against Wigan Athletic, Westwood was left out of the squad entirely, with head coach Jos Luhukay electing Cameron Dawson to be his number one while Joe Wildsmith was on the bench. Most assumed that this was because Westwood was on his way out. And to be honest, I wouldn’t have minded it. In his absence, Wildsmith played very well and deserved a spot in the first team. And Westwood would have brought in a good amount of cash that would have helped with the club’s financial problems.
But transfer deadline day came and went with Westwood staying at the club. And so it was reasonable to think he’d be back for Saturday’s match against Hull City. But no, it was the same as before. Westwood completely out of the squad while Dawson kept his spot. This was when things went into meltdown.
And no wonder. Westwood is regarded as one of the best goalkeepers in the division and while I like giving academy products a chance, there’s no way that Wildsmith or Dawson should be ahead of him in the pecking order. But something has obviously happened behind the scenes which is causing Westwood to be frozen out.
The first glimpse of this bad blood stems back to the friendly against Mansfield Town. Westwood was not in the line-up for this match, with Luhukay saying after the game that he picked up an injury during the week. But that was when Westwood said on Twitter that he was not injured. All that had happened was that he missed a training session the previous Thursday and he had not been injured all summer.
Even though when asked at the weekend Luhukay had denied there had been a fall out, it’s a fair suggestion that this incident could be why Westwood is watching from the sidelines right now. Luhukay is a renowned disciplinarian, something who takes very little crap from his players. This freezing out could well be a punishment from Luhukay for speaking out against him publicly.
Another suggestion is a simple one. Dawson and Wildsmith may well be better now. Westwood has been out with an injury for a long time and we’ve seen very little of him since. As unbelievable as it is to us who’ve seen Westwood rescue so many wins and draws for the club, this injury may have affected him more than we’ve realised and that Dawson and Wildsmith have simply passed him during the summer.
I prefer to believe the former reason, mainly as I doubt that Westwood has regressed so much due to one injury. But it’s an issue that needs sorting quickly if it is the case. Westwood is a key player and him being frozen out can’t be doing much for the morale of the club. If the issue cannot be forgiven, Luhukay must look to loan him out before the end of August so at the very least his wages are off the budget. You can’t have a potential negative influence around the club like that. If it can be forgiven, it’s time to forgive and get him back in the first team where he belongs.
