There are 20 days left of the current transfer window, three days until Sheffield Wednesday’s first competitive game against Oldham, and eight days before the blue and white hordes descend on Derby County’s Pride Park.
Our final warm-up game saw a much changed Wednesday outfit finish in style with a 4-1 victory of Scottish Premier League opponents, Kilmarnock, with current trialist, Marlon Harewood, staking one last claim for a contract at Hillsborough by grabbing a hattrick.
Meanwhile, three other trialists, Gill Swerts, Marek Jarolim and
Gorka Larrea, also had steady games in Scotland and, though those three
won’t be signing, now it’s up to Dave Jones to decide which players have
done enough to pull on the famous blue and white stripes this season.Look, the big one is Harewood, and honestly, I’m not too sure. The six-footer had his best run of form during his days at West Ham United a few years back and has been somewhat of a journeyman since then. He’s played for Villa, Wolves, Newcastle, the local Dingles, Barnsley, Blackpool and Chinese club, Guangzhou R&F. Presumably the R&F doesn’t stand for ‘Reputable and Fantastic’…
Anyway, look at his stats…
He’s 32 and has played for 11 clubs. According to Wikipedia, he’s scored 139 goals in 470 games, not a bad return in my eyes considering that a lot of that time was spent with club’s struggling in the Premier League, although, his last spell, with Nottingham Forest, ended up with him playing six games, losing six and scoring none.
However, we’re a side that’s just been promoted to the Championship, we need to make sure we have a certain amount of higher level experience in the squad, and, let’s face it, Harewood’s on a free and surely can’t be asking much in terms of wages.
Dave Jones has explained that he’ll be sitting down with the former Ipswich Town man over the next week to discuss the way forward and, I think, following his hattrick, he could well offer him a deal. If Harewood wants more than we’re offering then he can bugger off, but I reckon a short-term deal wouldn’t hurt.
Yes, he may look like a Goomba from the Super Mario Brothers film, but maybe he can do a job for the Owls this season. I mean, if he can cause Mario and Luigi a bit of hassle then I’m sure he can ruffle the feathers of some of the defender’s the Championship has to offer.
In other news, DJ recently revealed that Jason Koumas would be joining the Owls for a second training stint with the club, this time with a possible view to signing for the club.
I think Koumas, also 32, has a top left foot on him and could also be a decent squad player if we can get him on a reasonable deal.
I’m not going to lie to you people, this season excites me. A lot. I’m half way across the world but I can still sense the air of optimism that surrounds the club ahead of our new campaign and honestly, I think we can do something this year.
Jones has a few more decisions to make but for the first time in a while I trust our gaffer implicitly. I reckon we haven’t seen the last new face enter his ranks, but I’m already dead chuffed with the squad and, since the acquisition of Michail Antonio, I really think we’ll have something to shout about…
As a closing statement on behalf of Marlon Harewood, I think it’d be epic to hear the Wednesday faithful chanting Mario Bros. related songs during our Premier League push. What do you reckon Wednesdayites?
When the ball hits the net,
They can’t jump on his head,
It’s our Goomba…
Written by Joe Crann
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