Born and bred in Ireland. I have no connection to Sheffield whatsoever.
When I was about seven my brother had a Commodore 16 and he bought a football management game. I started playing it and randomly chose a team called Sheff W. It was a couple of years later that I realised that they were actually a real team and I learned what the ‘W’ stood for. I started getting into football then and I had no choice but to follow them.
Growing up most of my friends were Man U or Liverpool fans and I always enjoyed being a bit different despite the relative lack of success and the lack of coverage of Wednesday in Irish media.
I get over to Hillsborough at least once a year now and it’s great to be able to talk to people who know about the players.
Wednesday are a recognizable name here in Ireland but conversations usually start with ‘Wednesday? What division are they in now?’