Will Sheffield Wednesday ever leave Hillsborough? West Ham example raised as warning | OneFootball

FLW's Sheffield Wednesday fan pundit has given his verdict on what the future should hold for Hillsborough

This article is part of Football League World's 'Terrace Talk' series, which provides personal opinions from our FLW Fan Pundits regarding the latest breaking news, teams, players, managers, potential signings and more…

Hillsborough has been the home of Sheffield Wednesday since the end of the 19th Century.

However, the Yorkshire outfit have been unable to fill the stadium this season due to the North Stand being shut down.

Financial issues have plagued the Championship side under owner Dejphon Chansiri, and the club’s home ground has been a victim of his mismanagement.

When fully capable of taking a capacity crowd, Hillsborough can hold a bigger attendance than any other stadium in the entire Championship, but it remains to be seen how long fans will have to wait before that day comes again.

Supporters will be hoping that a new owner will put some work into either repairing and redeveloping the ground, or building an entirely new stadium to mark a new era for the team.

Sheffield Wednesday’s stadium conundrum

When asked about the situation surrounding Hillsborough, FLW’s Sheffield Wednesday fan pundit Patrick McKenna claimed it’s a difficult one for the club.

He admitted that he’d hate to see the team move away from their traditional home, but accepted that it might be the best option in the long run in case their current stadium cannot be repaired in a practical fashion.

“It is a real tough question, and it’s one that does tug at the heartstrings,” McKenna told Football League World.

“I suppose I’m a real traditionalist in a football sense, and a real emotional attachment to Hillsborough, it’s been our home stadium for years.

“I’ve always known it as home, and moving somewhere completely new, I know there could be benefits to it but, if possible, I would want to redevelop Hillsborough.

“However, we’ve seen it’s fallen into disrepair and it may not be practical to try and repair it, so it might be a necessary evil to try and move to a new ground.

“As I said, emotionally, my heart would say no, but if it came to it, then so be it.”

McKenna has warned the next Sheffield Wednesday owner that any move to a new stadium must be done properly, citing West Ham’s switch to the London Stadium as an example to learn from: “But we’d need to make sure that we do the move properly.

“I don’t want to be sitting in another soulless bowl, kind of in the middle of nowhere, away from local pubs and takeaways, and the scene.

“Take the example of West Ham, they moved away from their traditional home and yeah, they’ve got a 60k stadium but they hate it and it’s just been completely removed from the community.

“So, I think in the future we will move but I don’t think that’s going to be something that will happen straight away for new owners.

“But it probably will be on a to-do list, because Hillsborough’s probably not been given enough love in recent years.

“So it’s quite possibly past the state of repair, which is very sad but I suppose such is life.”

Sheffield Wednesday have endured a difficult start to the season, with the team all but certain to suffer relegation due to a 12 point deduction penalty handed to them for going into administration.

Henrik Pedersen’s side are bottom of the Championship table, and will start November with a negative points tally.

Hillsborough issue should be high on the priority list for new Sheffield Wednesday owner

Hillsborough needs to at least be repaired to the point where they can operate with a full capacity again as soon as possible.

That should be a top priority for the next Sheffield Wednesday, whoever they may be.

Once that is resolved, there will be too many other issues to get sorted before any other immediate plans can be made regarding their home stadium.

Supporters will surely prefer to stay at Hillsborough given the history they have with the venue, so any plans that can develop on the existing property would be a good start for the next era for the Owls.