"Not easy" - Cam Dawson speaks on relationship with Sheffield Wednesday support | OneFootball

Having left the Owls after fourteen years, Cameron Dawson opens up about the highs and lows of a long Wednesday tenure

Rotherham United goalkeeper Cameron Dawson has spoken on his relationship with fans at former club Sheffield Wednesday and how it made him the player he is today.

Dawson, having been born in Sheffield, joined his hometown club aged fifteen.

In June this year, Dawson ended his 14-year stint with the club, making the eight-mile pilgrimage from Hillsborough to Rotherham's New York Stadium.

His lengthy tenure, including a succession of loan spells, inevitably came with a platitude of highs and lows for the shot-stopper.

With his Wednesday career behind him, Dawson is reflective of his time representing the blue-and-white half of his beloved hometown, as he would open up to a fellow member of the goalkeepers union this week.

Cameron Dawson found Sheffield Wednesday 'all-consuming'

In what was a treat for any South Yorkshire-based football supporter, Dawson appeared on the goalkeeper-specific podcast series, Yours Mine Away.

Speaking to fellow League One shot-stopper, Wrexham's Mark Howard, the 29-year-old was candid in reminiscing on a topsy-turvy Sheffield Wednesday career.

Dawson spoke of how he struggled with the almost claustrophobic pressure and added emotion of playing for the club he had grown up with, and how he wished he had prepared himself better mentally for the challenge:

He said: "They were tough times, Obviously [Sheffield Wednesday are] a huge club that weren't shy in letting you know you'd dipped below a certain standard. Which is not easy as a young boy.

"All my mates were Sheffield Wednesday fans, either that or Sheffield United fans. So it's all-consuming.

"So yeah, I'd have loved to have gone into that having already built up some structure in how I wanted to go about it, you know, mentally."

He also spoke fondly of the positives of living his childhood dream.

Dawson said: "I was just learning on the job, but again, some of the experiences I had as a young boy, going to Villa Park, winning, going to Elland Road, winning, clean sheet at Bramall Lane. These were incredible moments.

"I look back now and I think, yeah, that is top

"To be honest, I'm proud of the fact I have had to come back a few times. I've had to go out and rebuild myself and come back, and that's something I'm really happy with in my career and how it's gone.

"Listen, we all want a straight road to the top, but it doesn't very often happen. The rebuilding stages are the stages in my career that I've really enjoyed as well."

Dawson's story is an inspiring one, as he had fought for relevancy right to the end of his Owls tenure.

Cameron Dawson has been persistent in his career

From being loaned out to League Two Exeter City in 2021-22, to keeping a Wembley clean sheet that secured Wednesday promotion just one year later, Dawson is a great example of persistence paying off in the modern game.

Now finding his feet at Rotherham, where he is finally an undeniable first-choice, he is undoubtedly among the division's most hardened and experienced keepers.

Wednesday fans won't have been best pleased to see him join the Millers but most will respect his efforts during his time at Hillsborough and appreciate his honesty about the pressures of playing in front of Owls support.