Sheffield Wednesday’s current crop of players have come under fire this week from an Owls legend, midfielder Carlton Palmer, following their drastic dip in form.

What’s he said?

On Wednesday night, their misfortune continued as the south Yorkshiremen were defeated 1-0 at Luton Town, making it a run of six defeats and one win in their last nine league outings.

Palmer knows a thing or two about relative success at Hillsborough having played in the top-flight, reached two finals in 1993 with the club and of course, he was widely regarded as a formidable presence and leader in the middle of the pitch.

His comments carry more meaning than your bog-standard pundit or fan, speaking to the Sheffield Star, he said:

“You can spend big money but if they’re not the right players you’re lumbered with them and it’ll last for three or four years.

“One thing that is clear – there are a lot of players on big money not performing. That seems to be a recurring theme for the last three or four years. They (some) don’t look fit to me and that’s apparent because the players don’t play enough games.

“You wouldn’t know what their best starting line-up was.”

Carlton Palmer, former Owls midfielder.

He’s not wrong…

Palmer refers to several players being at the club for the past three to four years, and it is hard to disagree as a good handful have seen managers come and go from Stuart Gray to Carlos Carvalhal’s playoff-making side, to now Garry Monk’s struggling outfit.

It’s hard to pinpoint the exact issue, but when you have such a recurring theme, questions have to be asked of the dressing room.

Fernando Forestieri, for instance, has gone from back-to-back-top goalscorer to managing just 12 goals in three seasons (Transfermarkt) whilst Monk has repeated Jos Luhukay’s decision to drop senior figures like Keiren Westwood and Sam Hutchinson.

The Owls are entering a third decade without top-flight football, and plenty of money has been spent in recent times, as also noted by the former midfielder, yet they still only have a couple of playoff runs to show for it.

Obscure Footballers – Old School edition: Nobody can score more than 70% on this quiz…

After Wednesday’s result, that wait for a return appears likely to get longer as they are now seven points off being in the picture themselves.

And in other news, Sheffield Wednesday fans hammer this PASSENGER after Luton defeat…