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Sheffield Wednesday: Frank Simek interview
The brave new world at Hillsborough under Alan Irvine is already proving a rewarding one and, whisper it gently, Frank Simek is looking forward to playing his full part – at long last.
The American full-back was handed his first start under the Scot at Nottingham Forest last Saturday after becoming the unwitting beneficiary of Lewis Buxton's hamstring injury sustained in the recent 2-1 victory over Plymouth Argyle.
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It remains to be seen if it can yield an extended first-team run for the 25-year-old, who has had a fair few false dawns in the past two seasons, which can be succinctly summed up by the phrase "stop-start".
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Simek has made just seven Championship starts this term – and had to wait until October 31 for his first one under old boss Brian Laws – having been made available for loan in early autumn after playing second fiddle to Buxton.
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It followed a stuttering 2008-09 when he made the starting line-up just four times, although in mitigation, he was coming off the back of a horrendous 18-month injury jinx, with his nightmare kicking in when he damaged ankle ligaments at Selhurst Park in December 2007.
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Given all that, it's understandable the St Louis-born ace, who joined the Owls from Arsenal in the summer of 2005, is hedging his bets as to whether his recent first-team recall is the start of better times ahead and a prolonged run in the side.
He sincerely hopes it will be, although he insists the priority at the moment is the greater Wednesday good.
Simek, a shoe-in at right-back for nigh on two-and-a-half seasons – and a massively popular one at that – before his injury hell kicked in, said: "It's a chance for me to play now and I'm aiming to grasp it.
"Obviously, I was disappointed not to be in his starting side for the first game (under Irvine), but you've always got to be on your toes for a chance when it comes and hopefully that is a sign of better times to come – we'll see.
"Hopefully, I can do well. But the most important thing is for the team to keep getting points to pull away from the relegation zone as quickly as possible.
"We're in a run of three home games on the bounce and we've got to pick up some serious points. But the confidence is there and the boys are up for it and I hope I can play my part."
The Owls have looked a side transformed in the past month or so under the diligent, leave-nothing-to-chance management of Irvine, whose fastidious work on the training ground and in the video analysis suite has yielded a glorious return of five wins from seven matches.
Irvine took charge at Hillsborough on January 9 with injustice still burning in his nostrils following his surprise post-Christmas sacking at Preston North End.
And the Lilywhites' loss is proving the Owls' gain, with Wednesday starting to display a mean organisational streak under Irvine, who has helped make them much harder to beat pretty much overnight.
A tidy haul of 15 points from a possible 21 is pretty impressive in anyone's language and Irvine's expert restoration job rightly culminated in him being named January's Championship manager of the month. Eyecatching wins at the difficult hunting grounds of Oakwell and Bloomfield Road provided the gloss to a scintillating first month in charge for the new boss, but just as important were bread-and-butter home victories over relegation-rivals Peterborough United and Plymouth.
The win over Posh on January 23 represented the Owls' first in seven home matches since mid-October and fellow triumphs at S6 against struggling Argyle and Blackpool – beaten 2-0 on Tuesday night – suggest the home malaise could finally be over.
The Owls are now looking forward to this week's home double-header with Doncaster Rovers and Ipswich Town with genuine confidence, when a few months ago, they were nowhere near as chipper.
A first clean sheet since early November in the midweek victory over Pool – you have to go back to October 17 for their previous one at home – has given the emboldened Owls a further spring in their step.
Three points against Ian Holloway's play-off chasers also helped
partially make up for Saturday's desperately unlucky 2-1 loss at title candidates Forest, when a controversial penalty awarded against them massively hampered their hopes.
And while Irvine has been quick to heap praise on his troops for their upturn, it's clear he fully deserves his share of the praise.
Simek said: "He's very meticulous with his preparation using videos and the scouting reports and everything.
"He prepares us to the best he can and we've got a really good shape about us at the minute. It's really improved and it's shown in the results.
"We're certainly harder to play against and break down these days, as we showed on Tuesday.
"The new gaffer, Rob (Kelly) and Billy (Barr) have impressed everybody at the club, the players included, and he's been rewarded with being named manager of the month. Hopefully, we can keep performing for him the way we have been doing and keep putting points on the board.
"The win over Blackpool was good as the Forest result was a bit hard on us, I thought we played well.
"We limited them to just a few opportunities and I can't really remember Granty (Lee Grant) making a save.
"I thought we played really well at a difficult place against a team who are third in the league and we were disappointed to come away from the game and not at least take a point back.
"Especially in the circumstances when we came back from a goal down and the referee made a mistake with the penalty decision. We then got back in the game and then conceded from the free-kick and it was a frustrating day."
Simek's beloved USA take part in their sixth straight World Cup finals in South Africa in the summer and while it remains the longest of shots for the full-back to gatecrash the party and earn a seat on the plane, the last thing he is doing is giving up.
Simek, capped five times by his country – making his debut against Guatemala in March 2007 – added: "I've not heard anything from them, no. But I haven't given up, you never know what is going to happen.
"I'm just concentrating on playing for Sheffield Wednesday right now.
"Hopefully, it will get recognised elsewhere and to get called up to a camp before the World Cup would be great.
"But the priority is doing well for the club."
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Weather for Leeds
Saturday 11 February 2012
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Temperature: -2 C to 0 C
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