First there was an invitation to dinner, a handshake and a discussion about the protocol of nicknames when David Hirst met David Storch.
‘Is it David or Dave or is it Hirsty?’ the American millionaire plotting to buy Sheffield Wednesday wanted to know. ‘Hirsty’s good enough for me, and then we’ll know who you’re talking to,’ replied the local hero, scorer of 149 goals across 11 years at Hillsborough from 1986.
‘Well, that’s great, because my name’s Storchy.’
This was March, soon after Storch’s Arise consortium became the preferred bidder to buy the Owls out of administration after a ruinous decade under the ownership of Dejphon Chansiri.
When they met again, it was at the West Bromwich Albion game in May.
‘A fantastic carnival atmosphere, exactly how it should be every game at Hillsborough,’ says Hirst. ‘He came into the guest lounge, and everybody is Mr Chairman this and that, and I’m like, “Hey, Storchy, over here, mate”.
Sheffield Wednesday legend David Hirst is back at the club and in a bar bearing his name
Hirst was invited back from exile under the new ownership of American David Storch
Storch is helping to rebuild Wednesday in League One after a ruinous decade under the ownership of Dejphon Chansiri, pictured
‘Even to me it felt a bit wrong, but he did give me permission to use it.’
Wednesday are reborn under Storch. Not only on the pitch, where Henrik Pedersen’s team sit top of League One after six games, but more importantly off it, where the new owners have embraced the club’s history and the city’s heritage to re-energise one of the great clubs of northern football.
‘We met just before the takeover in a little restaurant in Sheffield,’ recalls Hirst. ‘We had a great chat about plans they had if the takeover came to fruition. I was sold from the start.
‘It was all about reconnecting and finding out who and what they needed to know to get our club back where it belongs.
‘They’ve come with such a positive attitude into what was to be honest an absolute s***storm.’
Besides installing a serious executive team and recruiting 18 new players, including the return of Barry Bannan, the new owners restored the 1970s owl as the club crest and struck a kit deal with Umbro to produce a classic home kit with blue-and-white stripes and black shorts.
Another popular move involved luring Hirst out of exile and back to Hillsborough as club ambassador.
What better way to tempt a Yorkshireman who likes a pint than to give him his own bar in the heart of the South Stand.
Sheffield Wednesday are top of League One after recruiting 18 new players, including bringing back Barry Bannan to the club
A bar has been named in honour of Hirst, scorer of 149 goals across 11 years at Hillsborough from 1986
‘I don’t know how the other lads felt but I wasn’t welcome after my previous adventures with Mr Chansiri,’ says Hirst, alluding to the row surrounding his son George, now at Stoke, in 2018 after an unseemly contract dispute.
‘Things were well documented from one side and that was Mr Chansiri’s side. He embellished and elaborated on things that weren’t true and it wasn’t something I was prepared to slug out in public, so I walked away.
‘We weren’t the bitter ones. We understood George had to leave through situations beyond our control. I was still a Wednesday fan. I still watched from afar. I’m a blue, George is a blue.
‘Thankfully it worked out well for both of us and now it’s great to be back.
‘It was a no-brainer for me. I’d been away for 10 years and to come back and the welcome I received… the only thing missing was the fatted calf.’
Hirst is in his natural habitat. Hirsty’s Social opened at the start of this season. It is a casual corporate vibe with the focus on pies and ale rather than prawn sandwiches, and with fans mingling, chatting, keeping an eye on the live sport rather than wedding reception table service, all of which goes down well with the man with his name above the door.
‘Come on, get the tellies on,’ shouts Hirst as he strolls into his bar three hours before kick-off on Saturday against Wigan with news from Edgbaston that Joe Root has played on only to be reprieved by a no-ball call in the Test against Pakistan and keen to catch up on the Solheim Cup latest.
He is engulfed by requests for selfies and autographs, resisting offers to buy him another pint. Well, some of them. He greets those he knows with a bear hug.
‘Anyone who was here against Bromley, yes I am wearing the same clothes,’ admits Hirst as he addresses his audience. ‘Yes, I have washed them before you ask, but we all liked the 7-2 win, so I thought I’d give it another go.’
Hirst had walked away from the club after a row surrounding his son George, now at Stoke, in 2018 after an unseemly contract dispute with Chansiri
Hirst, 40 years on from joining the Owls, believes the club is more Sheffield centric than it has been in years under its American owners
Last month marked 40 years since he joined the Owls from Barnsley for £250,000. ‘Thanks for the reminder,’ the 58-year-old rolls his eyes. ‘I’ve been here so long I know virtually everybody in the stadium.
‘It’s nice to come and have a drink with some of them and chat about yesteryear or what’s happening going forward.
‘We’ve had a good start. If we’d got beat every game it might be different but everybody coming in here has a smile on their face.’
The room is dominated by an enormous ‘WEDNESDAY’ sign which once adorned the back of the West Stand. It was found unused and unloved beneath the stand and has been repurposed to hang over the bar.
There are plans to decorate the walls with Hirst’s old shirts and photographs and other memorabilia, including his original contract, also unearthed among the piles of old documents.
Brecht Vierstraete, an artist and a Wednesday fan from Belgium, appears with a gift, a framed portrait of Hirst who promises it will go on display.
Among his guests are former players Mel Sterland and Rodger Wylde. Somehow Wylde topples from a small stage during a brief Q&A session on the microphone and returns smiling and thankfully unhurt and tells the American owners they’re going to be need a bigger stage, only to be admonished by Hirst for bringing the x-rated language of the dressing room into his bar.
The soundtrack is peppered with Sheffield music. There’s beer from the nearby Thornbridge brewery and fine pies by local bakers Jackson’s. The logos and emblems stitched into the carpets have all been designed by creative agency Peter & Paul in Kelham Island, a mile or so from Hillsborough.
Last month marked 40 years since Hirst (pictured battling Denis Irwin in 1997) joined the Owls from Barnsley for £250,000
Sheffield pop artist Pete McKee presented Storch with an original painting at the first home game of the season against Bradford. ‘This place has had three licks of paint since 1966, and now we’re getting murals and paintings on the wall,’ says Hirst.
The McKee painting, which now hangs in the boardroom, is of Storch in his Wednesday stripes, meta shades and a garland around his neck, an image taken from the West Brom game when the new owner walked out to tell a full house he had completed the takeover and convinced the EFL to waive the 15-point penalty they expected this season.
As far as first impressions go, it was emphatic. Hillsborough erupted and the aviation tycoon had lift off although Wednesday’s identity under its new American owners is more Sheffield centric than it has been for years.
It is one of the vital differences. When Chansiri bought the club in 2015, he spent heavily on players and reached the play-off final, one win from returning to the Premier League, but they lost the game, broke the EFL’s financial rules, suffered points deductions and descended into crisis.
By the time the administrators moved in, it was an empty shell of a club.
‘I’ve seen Storchy and other members of his staff in and around the city,’ says Hirst. ‘They’ve been at Sunday League football, non-league football, in the city shaking hands and speaking to people. That never happened before.
‘With Mr Chansiri, it was his box and that was that. There was no input or output. He ran things the way he saw fit and the guy spent a hell of a lot of money, but you can’t buy dreams like that.
Hirst is in his natural habitat in the new bar, which has a casual corporate vibe with the focus on chatting with fans
‘He thought you could come from nowhere and run a football club his way. It turned out spending a vast amount of money wasn’t the right way. The right way is to get the knowledge around you and listen to the right people.’
Hirst’s attire fails to inspire another win so the Owls settle for a goalless draw against Wigan, enough to keep them top and remind everyone about the dangers of getting carried away.
Wednesday are building from scratch under strict EFL spending restrictions.
‘Let’s not kid ourselves,’ says Hirst. ‘We were weeks if not days from going under. We’ve an old ground that needs some care. They’re working on it.
‘Things are not going to be perfect this season on or off the field. Hopefully, it’s good but I come from the real world, and I’ve been around football for long enough to know there’s no magic wand in this game.’
