Some Sheffield Wednesday fans were unimpressed by the former Everton man’s social media activity.
Jordan Thorniley’s emergence is perhaps the most pleasant surprise of Jos Luhukay’s reign as Sheffield Wednesday manager. The former Everton defender signed a new three-and-a-half-year contract on Thursday, having started three league games for Wednesday and appeared from the bench in two others.
Had Thorniley not turned out in the FA Cup for loan club Accrington Stanley earlier this season, it’s reasonable to assume he’d have made several more Owls outings.
Even so, it’s a situation Thorniley would have been forgiven for thinking may have never arrived, after some Sheffield Wednesday supporters called for his release as recently as five months ago.
The 21-year-old had been away from Hillsborough, at Accrington, for barely a month when he sent a congratulatory tweet to Sheffield United player David Brooks, after the latter – a close childhood friend of Thorniley – had shone in the Blades’ Steel City derby victory at the home of the Owls.
The backlash which followed led Thorniley to delete his account altogether, although, lucky for him, most Wednesday supporters had either forgotten or were too concerned about the more pressing matters at Hillsborough to care, by the time Everton-groomed player re-emerged – ironically as a substitute in the season’s second derby at Bramall Lane.
Thorniley’s performances since then have more than made up for his Twitter faux-pas, and allowed him to complete a once-unthinkable turnaround.
How far can the former Everton defender go at Sheffield Wednesday?
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