Richard Walker

My glass is usually full, sometimes 1/2 full, never 1/2 empty. Tweets in personal capacity. #ukhousing #socialhousing #BeKind

[Richard Walker @RWalker1867]

@kr62209 What is saw was a team under his leadership that on the whole, held their own for large parts of matches, but tired legs and a lack of strength in depth due to restrictions placed upon us, often let us down later on. Not Henrik's fault, did well in the circumstances.

[Kris Wigfield @kr62209]

I've noticed there is still a lot of online questioning of Henrik Pedersen.

Everyone is entitled to their opinion - and friendly debate is one of the reasons we all love football - but I want to give an alternative view.

Firstly, the new owners have made their decision. They have chosen to give Henrik an opportunity. Whether people agree with that decision or not, surely the best thing for Sheffield Wednesday now is for supporters to get behind him and give him the best possible chance of succeeding. If he succeeds, the football club succeeds.

From my own experience of spending more than six months at the club and being there every day, this is what I personally saw and heard:-

• A coaching team that was fully behind him.
• Players who, despite operating in some of the most difficult circumstances imaginable, continued to play for him every week.
• A squad that never stopped competing, even with everything that was going on behind the scenes. In fact, I'm still amazed we didn't suffer some real hammerings given the challenges the group was facing.

I also saw a manager with relentless positivity.

Straight after defeats he was already looking forward and motivating players.

Every day on the training ground he attacked the job with energy and enthusiasm. Whether you agree with his methods or not, nobody could question his commitment.

What I heard was equally interesting.

Opposition coaches, scouts and football directors would regularly tell us what a remarkable job he was doing under the circumstances. Many simply couldn't believe how competitive he had managed to keep the team given the challenges he was facing.

Perhaps most importantly, some of the biggest clubs in the country clearly rate him……

Manchester City, Manchester United, Crystal Palace and Chelsea were all proactive in wanting to place or keep young players at Sheffield Wednesday. They weren't doing that as a favour to us. They were doing it because they believed their players would develop under Henrik and that he would improve the value of their assets.

These are clubs with some of the best recruitment and player development departments in world football. They must have seen something they liked.

Does any of this guarantee success? Of course not, it doesn’t even always work out for Jose Mourinho.

Football is unpredictable and nobody knows what the future holds.

But there is a big difference between questioning whether somebody will succeed and declaring that they cannot.

The owners have seen enough to give him a chance.

The people working with him every day have seen enough to support him.

Some of the biggest clubs in England have seen enough to trust him with their young talent.

That doesn't mean they are right.

But it does mean there may be more to Henrik Pedersen than some are prepared to acknowledge.

Now that the decision has been made, I hope supporters give him a fair chance.
Because every now and then in football, the good guy does win.

Wouldn't it be brilliant if that happened here?

Up The Owls! 🦉

[Richard Walker @RWalker1867]

@OriginalOwl1867 @kr62209 They're looking into it for me 🤞

[Richard Walker @RWalker1867]

@FreeGB_ @swfc I was at my Dad's today and he lives not too far from the ground so I popped in - they referred me to the DLO, who basically blamed me for not chasing her up for not replying to my emails. No further forward as things stand ☹️

[Richard Walker @RWalker1867]

@MattF1867 I've now met her - and understand exactly what you mean. Basically not replied to my emails because she's been too busy, then blamed me for not chasing her up. The supporters trust are trying to help, but as it stands, WBA was my dad's last ever game ☹️

[Richard Walker @RWalker1867]

@storchyowl & @michaelestorch I wondered if you could help, appreciating that you will get a high volume of tweets no doubt from Owls fans.

My dad is 83 has has been a lifelong owls fan. Unfortunately a few years ago he was diagnosed with heart failure. SWFC were kind enough to

[Richard Walker @RWalker1867]

@Hootie1867 @storchyowl @ashersimons @michaelestorch I popped into the ticket office today, they passed me to the DLO who was not very helpful, in fact, quite the opposite - blamed me for not chasing up her not replying to my email!! No further forward. ☹️

[Richard Walker @RWalker1867]

@OriginalOwl1867 @kr62209 I have done that today mate, they passed me to the DLO whj basically said she'd been too busy to reply to my emails and now the alternative seats have gone and that's my fault for not chasing her.

[Richard Walker @RWalker1867]

@FreeGB_ @swfc Not yet, the letter they sent my dad said to contact the DLO, but she only replied 7 months later after I sent a chaser and just said 'no' without even reading the context. I asked her to escalate, but no ack or response. I will visit the ticket office soon to try 👍

[Richard Walker @RWalker1867]

@OriginalOwl1867 Yes, I got in touch with the Disability Liaison Officer at the time (Sept ish), then sent a chaser a few weeks ago. She replied just saying they were still revoking his pass. I asked her to escalate it, but not acknowledgement or reply.

[Ewan Armstrong 🦉 @ewanarm]

@storchyowl c'mon Mr Chairman surely you can help on this one!

[Richard Walker @RWalker1867]

@owl_s74 @SWFCTrust Longer term I think the lifts need replacing, they're beyond their component life. I'd just be happy if they let him have his pass whilst they sort it. They will offer to move him, but he has dementia and can't move on his own, and they want to charge us extra for the SS.

[Richard Walker @RWalker1867]

@kr62209 I'm desperately trying to renew for my son and 83 yr old Dad, but we're in the Grandstand and they're revoking his lift pass so he won't be able to get to his seat. No replies from the club or DLO when I've asked for them to review the situation. ☹️ #WAWAW #SWFC

[Richard Walker @RWalker1867]

@sodaowls & @SWFCTrust, I'm wanting to renew my 83 year old Dad's season ticket for the Grandstand, but the SWFC DLO is revoking the lift pass he's had for the last few seasons and now not replying to my request to review. Could you help at all? #SWFC

[Richard Walker @RWalker1867]

@SWFCTrust We went to a baseball game in the US on holiday last year. The fan experience was incredible, free merch for those arriving in stadium early, player profiles and stats on big screen as part of build up, lots of fan interaction stuff - could we do similar at Hillsborough?

[Richard Walker @RWalker1867]

@SWFCTrust I'm wanting to renew my 83 year old Dad's season ticket for him. Last season SWFC says they would revoke his Grandstand lift pass due to maintenence requirements. They're still saying this and want to charge him and us more, to relocate to SS. Can this be reviewed?

[Richard Walker @RWalker1867]

@storchyowl @swfc Thanks for the positive update @storchyowl 😀. Is there any update on the lift pass situation for fans that can't climb the steps in the Grandstand? I want to renew my 83 year old Dad's season ticket, but last week was told he SWFC are revoking his lift pass 😢