I've read and heard a lot the past few weeks from Roberto Di Matteo and it's all been exactly what I would want to hear. I stress the word manager there because Tony Xia has said a lot that I don't want to hear, but judging by his activity of late, I don't follow him but I do check up on him, he's been told how to act now.
But today is when we find out if what was said by the new manager is just all words. Today is an important day for him because this is his team.
And before I get into it, the owner has recently Tweeted that they want 7 or 8 new players. On top of the 4 new players we have, that is bringing in a new team. You all know my views on change and while we are one game in and I'm not going to use Norwich as an example, too much change will keep us in the Championship and I've told you to brace for it.
But for optimism to blossom after one game, all that needs to happen is a convincing away win and you know what, we're in the Championship, we should be able to expect a few of these this season. But today will tell us a lot.
It all starts today
And optimism can blossom today. Yes, we've brought in Championship players, but who is to say that under the right manager who is to say they wouldn't blossom into Premier League players. And how do we know that Premier League clubs were not in for them and they chose Aston Villa so they could get one more season in the Championship and to grow with a team that would hopefully make it to the Premier League the following season?
And if they don't blossom today, we've got Premier League players in Hutton, Lescott, Ayew and Sanchez that could all be starting. Only that we know two of those probably wont be. You know what, it doesn't matter who starts or takes part today, if we have the right manager, we should get the result even though Sheffield Wednesday finished in the play-off positions last season.
If you hadn't guessed, I'm quite nervous. I'm nervous because it is going to be the early matches that determine our season. 25% of the sides in this league will finish in the top 6 - you could argue it's difficult for a Premier League team to not finish in the top 6. You could make that argument, I suspect, quite easily if you were to look at the number of changes each side that was relegated made and then where they ended up next season, but it's just a hunch.
It's all about the performance and result
So I'm going to stop going on about it. I'm going to start instead to bite my nails. I'm going to sit on the edge of my seat for the next few hours. I'm going to convince myself that our manager is going to be the manager of the season and that our owner, that knows very little about football, has got it right the first time of asking.
I'll be back an hour before kick off with team news and then we start updates. Until then, I'm going to do something to take my mind off things.