There’s a wonderful moment in the 1993 FA Cup semi-final between the two Sheffield clubs at Wembley, which kind of makes you a little bit nostalgic for times past. From inside their own half, Wednesday, who eventually won 2-1, put together a superb, flowing movement, all of it along the floor, completely befuddling United (who, in fairness, probably had John Pemberton playing for them, so it’s perhaps not all their fault.) John Harkes to John Sheridan, Sheridan to Chris Waddle, Waddle to the overlapping Nigel Worthington, who centres for David Hirst…. who misses from three yards.

It’s a tremendous experience watching the footage 14 years on, and not just so we can reminisce in disbelief that Sir Alex Ferguson wouldn’t have signed Eric Cantona and changed the course of English football history if Hirst, his preferred choice, had been available. It’s worth remembering that the Sheffield Wednesday of a decade-and-a-half ago were a genuinely excellent side, capable of having a say in who won the league title. Two cup finals that season (that they didn’t win any silverware was thanks to some ruthless finishing by Ian Wright and a dreadful goalkeeping clanger from Chris Woods) to go with a third-placed finish in 1991-92, and some outstanding players: Waddle, Sheridan, Roland Nilsson, Carlton Palmer (OK, not Carlton Palmer.) While the pre-Abramovich Chelsea, replete with Robert Fleck, Eddie Newton and David Hopkins were languishing in mid-table, Wednesday were one of the top teams in the Premier League.

Now, fast forward to 2007. Wednesday sit just one place and one point clear of the Championship relegation zone, having lost nine of their first 13 league matches. A measure of how far they’ve fallen is that nobody was surprised when they were thumped 3-0 at home by Everton in the Carling Cup at the end of September - a result that would have been nigh on unthinkable a decade ago. Owls fans, renowned for their excellent support and gloomy sense of humour (maybe the best banner I’ve ever seen at a Test match at Headingley proclaimed “Richie Benaud is a Wednesdayite”) must be somewhat fed up, and then some. What went wrong? How did a once proud club, a fixture in the top division, stoop so low? And why are their city rivals United now much better than them?
<Wednesday probably won’t go down, but it’s a distressing time for supporters, particularly after last season ended so well. After Brian Laws replaced Paul Sturrock, a decent bloke who nonetheless did little to discourage the notion that all Scottish managers exist on chips, white pudding and Tennent’s Extra, the club went on an excellent end-of-season run, winning something like seven of their last nine games to finish just four points shy of a play-off spot. Optimism abounded. Now they’re officially rubbish; one of the most workmanlike sides in a league full of them. All right, they’ve got Franny Jeffers (in a new departure for him, he’s decided to move to a new club before the season starts, and not during the transfer window, when panicked clubs destined for the drop decide a) they’re desperate b) he’s available and c) they’re desperate.) But the rest of them - even those toothless old crones whose purchases are justified by managers insisting they‘ve got ‘Premiership experience’ (Deon Burton, Marcus Tudgay and Graham Kavanagh in this case) - are, much like the war on Iraq, impossible to justify, whichever way you look at it.

It seems Laws, who had some success as manager of a right motley crew at Scunthorpe, has made the wrong call. Someone should tell him that team spirit can’t win you promotion (quite how Derby managed to pip a West Brom team including Kamara, Koumas, Gera, Koren and Davies last season remains a mystery). Good players, however, like Steve Maclean and Chris Brunt, two who Laws allowed to leave over the summer, can. It’s a peculiarly British phenomenon, seemingly; that is, pinning your hopes on grit and determination, spirit and resolve, and a healthy dollop of kicking people up the arse, as a means of achieving success. I mean, how else to explain the career of Lee Dixon? Of course, 11 simply amazing footballers refusing to do anything as tawdry as tackling, marking or tracking back would be unable to beat anyone (apart from Derby, possibly) but guys, it’s simple: buy good players. Those with skill, finesse, technique and poise are far more beneficial to a team’s cause than those without, which is why Manchester United win the league all the time and Wigan don’t.

Laws, Jeffers and Frankie Simek (Missouri’s finest) aside, has blundered. Prepare for a long hard season, Wednesdayites. And that includes you, Benaud.