Wednesdays with Brewer, part 16
The stakes have been raised.
This is Wednesdays with Brewer, a Road to Glory save on EA Sports FC 24 that follows in the footsteps of last year’s Yellow and Blue Crusade. WRB’s Brewer takes the dual role of author and manager of Sheffield Wednesday Football Club in an attempt to rebuild one of the oldest football clubs in English history … and document the journey from beginning to end.
Preseason 2026
Just as I suspected, the board is expecting us to finish mid table this season. It’s a natural progression after we finished 12th last year (and probably should have been higher) despite just returning to the Premier League.
Not only that, but the board is expecting us to finish in a UEFA Europa League spot soon, which basically means finishing in the top five or six, depending on who wins England’s two domestic competitions.
As I said last week, I have some serious work ahead of me.
Domestic Success: Medium
Premier League: Finish mid table
FA Cup: Reach the Round of 16
Long-term: Within two seasons in Premier League, finish in a UEFA Europa League spot
In all reality, finishing mid table shouldn’t be terribly difficult. We were right there last season, and if we wouldn’t have completely collapsed down the stretch, we likely would have finished mid table. Clean up our defensive woes and we’re right there … but that’s easier said than done.
The intimidating portion of this category is qualifying for Europe by the end of next season. Every team-building decision moving forward needs to be made with that goal in mind. To be blunt, I don’t think our quality as a team is high enough for European competition and we may struggle to get there by the end of next season.
Continental Success: Medium
N/A
This is bizarre. The board decided to increase the importance of this goal even though they didn’t actually give us a goal to achieve. Whatever. EA gonna EA.
Brand Exposure: High
Get a streak of 10 games with at least one goal scored this season.
Sign one crucial first-team player assigned to a midfielder position.
Scoring was never really our problem last year, so I’m hoping we carry that over and knock that first part out with relative ease.
The second part almost certainly spells the end of Leighton Clarkson’s time as a starter. He was already on thin ice (as you will see a little later) and, if forced to choose between Clarkson and Josh Dasilva, there really isn’t a choice at all.
Financial: Very Low
Sell two players and sign two crucial players to replace them. Finish the season without any unspent transfer budget.
This probably sounds familiar because it’s exactly what the board asked of us last year. I didn’t prioritize it then and I probably won’t now, largely because I won’t spend money just for the sake of it.
Youth Development: Low
Within two seasons, have at least one player from the Youth Academy signed in the first season play at least 30% of the games in the next season.
It looks like the board just renewed this goal. Maybe they think I’ll actually try to achieve it … ? (Spoiler alert: They’re probably wrong.)
Off the field
Contract negotiations
This was probably the easiest round of contract negotiations I’ve had since taking over the club. Two players (Juan Delgado and Will Vaulks) were in the final year of their existing deals while four more (Osman Bukari, Michael Johnston, Josh Windass and Lance Gardner) were down to the final 24 months of their contracts.
Bukari and Gardner were slam dunks. They are the present (Bukari) and future (Gardner) on the wing and there was never any doubt in my mind that they deserved extensions.
Delgado and Vaulks, on the other hand, have fallen out of the first-team picture and Windass isn’t far behind. Johnston’s case is more complicated. He’s a locked-in starter coming off a career year in which he led our team in goals … but I’ve been scouting a replacement for almost a year. If a team were to come through with a transfer offer, I would seriously consider it. The next two months will go a long way in determining Johnston’s future with the club.
Youth academy comings and goings
There wasn’t much to report from the youth side of our team. Our only signing was central midfielder Jasper Leonard. He has a long way to go from a development perspective but his physical skills, namely his weak foot ability and physicality, suggest to me that Leonard could be a prospect to watch.
Transfer business
Most of my energy this summer was spent analyzing our current roster. I took a detailed look at every player on our payroll and rated their value to us on a scale of 1–5. Keep in mind that these numbers aren’t a representation of how good these players are relative to other players in Europe, but instead, it gives me a way to determine each player’s value to our club.
1: No future at the club
2: Replaceable
3: Players with a cloudy future
4: Important
5: Basically untouchable
Nobody on the roster is truly untouchable — if a club came to us with a $100 million transfer offer for Osman Bukari, for example, I’d take it in a heartbeat. Relatively speaking, Bukari is untouchable because he’s an excellent player within our system, he fits the physical profile of what I look for in a winger, and he produces on the pitch.
1: Ciaran Brennan (CB), George Byers (CM), Juan Delgado (RB), Akin Famewo (CB), Dominic Iorfa (CB), Will Vaulks (CDM)
2: Tyreeq Bakinson (CM), Ben Cabango (CB), Leighton Clarkson (CM), Alex Cochrane (LB), Reece James (LB), Ethan Laird (RB), Anthony Musaba (RW), Gabriel Osho (CB), Pol Valentin (RB), Mallik Wilks (ST), Josh Windass (ST)
3: Michael Johnston (LW), Lloyd Kelly (CB), Callum O’Hare (CAM), Nectarios Triantis (CB)
4: Josh Dasilva (CM), Daryl Dike (ST), Djeidi Gassama (ST), Max O’Leary (GK), Alex Robertson (CM), Mark Travers (GK)
5: Osman Bukari (RW), Lance Gardner (LW), Mark Mason (RW), Rhodri Parry (CAM)
As we began this new season, there were 31 players on the senior team. Four regular starters (Bukari, Dasilva, Dike and Travers), three high-performing youth academy grads (Gardner, Mason and Parry) and two new signings (O’Leary and Robertson) were safe in terms of their status with the team.
10 out of 31. Not quite a third of the roster.
Three starters have cloudy futures with the club: Michael Johnston, Lloyd Kelly, and Callum O’Hare. Johnston was a pretty low producer for us until last season, when he had 15 goals and six assists. I had been scouting Johnston’s replacement for most of last season and would still likely accept a fair transfer offer for him. Kelly was part of last season’s abysmal defense but his leadership and experience are pretty important and will likely save his place on the team as long as he bounces back this year. Last is O’Hare, who has been consistently good for us but will eventually lose his starting spot to Rhodri Parry, a move that could happen as soon as next season.
That left three regular starters (and a whole mess of other players) whose future prospects at Sheffield Wednesday are not looking great. As I talked about last season, heads were going to roll on our back line. Center backs Gabriel Osho and Ben Cabango, who split time starting next to Lloyd Kelly, will no longer be considered for a starting role after I decided to make a new center back my top transfer priority this summer. At least one of those players, if not both, will be moving on this summer. Right back Ethan Laird and left back Alex Cochrane are also strong candidates to depart, but that will depend on whether or not we a) receive a fair offer, and b) can sign a replacement.
Juan Delgado and Will Vaulks were listed for transfer. I wasn’t going to wait around and hope someone would come through with an offer for either player. Delgado made his move to the Vancouver Whitecaps on July 10 for a transfer fee of $750,000. Vaulks, on the other hand, decided to retire at the end of the year. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a player decide to retire after getting transfer listed.
Norwich caught me off-guard with a transfer offer for striker Josh Windass. With his contract (and his playing days) winding down, I decided to accept the $2 million offer. Windass served us well in our early days here at Sheffield Wednesday and deserves to go to a club that will allow him more playing time.
Four players secured loan deals before the end of July: Rhodri Parry to Brighton, Mark Mason to Getafe, Lance Gardner to Lazio, and Nectarios Triantis to Crystal Palace. All four will spend the full season away from the club before returning to us next summer.
Thankfully, I carried about $30 million of transfer money over from last season because we only received an additional $40 million from the board. That might seem like a lot, especially compared to what we received in my first two seasons with the club, but we have work to do and quality players don’t come cheap. I’m going to need to get creative to make some of these changes.
Our creative machinations began as we approached Everton for right back Nathan Patterson. The Toffees had two quality right backs on their roster (Ben Johnson was the other) and Patterson was down to the final 12 months of his existing deal. After a back-and-forth negotiation, we agreed to send Ethan Laird and $8 million to Everton in exchange for Patterson.
Although center back remained a high priority, my next move in the market was signing a new starting central midfielder. This is part of our Brand Exposure goal and, as I discussed earlier on, Leighton Clarkson was deemed expendable after a disappointing performance last season. My options weren’t excellent, but we found a deal for Manchester City midfielder Tommy Doyle. City were tough in negotiations but we finally settled on a $14 million fee to bring the Englishman over from Manchester. The news feed on the main menu even called our deal a bargain, so maybe that’s a sign of positive things to come?
European International Cup (preseason tournament) results
July 25: D 0–0 v. Fiorentina
July 28: W 4–3 v. Villarreal
Aug. 1: W 2–1 v. Borussia Monchengladbach
Wrap up
The first headline I saw on after our 2–1 win over Borussia Monchengladbach read as follows:
That’s not a good sign for the English left back. Cochrane was already on thin ice after the way he played last season and this preseason performance cemented his fate — Cochrane was listed for transfer. Gabriel Osho, who did not start any of the three preseason contests, was also transfer listed. I still hadn’t signed a new starting center back but Osho’s departure would help fund that transaction.
I don’t like leaving important transfer business unfinished into August but the circumstances of this season dictate as much. I’m not going to make a quick decision just for the sake of it. There’s still plenty to do before Everton comes to town for the season opener.
