You've all seen the Mitchell and Webb sketch in which they're dressed as Nazis in the trenches and David Mitchell, upon realising their caps have skulls on them, starts questioning whether they are the bad guys. After Gabriel Otegbayo was booed by a section of the home fans at the weekend, it left me pondering the same.
Wednesday have a chequered past when it comes to booing our own players. Mel Sterland and John Sheridan were regularly booed, but thankfully for us, they had the mental fortitude to fight through and earn their places as club legends.
Others weren't so lucky. Gordon Watson, bizarrely, was booed by Wednesday fans after his famous dive (which he denies) against Leeds United. Then there was the case of Steven Haslam. The England schoolboy captain is a lifelong Wednesdayite and was honoured to realise his dream and don the blue-and-white stripes. His arrival on the scene coincided with one of the worst periods in Wednesday's history as finances led to anyone with a price tag being offloaded. A natural centre back, Haslam was asked to play out of position and found himself at the mercy of the boo boys. He was apparently a nervous wreck before many a home game knowing what was coming.
When someone who has captained his country is left wanting to be anywhere but the pitch of his favourite team, it does make you wonder what the booers think they will achieve. Is the intention to hound the underperforming players out of the club? To force them to up their game or put pressure on the manager not to pick them? Henrik Pedersen described the sarcastic cheers when Iké Ugbo was replaced against Sheffield United as unhelpful, and it's hard to disagree with that assessment.
"They're professionals and should be able to handle criticism," is a common counterpoint to criticism of jeering your own players. That's far too simplistic and ignores the fact that footballers also happen to double up as human beings. Spend five minutes reading through Elon Musk's X feed to see how success in your field does not necessarily lead to happiness when those whose adoration you crave (in Musk's case, his father's; in Ugbo's, the fans') constantly degrade you.
For anyone doubting the effect fan behaviour can have on a player, take a look at Ugbo's Instagram page. Despite still being a Sheffield Wednesday player, he has deleted all photos and mentions of the club.
Incredibly, players have had it easier than managers over the years. After the recent 2-1 win at Peterborough United, I commented on a post from the official club page that hopefully the critics will give Pedersen a bit more support, what with us topping the league and having won four out of five matches. Apparently not. I was soon told that Pedersen was a clown who needs to go and that we'd "only just beaten" Peterborough. I wonder if those fans had supported Arsenal's Invincibles, would they have called the number of draws unacceptable? Impressed by Djokovic's twenty-four Grand Slam titles? Nah, the loser lost eleven finals.
And after last Saturday's 0-0 draw against Wigan (which maintained our position at the top of the table)? A litany of comments on Instagram calling for Pedersen to go.
Never was this odd insistence on perfection more audible than during Darren Moore's reign. To recount, in the 2022-23 season, Wednesday scored more goals than all but two clubs in the division, conceded less than a goal a game and put 96 points on the board, more than any other season in the club's 159-year history. Despite this, there were constant calls throughout the season for Moore to be sacked, so much so that you question whether Sheffield United fans are in cahoots with the Kremlin and paying for bots that counter every good bit of news coming out of Hillsborough.
And the chants aimed at the players after the first-leg defeat to Peterborough in that record-breaking season? "You're not fit to wear the shirt."
Are other fanbases like this? I don't know, but my gut instinct is that most are nowhere near this negative. Not every Wednesday fan, or even the majority, is this cynical, but this sizeable, vocal minority ensures the negativity is always heard.
Which is a shame. The second leg against Peterborough showed just how helpful a positive atmosphere can be. Would Wednesday have completed the greatest comeback in play-off history in an empty, Covid-era stadium? I don't think so. Buoyed by Moore's rallying call on the big screen before the game, the atmosphere that night was one of unbridled positivity from kick-off, which, surprise, surprise, turned out to be more effective than booing them.
For the record, I don't think Gabriel Otegbayo is, despite a solid performance on Saturday, good enough for our first team. Not yet. But I, for one, will not be booing him as I kind of want Sheffield Wednesday to do well and won't take part in behaviour that is counterproductive to that.
Let's try and not be the baddies.