What next season could hold for Sheffield Wednesday, promoted or not

Saturday's win over Cardiff, securing our play-off place, felt like a real landmark in Wednesday's recent history. Attempting to predict the outcome of the play-offs, incessantly dubbed 'a lottery', is basically pointless, save to say a couple of excellent performances over Derby and Cardiff have put us in a strong position. So what can we expect next season, whether it's off the back of a Wembley victory or not?

The Premier League
If the dream comes true and we make it back after a 16-year absence, you can be sure that the pain of the near two decade absence will be enough to spur on a fight to stay up. I've lost count of the number of times well-meaning neutrals have told me the Owls 'should' be in the top tier or are a 'sleeping giant' since the Millennium. Owner and tuna king Dejphon Chansiri and manager Carlos Carvalhal have talked a great game - i.e. promotion this season would be a bonus, the target was always next year. But, Leicester City excepted, long-term goals from football club owners ("we'll be in Europe in four years!") are rarely worth anything. Not least as managers aren't given more than 12 games if results start to turn sour. 

So expect instant spending on deepening the squad, improvements to the ground (how long does it feel since the Great Scoreboard Investment debate?), in a year in which the Hillsborough disaster is again under the microscope, and more commercial deals. Will Chansiri attempt to further boost Wednesday's profile in Asia using his own business links? Moreover, after the bad blood at the start of the season over ticket prices, can we expect matchday admission prices to shoot up? The chance to offer top dollar for the visits of the Manchester clubs, Arsenal and even the Foxes will surely be too much to resist. 
Unlike Southampton and Coventry, we hadn't spent years beating the drop by the skin of our teeth. Just two years prior to relegation, a Carbone and Di Canio inspired side ended 7th in the league. If the Owls return to the big time, it will not be with the Big Gun status with which we left it. That said, a team containing Bannan, Lee and Forestieri are unlikely to start hoofing it and could play some attractive top-flight football. Emulating Bournemouth, Swansea and Watford is the goal. 

The Championship 
And so to the less appealing. Conventional wisdom would assume that, with Carlos' new contract signed and talk of promotion really being the target next season, we will build on this season, and potentially target automatic promotion. The top six finish and the feel good factor around the club should be enough to hang on to our most talented assets - Forestieri, Hooper, Westwood, Bannan - even if a lower-end Premier League team came calling, you'd hope. In recent years a cluster of sides including Watford, Derby and Middlesborough have bounced back from playoffs defeats to put in strong follow-up seasons. 

In the unlikely event of an implosion, or even a distinctly average season, Chansiri's next move will be fascinating. New to football ownership, how important is it that the memorabilia-wearing businessman's South Yorkshire asset shows instant progress? On the plus side, potential matches with Aston Villa, Sunderland and Newcastle United (and perhaps even locals Bradford or Barnsley) could provide some blockbuster crowds in S6 while the Blades continue to languish, failing to provide Steel City derbies. 

The squad 
The implications for every squad member of the next, potentially, three matches of their career are too multitudinous to go into. But there are some intriguing prospects. Given a full season, especially if we remain in the Championship, Marco Matias' latent attacking talent, especially combining with a maturing Lucas Joao, would be great to see. Meanwhile, a run in a Premier League team for the injury-prone and oft-suspended Sam Hutchinson would be great to see. His classy passing and assured style could be a real benefit if we're to do more than just scrap it out. 

The club 
For the club and community as a whole, promotion would be massive. The spiralling debts and ill feeling of the post relegation years were symptomatic of a team which didn't expect demotion. 

Unlike Southampton and Coventry, we hadn't spent years beating the drop by the skin of our teeth. Just two years prior to relegation, a Carbone and Di Canio inspired side ended 7th in the league. If the Owls return to the big time, it will not be with the Big Gun status with which we left it. That said, a team containing Bannan, Lee and Forestieri are unlikely to start hoofing it and could play some attractive top-flight football. Emulating Bournemouth, Swansea and Watford is the goal. 

How can Sheffield Wednesday fans effectively protest against the ticket price hike?

No one wants to pay more for something than they have to, but a sense of value for money is paramount. It is a lack of this sense that enabled new Sheffield Wednesday owner Dejphon Chansiri to hike home matchday ticket prices - using a plethora of inexplicable categories for games - to as much as £52.

The anger at the sudden decision has enraged Owls fans and supporters organisations. The general feeling has been that this is an obscene amount to pay to watch second division football at Hillsborough which, last season in particular, has not exactly been home to spectacular top dollar football of late. It is unreasonable to expect a family to pay this (not least as the old ground hasn't exactly got great family facilities) when people are still struggling to find work in South Yorkshire and the next generation of kids who want to go may be deprived of the experience. What's more, the timing of the decision, after all the cheap early bird season tickets have finished sale, meant those on those on the fence about renewing or buying a season ticket who didn't have been heavily stung if they want to visit Hillsborough a bunch of times this season.

As an ardent fan proud that we were amongst the cheapest teams to go and see in the league it has been a painful turn of events.

To put the decision into context, Chansiri bought the club in January, taking over from Milan Mandaric - widely seen to have saved the club and who was even granted a 'Thank you Milan Day', unusual among chairmen. But, as Mandaric agreed to stay on to advise, we must assume he had some say in the ticket pricing decision. Chansiri, who has been popular with Owls fans, keen to see the seafood magnate spend big to achieve his much stated goal of reaching the Premier League. 

"Chansiri has approached his reign like a Prime Minister's - charm on arrival before dropping bombshells"

In a delayed letter explaining the ticket price hike, he used funding transfers (the only language that gets fans on side, we hardly want to hear the ticket cash is being spent on plush back room facilities) as a justification. It's pathetically transparent behaviour: bang on about attacking football, which of course everyone wants to see (but can be difficult in a tight division led by a new manager inexperienced in English football) and then demand the fans pay for it.

But is this really fair? In the Premier League, ticket income vastly lags TV rights and advertising revenues to fund multi-million pound transfers. With reduced access to that in the Championship, Chansiri has clearly decided the fans, rather than canny deals brokered by his business, will fund his ambitions. It appears he has approached his reign like a Prime Minister's parliamentary term - charm on arrival and shortly afterwards before dropping the bombshells, knowing you've bought yourself some time before the masses can really turn on you.

In response to the price hike - to £39, Bristol City fans have understandably decided to boycott the season opener at Hillsborough on August 8. We've seen a propensity, particularly at Premier League level, for teams to raise away prices against those who overcharge their fans and the temptation with a well supported club like Wednesday will doubtless be they will see the blue and white pound and do just that.

But I think this may be what it takes. As an exiled Owl in London, I go to plenty of games in the south and am always proud to stand amongst a heaving WAWAW faithful. If this number starts thinning out, the supporter numbers are held up against previous years and - after a few seasons of inflated revenge pricing - we become a less lucrative club to host, then Chansiri may be shamed into cutting prices. Empty seats at Hillsborough is one thing, but a true protest needs to reverberate far wider.

Although his background is very much not a footballing one, the more the new Owls owner becomes embedded in the flash, trophy asset world of football club ownership, the more his reputation will play a part. If this is as someone charging Premier League prices to see sub-par football, this may just force his hand.

How Hull City have propelled matchday analysis to the next level

Few would have anticipated Hull’s eye-catching return to the Premier League as the East Yorkshire club comfortably avoided relegation and reached the FA Cup final. Even fewer, perhaps, would have anticipated that a large part of the team’s success can be attributed to pinpoint performance analysis. 

The Tigers – who have faced off-field controversy over their owner’s desire to change the club’s name – finished the season four points clear of the bottom three, and only a dip in form at the end of the campaign prevented a higher-placed finish.

The FA Cup Final may have been one of the reasons behind a return of just one point from the last 15, but away from the cup the highlight was a 3-1 Premier League win over Liverpool at the KC Stadium, their first ever win over the Reds.

The January signings of of Nikica Jelavic and Shane Long have given Hull’s attack a new dimension, while Tom Huddlestone and Curtis Davies have added a steady hand to the side. But while performance analyst Laurence Stewart has played a far quieter role, it has been an equally effective one.

Stewart joined the club in the summer of 2009 when Phil Brown was manager, and has served under Iain Dowie, Nigel Pearson, Nick Barmby and now Steve Bruce in aiding Hull’s rise. He believes the science of performance analysis is becoming ever more common.

“I think that football analysis is constantly evolving and moving forward as it is one of the boom industries within professional sport,” he told Footymatters.com.

According to Stewart, Premier League and Championship teams have stolen a march on many of their European rivals in using sophisticated analysis to inform their play, contrary to the common perception that the British game is tactically naive compared with foreign incarnations.

Stewart has witnessed an evolution in techniques for analysing what’s happening on the pitch with software such as Sportscode, as well as Prozone and Scout 7, used to catalogue the minute detail of a game and present them in a simple form, easily understood by most players.

On matchday, he sits in the stands with a radio link to the bench, recording and annotating a live feed of the game. At half-time he’s present in the changing room to offer a video review to the players, and feedback key stats to staff.

“The key is working out what information is key to your staff and what information can be provided to help decision-making live during the game,” he added.

Away from the KC Stadium, Stewart works rigorously with the players in training, breaking them into playing units of defenders, midfielders, and attackers to discuss the previous game in the early part of the week, and then study their next opponents in detail in the run up to the weekend’s match.

“As a newly promoted team I think one of the things we have done very well is continued with the working practices that we employed last season in the Championship”

Stewart’s role in studying the opposition has also been vital this season as so many clubs have used very specific tactics. Whether it’s Liverpool’s high tempo burst out of the blocks – his work helped Hull inflict one of only six defeats on Brendan Rodgers’ side this season – or Southampton’s pressing game. Frequent use of the same tactics have been a feature of the season.

“There are some trends within how certain teams play, but these can differ from game to game depending on formations, injuries and squad rotation,” said Stewart. “Many people would have outlined Liverpool as a possession team early in the season and more recently they have been a very strong counter-attacking side, so although teams can have a certain style they may change from game to game.”

He believes that a continuity in Hull City’s approach to match preparation has helped maintain the momentum built up during promotion last season.

“As a newly promoted team I think one of the things we have done very well is continued with the working practices that we employed last season in the Championship,” said Stewart, adding that it is important to fully understand a manager’s playing style and the players’ capabilities.

But while statistical analysis is a closely guarded process on the touchline, it has come to prominence in the media. Stats specialists like OptaSport have become Twitter hits while former Manchester United and England defender Gary Neville’s in-depth Sky Sports analysis has found widespread praise.

Stewart said: “I feel that the use of stats and analysis by pundits is something that has generally been beneficial to the industry and magnified its uses. It has brought it into the homes of many more people.

“Some of the information that is presented may not always be the information that a club would be reviewing but I can see that it is interesting to the public. Many statistics regarding possession and passing are often used within the media to judge a player’s performance, but they simply do not provide enough context to adequately assess a player’s contribution.”

There’s little doubt stats and close analysis are now commonplace from football boss to blogger. Their impact has never been greater in the dressing room, and with the World Cup in Brazil fast approaching, intelligence on every major player around the globe will doubtless become vital.

Opinion: Do the Premier League or clubs really care about away fans?

If a shop had one customer who purchased goods twice a month and another who bought a maximum of twice a year, it's pretty clear where the majority of their efforts lie. A similar approach appears to be being taken by football clubs with visiting fans.

An event held by the Football Supporters Federation (FSF) in London this week devoted a significant proportion of time to discussing attending away matches. The football fans body has spent much of this season campaigning for it's Twenty's Plenty initiative - it demands away fans should not pay more than £20 for an adult ticket or £15 for concessions - and has rolled that into a wider drive called Away Fans Matter. 

The campaign aims to highlight the difficulties facing away fans including sky-high ticket prices, eye-watering train prices, inconvenient kick-off times moved at short notice for television and facilities at away grounds. The FSF note that the raft of problems, as well as the economy over the last six years, has hit attendances - in the Premier League 9.6% fewer away fans attended last season than the one before and figures were even harsher lower down the football pyramid. 

It's a campaign which strikes a chord with me. As an 'exiled' Sheffield Wednesday fan living in London, I go to as many away matches as home. I love the pack mentality of arriving at an away game and for a bellowing singer like me, it's a buzz often missing at Hillsborough. But it does cost a fair bit with trains, food and a pint or two - and I usually grimace at the facilities or poor spot in the ground we're allocated. For fans visiting Hillsborough it's even worse. Most visiting fans tell me the Leppings Lane end is horribly antiquated and unpleasant, a fact made all the more mortifying by the tragedy on April 15, 1989 - 25 years to the day before the FSF event.

FSF chief executive Kevin Miles did, however, outline some interesting progress in improving the away experience. The Premier League has awarded each club £200,000 to spend on away fans for three seasons and clubs have approached the initiative in different ways. Some have spent it on refurbishing away ends, some discounts on train travel or free buses - which interestingly proved controversial as many small, independent bus firms rely on football business. 

Miles argued discounts on tickets was the only fair use of the funds  "Not everybody wants to go to a game on a bus, get money off a pint or DVDs of their own team playing on the away concourse," he said. "The only thing that every fan does is buy a ticket."

The advent of reciprocal pricing as a result of campaigning appears to represent some progress. Following banners and marches, Newcastle United have discounted ticket prices for visiting West Bromwich Albion and Swansea fans and received the same treatment at The Hawthorns and Liberty Stadium. The FSF's next campaign is an attempt to break down price categorisation whereby fans of top teams such as Chelsea and Manchester City have to pay 'category A' prices wherever they go while lower profile teams enjoy cheaper prices.

"Could another drastic drop in the number of away fans damage the price of the next lucrative TV rights deal?"

But do the Premier League's clubs really have an appetite to improve the experience for away fans? For those visiting from the big clubs, allocations quickly sell out every season so price is unlikely to be a factor in filling the ground. As players wages continue to balloon, a reduction in the price of tickets for fans who visit infrequently is unlikely to be appealing. FA rules stipulate away fans must be charged equivalent prices to home fans but then often take other measures to justify charging more. 

Perhaps a surprising contrast is the Premier League's stance. Miles claims that chief executive Richard Scudamore is concerned about the reduction in numbers of away fans. Away fans obviously punch above their weight in adding atmosphere to proceedings and as such a lack of them could, Miles claims, damage the chances of another huge hike in the next TV broadcasting deal. But is that true? For many clubs, a televised match has meant swathes of empty seats for years. A TV game on a chilly Friday night has often kept home supporters not owning season tickets and away fans at home. Would another 10% drop in attendance really stop a broadcaster shelling out for the rights?

Miles is more concerned by the clubs' approach. "The clubs are less keen to see that big picture," he said. "Some of the clubs only see the away fans as people who come once a year, don't spend in the club shop and cost more to police." As TV money has become far greater than ticket sales in the Premier League, so fans actually being in the ground has slipped down the agenda. 

Clearly football clubs are businesses and many will prioritise their biggest customer, TV, over fans. But an acknowledgement is needed that away fans are not simply a bunch of drunk idiots arriving in a city to intimidate the public, buy a few pies and leave but the essence of why we attend matches rather than become armchair fans is vital. 

The FSF's goals are largely admirable and a refreshingly realistic approach is being taken to much of the issue. However, if the £20 ticket target is achievable, the impact on attendances at lower league clubs where ticket revenue is far more important and prices not much cheaper, needs to be carefully studied.

Yes, away fans matter and their voice needs to be heard.

Article originally appeared on Footymatters.com