A new season and as is becoming common place at Hillsborough; a new manager. With what many people believe will be his final throw of the dice as Chairman of Sheffield Wednesday, the much maligned Dave Allen has axed Brian Laws, replacing him with virtual unknown and lifelong Sheffield Wednesday fan, Jonathan Wolstenholme.

Following on from last season’s impressive ninth placed finish, former Scunthorpe manager Laws is said to be despondent at being axed just eight months into his managerial tenure. With dwindling attendances and a massive twenty six million pound debt to negotiate, the new manager is going to have his work cut out restoring this once great club to what the fans feel is their rightful place amongst England’s elite.

As I walked out onto the turf at Hillsborough I felt a mixture of excitement and sadness. I was overjoyed at landing the job of manager at the club I had supported since I was a boy. However, I couldn’t help but feel sad at the state the club was in today - an average Championship club, the best they could hope for was to stave off the threat of relegation for another season.

But now it was my job to turn it all around. Gone were the days of the Sheridan’s, Waddle’s and Carbone’s off this world. This was a very different club from the one I grew up watching, one that would require a major overhaul to bring back the glory days to it’s long suffering fans.

My first job was to implant my own personality onto the team, bringing in players who could make a difference on the pitch. Armed with a meagre 375k transfer budget, this wasn’t going to be easy. I was going to have to beg, borrow and steal players so that I could put out a team who could be competitive in the Championship.

After a few days of watching the players in training, I had a pretty good idea of their main strengths and weaknesses, and which players would be willing to fight for the cause. With this in mind, my first job was to tell Yohan Folly, Peter Gilbert, Burton O’Brien and Deon Burton that they did not feature in my plans for the team and were free to leave the club.

A few weeks down the line and the new look Sheffield Wednesday is beginning to take shape. Four loan signings have been brought in from some of Europe’s elite clubs. The likes of Alexandre Pato (Milan), Jeffren Suarez (Barcelona), Abou Diaby (Arsenal) and Jack Hobbs (Liverpool) have all joined on season long loans. The capture of such high profile youngsters has lead to a renewed optimism around the club, season ticket sales are up, resulting in extra transfer funds being made available, with the kitty now standing at 1.5 million.

As pre season comes to an end, my team have performed excellently in their friendly matches, remaining unbeaten and gaining a credible 0-0 draw at home to European giants Chelsea.

We have decided to go with an attacking 4-1-3-2 formation for the new season, with an emphasis on being a team that is easy on the eye and plays good football, but more importantly gets results.

However, with the new season looming on the horizon, my team are under no illusions about the size of the task ahead of them. Our first priority has to be to avoid relegation and then everything else will be a bonus.