Football Bet of the Day: Bannan’s sad farewell won’t end well

The Championship resumes this weekend and one fixture in particular has caught my eye as a beleaguered Sheffield Wednesday outfit travel to face Bristol City. 

Gerhard Struber’s men are three points off the play-offs and will hope to get back to winning ways on Saturday. Below you can find my Football Bet of the Day for Saturday, January 24.

Bristol City vs Sheffield Wednesday Odds

Bristol City are a decent Championship side, and even though they’ve just sold Anis Mehmeti to Ipswich Town for around £3m, they should have enough to win this game comfortably. This pick isn’t really about Bristol City, however, and the qualities they may or may not have. Right now, I would back every single Championship team to beat Sheffield Wednesday to nil at home, given the state they are in. 

The flaws of their squad are becoming more and more apparent with each passing week, and this looks like it is going to be captain Barry Bannan’s last game for the club. He has reportedly told his teammates that he is leaving, and who can blame him? 

The 36-year-old has made 434 league appearances for the Owls since joining in August 2015, and he stuck with the club this summer despite the challenges they were facing under Dejphon Chansiri. However, now Millwall have come in for him, and due to the uncertainty around the future of Sheffield Wednesday, he has seemingly made the decision to depart.

Football Odds

Wednesday fans are turning up to matches knowing they are going to lose, but more than that, they know the matches are completely inconsequential. They don’t have a squad that is of Championship quality due to the transfer embargos and mismanagement of the club over the summer, and they are getting worse on the pitch.

They’ve now lost their last five games in a row without scoring, and they haven’t scored in their last six. Additionally, this game comes at the end of a tough three-game week, and Wednesday’s small squad is being stretched to its limit with a lack of reinforcements coming in to help them. 

They are waiting for their new future to start under a new owner, but for now, they are in this miserable purgatory - and Bannan’s likely exit suggests there will be more pain coming along the line. On the pitch, they are the whipping boys of the league, and I fully expect another loss to nil on Saturday.

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