What do we know about Eddie Nolan?

Wednesday added a new player to the ranks today, signing Preston’s Eddie Nolan on loan until the end of the season. So what do we know about our new recruit?

Age

21

Height

6’0″

Position

Eddie’s natural position is at centre back. However at Preston he played in every position in the back four, mostly filling in at Left Back for the injured Callum Davidson.

Previous Clubs

Nolan began his career at premier league side Blackburn Rovers, where he played regular in the reserves. He did manage a couple of first team outings in the cup and Europa League (formally Uefa cup).

While at Blackburn he had two brief spells away from the club, going on loan to Stockport County and then Hartlepool United in 2007.

In 2009 he signed an initial loan deal at championship side Preston, before completing a permanent move in January 2009, Moving to Deepdale for an undisclosed fee. He has made 39 appearances for the Lillywhites, and has never scored a league goal.

He has made a total of 56 career appearances to date.

International

Eddie Nolan is now a full Republic of Ireland international, with 3 caps to his name. The defender made his full international debut in February last year against Georgia.

Nolan has been capped at all levels for Ireland, Including the under 21s, where he gained 12 caps and also captained the side.

OwlsNews would like to welcome Eddie Nolan to the club and hope he can help the club to a victory on Saturday!

Good Luck Eddie!

BREAKING NEWS: Owls sign defender

Sheffield Wednesday have completed the signing of Preston defender Eddie Nolan, 21, on loan until the end of the season.

SWFC.CO.UK has confirmed that the Republic of Ireland international has joined the Owls and will be eligible to play against Preston on March 16th.

Nolan, who has 3 caps for his country, began his career with Blackburn and played in the Uefa Cup for Rovers.

After an initial loan spell, He signed a permanent deal with Preston in January 2009 and has made 39 appearances for the Lillywhites.

Having also had spells with Stockport and Hartlepool, Nolan, who can play anywhere in the back four, is certainly not short of experience despite being only 21.

He will go straight into the Owls squad to face Ipswich tomorrow and will wear squad number 32 for the duration of his loan.

Contracts decision time nears…

Clarke - out of contract in the summer

Leon Clarke is one of TWELVE players who are currently waiting for Owls boss Alan Irvine to decide their futures.

Clarke, Francis Jeffers, Frank Simek, Michael Gray, Etienne Esajas, Luke Boden, Sean McAllister, Rocky Lekaj, Richard O’Donnell and Arron Jameson are all out of contract in the summer. While the future’s of loanee’s Luke Varney and Tom Soares will also need to be resolved.

Irvine says that the task of sorting out contracts, is on his ‘to-do’ list, however he added that nothing would be decided until he’s seen those players play.

You would think that full-back Simek, 25, should be entitled to a renewed contract after impressing in recent weeks, whilst covering for the injured Lewis Buxton.

Owls loanee Luke Varney

As for the others, It could easily go either way. Francis Jeffers is currently out with a hamstring problem, and will be hoping to get back to fitness as soon as possible in order to try and stake his claim. Clarke has been involved regularly since Irvine took charge, and scored the vital winning goal at Blackpool in January. While Dutch winger Esajas, a player with plenty of flair and potential, has found his opportunities limited in recent weeks. The younger players will also be hoping to impress Alan in the end of season run-in.

One player’s future though, has in effect already been decided by the club. Striker Akpo Sodje, also out of contract in the summer, signed for Charlton on loan until the end of the season in the January transfer window, with the Addicks having agreed to take control of Sodje’s contract from then on, subject to the 29 year old making a certain number of appearances for the London side.

Loanee Luke Varney is a player that the Wednesday boss has admired since he was in his early days at Crewe. So Irvine could look at signing the striker, 27, on a permanent basis in the summer. Varney is the Owls 2nd top scorer this season, with 7 goals. Tom Soares, on loan from stoke, has also made an impact since Irvine was appointed, starting every game and scoring 1 goal. However, Irvine will have to take into account his transfer budget, when deciding on the future’s of these two.

Don’t forget that this summer it will be YOU who helps to decide Alan Irvine’s budget for next season. Lee Strafford has said that for every 1,000 season tickets sold, £400,000 will be added to the ‘fooball budget’. You can book your seat for next season now on the official Sheffield Wednesday online store, by simply clicking on the banner below!

Owls linked with Gainsborough defender

Wednesday were last night being linked with a move for Gainsborough Trinity defender Anthony Peters. The Lincolnshire echo were reporting that the 6’4″ American centre back, is expected to sign for the Owls in the summer.

Peters has played for no fewer than 9 different clubs in his career, including 2 loan spells. After starting out his professional career at U.S side Carolina Dynamo, The 26 year old got his big break in 2009, signing for Major League Soccer’s DC United. However, he was loan out twice to Harrisburg City and Richmond Kickers in the same year. He then returned to United to find out that he had no future at the club, after making  just 1 appearance for the Washington based side.

He joined Newport County of the Blue Square south in December 2009, on a short term deal. It was also announced that Peters would sign for Mansfield on the 1st of January 2010. However, Stags boss David Holdsworth then went back on the deal, saying that Peters had “priced himself out of a move” due to his high wage demands.

Finally, Gainsborough boss Brian Little signed the towering defender towards end of the January transfer window, where Peters put pen to paper on a deal until the end of the season.

If anything concrete comes out in the press regarding Anthony Peters it will also be posted on OwlsNews.

The OwlsNews team.

Varney wants Owls stay

On loan striker Luke Varney says that he would “love” to stay full-time at Hillsborough when his current temporary spell comes to an end in the summer.

In an interview with the Yorkshire Post, Varney, 27, says that he is delighted to be back with Owls, but also admits his concerns that a dream move back to Wednesday would not happen, after Alan Irvine took charge at S6.  Varney said, “With a new manager coming in I was a bit worried, as I’d never really crossed paths with Alan.”

“Reg” has now scored 3 goals in his last 2 games with Wednesday and will be hoping to continue his recent scoring run, when the Owls take on Blackpool tomorrow night.

So fellow Wednesdayites, would you like Luke to stay permanently in the summer? Go to the the OwlsNews forum now to add your opinion!

LATEST: Sodje could have gone to Rovers

Wednesday Striker Akpo Sodje rejoined Charlton Athletic on transfer deadline day… But he could have gone somewhere else.

According to Bristol Rovers Director of football, Lennie Laurence, Sodje was a player that the Pirates missed out on signing on deadline day.

Whilst a loan deal had been agreed, Akpo instead decided to rejoin the club he had previously spent 1 month on loan at, agreeing a deal at the Addicks until the end of the season. It is not known whether a move to Bristol would have been with a view to a permanent transfer.

Sodje, 29, Is expected to complete a full transfer to Charlton at the end of the season.

Onismor Bhasera – What is happening?

Over the past week or so, Sheffield Wednesday have been linked with Kaizer Chiefs’ (no not the band!) full back Onismor Bhasera,23. But it seems we are being given mixed reports…

On deadline day it was revealed on the Kaizer Chiefs official website that the Owls had been in contact regarding  Bhasera, and that a deal had been agreed. But a move for Bhasera, who has been on trial at Portsmouth and QPR, never materialized before the 5pm deadline and it looked like the deal was dead. Today, Reports in the mirror stated that he had in fact failed a medical ahead of his ‘dream move’ which seemed to confirm that Bhasera, a Zimbabwe international, would not be joining Wednesday. Chief’s coach Bobby Motaung said; “Bhasera failed a medical test. They discovered that he has an injury, which has something to do with his knee. I don’t know where he got it, maybe from one of the teams like Portsmouth that he’s been training with (since leaving Chiefs at the end of last season),”

However, reports in the local media in the last few hours state that a deal is not dead and that Bhasera will complete a move to the Owls in the next 48 hours.

My personal view is that this deal will not happen and it is simply a case of the players’ agent working overtime in order to secure Bhasera a move.

But, I Suppose it’ll be a case of lets wait and see…

Report by Chris Lewis