Chris Powell will have the lads getting into serious preparation today for the Sheffield Wednesday home game.
It’s a fantastic match to have on our agenda for this coming Saturday and, don’t forget, it’s a 12.15pm kick-off because Sky TV are showing the game live.
I’ve been highly delighted with how we’ve performed in our recent run of matches and it’s just unfortunate we had tough away trips to Derby County and Fulham falling back-to-back within a few days of each other.
The fact Derby hammered Wolves 5-0 in their last outing shows what a good performance we put up against them at Pride Park (or whatever it’s called now!) and, although I didn’t go to Fulham, I’m told we played pretty well and probably deserved a point.
Before that, of course, we were on a seven-match unbeaten run including a highly impressive 3-0 home win against Nottingham Forest in our last game at the John Smith’s.
And if we can reproduce that sort of form this coming Saturday, then I’m sure there will be very few complaints.
This two-week international break has given the gaffer and his staff chance to work on a few things and to allow the players to recharge their batteries after a very demanding spell.
To have such a high-profile derby on our return to action is fantastic, the atmosphere will be tremendous as Wednesday are sure to have a sell-out following, and with it being a live game on TV it always adds extra spice.
Our fans will be determined to out-sing the travelling support, so I’m really looking forward to it.
I can’t say the same thing, unfortunately, about tomorrow night’s international friendly between England and Scotland at Celtic Park.
It was back in 1984 that the home internationals finished as a regular feature of the football calendar, but I have to admit that international friendlies are pretty much a turn-off for me.
No disrespect, but I would imagine the Scots will be a lot more determined to make a point tomorrow night than England will be, and the fixture will be a lot more low-key than it was 30 or 40 years ago.
Back in those days, Scotland qualified for the World Cup twice when England didn’t and they had a top team including world-class stars like Kenny Dalglish, Denis Law, Graeme Souness, Billy Bremner, Archie Gemmell and Joe Jordan who, of course, worked here at Town.
England, at the moment, are 20th in the FIFA World Rankings while Scotland have improved a lot under Gordan Strachan and have moved up to 37th, so they’ll be fancying their chances.
