Championship

Sheffield Wednesday: Efan Ekoku claims Paul Jewell was ‘out of his depth’ during his time as manager

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Image for Sheffield Wednesday: Efan Ekoku claims Paul Jewell was ‘out of his depth’ during his time as manager

Speaking on the latest instalment of The Wednesday ‘Til I Die podcast, former Sheffield Wednesday striker Efan Ekoku claimed Paul Jewell was ‘out of his depth’ when he took charge of the club. 

The former Owl joined the South Yorkshire side from Swiss outfit Grasshoppers in 2000.

However, his first campaign wasn’t the easiest of seasons for Wednesday as the club were going through a difficult time trying to avoid relegation from the second tier of English football.

Peter Shreeves departed the club after just nine games in charge, leading to Jewell’s arrival after impressing in his first management role with Bradford City, but the retired Nigeria international believes the step up came too soon for the Englishman.

He said: “Second job Wednesday, no disrespect to Bradford but, you know, Wednesday are a much, much bigger club, aren’t they? You know, we raised the profile, and he was out of his depth, in terms of handling everything that was going on.

“If you’ve got a good coach, who maybe is not adept at handling what’s going on behind the scenes, at least if he can just manage the team well enough and get the team to play and build an identity and, you know, impose his personality onto the players and his group of, you know, get guys performing, then transmits to the crowd, it becomes a good place.

“At least on match day, on a Saturday or Wednesday night or Tuesday evening or whatever the occasion happens to be, and then you can forget that you will forget the other side, people can take care of that, people can see that you’re doing your job, as a coach, who can see that the players doing their jobs as well, results are coming in and the team are moving up the table.

“But if you can’t do that, if you can’t handle all what’s going on, for a young coach, it’s very difficult.”

TIF Thoughts on Sheffield Wednesday…

Despite a turbulent campaign, which saw Jewell last only eight months before Shreeves returned for a second spell in charge, Wednesday managed to avoid the drop in 2000/01, finishing in 17th position.

The Owls dropped into the third tier in 2003 before immediately winning promotion but have failed to return to the Premier League since their departure 21 years ago.

Their fortunes have hardly improved since, and for a side that has won four top-flight titles, three FA Cups and one League Cup, fighting relegation in the Championship is a sorry state of affairs.

In other news: Kalvin Phillips’ latest tweet has left lots of Leeds fans buzzing

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