Can’t deny Rohl comes out of last season with credit.
That was a little unique in so much that Xisco had such an appalling start. The bar was set very low.
In many ways it was a free hit with nil expectation. They were immensely fortunate too. Outlandish gimmes away at QPR (clearance smashed into Wednesday player results in goal) and Blackburn (keeper air shot from back pass) to name but two, which wouldn’t be out in place in park football. Without those two victories alone they would have been down by a point.
This year they have flirted with higher. But not for that long.
He’s going to deliver possibly the second worst if not worst home record ever.
He’s lost both derbies.
They’ll finish well below where their wage bill ranks them in terms of resources.
All his cash buys have failed.
Now they will still finish higher up so that can be seen as progress. But it isn’t progress that demands such reverence. It’s Nigel Clough type steady Eddy progress.
He’s dealt with no way near the amount of nonsense Hecky had to deal with, for example, including getting nobody in January to support a promotion push, two failed takeovers even before you see Berge and Ndiaye leaving the following summer.
He’s had late wages by one week. He didn’t get a centre half in January, when he signed two others. Maybe he should have prioritised one?
Then there’s the building blocks. In 3 windows who has he signed as pillars of the team? United brought Burrows and Cooper for instance. He bought in Ugbo who has failed dramatically. Are Valery and Lowe players who he can build a team around? I’m not seeing it.
They still rely heavily on Bannan and have a large amount of staff out of contract. Perhaps by design, but they are starting again from scratch and there were clearly opportunities to offload Johnson, Smith, Windass etc if they wanted to reshape the team.
Is he better than the last incumbent? Absolutely
Has he done a good job for Wednesday? Yes
Has his point per game regressed this season after his initial impact? Yes
Has he built a style of his own? Doesn’t really seem so. I’ve seen them both declare as good merchants and recently they guy Symon suggested the middle of the park stuff had been good. He’s played 3 at the back and 4 at the back. Fine line between tactical flexibility and simply not knowing what to do best.
To me he’s done a good job, it his rep outstrips his actual achievement right now, but given they have been so starved of success you can understand it.