If we were mugged on that warm August night at
While other teams, bar maybe
16 | 33 | -2 | 39 | |
17 | 33 | -5 | 39 | |
18 | 31 | -11 | 37 | |
19 | 33 | -13 | 36 | |
20 | 34 | -20 | 35 | |
21 | 33 | -15 | 34 | |
22 | 33 | -15 | 32 | |
23 | 34 | -21 | 31 | |
24 | 33 | -23 | 31 |
From the six left at home we have to look to winning five, if not all, a tough task with a full squad but with the players out points will certainly be dropped. Let's hope Tilly succeeds in his task to bring someone in on loan before Saturday but I still believe confidence is good, and it wasn't confidence that hurt us on Tuesday, we played some good stuff, just a lack of creativity in the last third and vital players, i.e. Freddy, not being at their best on the night. 8 from 12 Fred and we'll stay up!
So we need 1, probably 2, wins on our travels and why not start at
This is the team he picked at
Sheff Wed: Crossley, (blimey how old is he?), Simek, Bullen, Watson, Spurr, Johnson (Graham 80), Lunt (Folly 68), Whelan, Brunt, MacLean (Tudgay 68),
Graham Coughlan (mouth) and
Whoever turns out for Southend United on Saturday, and Hillsborough should inspire any player, whatever position he plays in, will have to give 100% for the cause of keeping this football club in the second tier of football next season. The matches, and the points, are simply starting to run out.
History is not totally on our side, in 11 matches together we have won only 2 with 5 defeats and 4 draws, the last being the goaless one played at Roots Hall on Sep. 9 2006. 26,446 saw our 0-2 FA Cup 5th round defeat there on Feb. 13 1993 which is the biggest scoreline we have beaten, also in Div. 3 away on Nov. 17 1979. Another cup memory was the the three ties played in the third round during January 1983, where after a 0-0 and 2-2 we finally bowed out at Hillsborough 1-2, Cusack scoring, Poutney and Mercer in the scoring draw. The Blues had to wait till August 16 1975 to play Wednesday for the first time and beat them, 2-1, Parker and Moody at home. Both our wins against them have been by a single goal, 1-0, Eastwood, on Saturday, that will do nicely!
THE GROUND: Although the ground has not had the level of new investment some other clubs have recently received, it is still a beautiful ground oozing character. It has four large separate two tiered stands, which are all covered. The South Stand on one side of the ground is the largest of the stands and is superb looking. Unfortunately, only one corner of the ground is filled (see picture below), between the West and North Stands. This area is uncovered. In the other corner is a small electric scoreboard.
Outside the ground near the main entrance is a memorial to the 96 fans who died at Hillsborough in 1989, at the FA Cup Semi Final between
Away fans are normally placed in the upper tier of the West Stand (the
I had an enjoyable day out at Hillsborough, where I found the atmosphere around the ground to be relaxed. I thought the ground was certainly one of the best in the League, if not the country, in terms of setting and attractiveness. Lee Hicklin adds; 'About a hundred yards down
If on a previous visit you found the tunes of the resident band annoying (this is the same band that has been adopted by the England Supporters Club). Then the good news is that after a number of years they no longer play at Hillsborough.
THE DRINKING: The Horse & Jockey pub is the designated pub by the police for away fans. It is located on
Others include, the Wadsley Jack on
Please note that alcohol is not available to visiting supporters in the away section of the ground.
THE CAR: Leave the M1 at Junction 36 and follow the A61 into
You could park at Meadowhall Shopping Centre, just by Junction 34, of the M1, where you can park for free. Then take a yellow tram to
THE TRAIN:
THE HISTORY: The club was a cricket team when it formed in 1820 as The Wednesday Cricket Club. A meeting on the evening of Wednesday 4 September 1867 at the Adelphi Hotel established a footballing side to keep the team together and fit during the winter months. They played their first match against the Mechanics on 19 October the same year.
It soon became apparent that football would come to eclipse the cricketing side of the club. On 1 February 1868, Wednesday played their first competitive football match as they entered the Cromwell Cup, a four-team competition for newly formed clubs. They went on to win the cup, beating the Garrick Club 1-0 after extra time in the final at Bramall Lane.
Charles Clegg joined Wednesday in the 1870s, starting a relationship that would last the rest of his life and eventually lead to his becoming the club's chairman. He also became president and chairman of the Football Association and known as the "Napoleon of Football". In 1876 they acquired Scot James Lang. Although he was not employed by the club, he was given a job by a member of the
The 1880s saw two major events that radically changed the face of the club. In 1882 the cricket and football clubs parted ways; the cricket club would later go out of existence in 1925. The football club turned professional in 1887 after pressure from players threatening to defect to other clubs.
The move to professionalism took the team from Bramall Lane, which had taken a share of the ticket revenue, to the new Olive Grove. In 1889 the club became founder members of the Football Alliance, of which they were the first champions in a season where they also reached the 1890 FA Cup Final, losing 6-1 to Blackburn Rovers at the Kennington Oval. Despite finishing the following season bottom of the
Due to an expansion of the local railway lines, the club were told that they would have to find a new ground for the 1899-1900 season. After a difficult search the club finally bought some land in the
The team were almost relegated in the 1928-29 season, but with 17 points in the last 10 matches they pulled off a great escape, rising from bottom to 14th. Wednesday went on to win the league title the following season (1929-30), which started a run that would see the team finishing lower than third only once until 1936. The period was topped off with the team winning the FA Cup for the third time in the club's history in 1935.
The 1950s saw Wednesday unable to consistently hold on to a position in the top flight. After being promoted back up in 1950, they were relegated three times, although each time they bounced back up by winning the Second Division the following season. The decade ended on a high note with the team finally finishing in the top half of the First Division for the first time since World War II.
This led to a decade of successfully remaining in the First Division, which included a run to the FA Cup Final in 1966 - notable in that Wednesday played all their ties away from home. Off the field the club was embroiled in the British betting scandal of 1964 where three of their players, Peter Swan, David Layne and Tony Kay, were accused of match fixing and betting against their own team in an away game at Ipswich Town. The three were subsequently convicted and, on release from prison, banned from football for life. The three were reprieved in the early 1970s with Swan and Layne returning to Hillsborough and though their careers were virtually over Swan at least played some league games for the Owls.
Wednesday were relegated at the end of the 1969-70 season, starting the darkest period in the club's history. After going into free-fall they dropped to the Third Division for the first time in their history and were marooned there for five seasons. The club were almost relegated to the Fourth Division in 1976, but a revival under the management of Jack Charlton, and the aid of Coach Tony Toms saw them return to the First Division in 1984.
Wednesday's fortunes took a turn for the worse when a succession of managers failed to maintain this form, first David Pleat and later Danny Wilson spent small fortunes building squads that were ultimately ineffective, and the club's debts got out of control as a result. Danny Wilson was sacked in March 2000 and his assistant Peter Shreeves took temporary charge but was unable to stave off relegation. The club's flirtation with relegation continued in Division One and after yet more managerial changes Chris Turner was hired as boss and made a strong effort to rejuvenate the side. However, a failure to beat Brighton & Hove Albion F.C. in the penultimate game of the 2002-03 season condemned them to another relegation.
After failing to gain promotion the following season and a poor start to the 2004-05 Coca-Cola League One campaign, Turner was replaced by former Southampton F.C. manager Paul Sturrock. Sturrock revitalised
The club were formerly known as "The Wednesday Football Club" until 1929, when the club was officially renamed "Sheffield Wednesday Football Club" under the stewardship of manager Bob Brown. However the name Sheffield Wednesday dates back as far as 1883: the former ground at Olive Grove had the name
Wednesday's original nickname was "The Blades", a common name for
Since its founding the club has played their home games in blue and white shirts, traditionally in vertical stripes. However this has not always been the case and there have been variations upon the theme. A monochrome photograph from 1874-75 shows the Wednesday team in plain dark shirts, while the 1871 "Rules of the Sheffield Football Association" listed the Wednesday club colours as blue and white hoops. A quartered blue and white design was used in 1887 and a blue shirt with white sleeves between 1965 and 1973. This design would have received greater notoriety had Wednesday not worn their away kit for all of their games in the 1966 FA Cup run, when all of their ties were drawn away. Given the option in the final of wearing their first strip, they chose the away strip for luck; but Everton managed to claw back a 2-0 deficit after 54 minutes and eventually won the game 3-2.
There is a superstition among many older Wednesday fans that the team tends to have a poor season when they abandon the traditional evenly spaced blue and white stripe designs in favour of some broad stripe or narrow stripe design. However in an age of marketing-driven decisions, the team only reverts to the familiar style every so often.
Wednesday have often favoured black shorts or, more recently, blue. There have been times where Wednesday have opted to play in white shorts, sometimes to minimise colour clashes with the opposing team. The socks were invariably blue and white hoops but these too have gone through changes including blue with a white roll over top, all blue and all white.
The away strip has changed regularly over the years although an all yellow strip has been used for many of the recent seasons in the club's history. Traditionally white was the second choice for many teams, including Wednesday. Other colours used for away kits in previous years include black, silver, green and orange. Wednesday have always avoided red as an alternative colour but for years had the players' numbers in red on the first-choice shirt backs, which was not easy to discern against blue and white stripes.
The current home strip consists of blue and white vertical stripes with black shorts and black socks. The change strip (used for away or cup fixtures where there is a clash of colours) is all yellow with blue trim. The goalkeeper's home strip is all gold with black trim; the change strip is dark grey with yellow trim.
Originally, Wednesday played matches at High Field, where Highfield Library is now located but moved several times before adopting a permanent ground. Other locations included Heeley and Hunter's Bar. Major matches would be played Sheaf House or Bramall Lane, before Sheffield United made it their home ground.
On 15 April 1989 Hillsborough became the site of
In the Taylor Report, the result of the official inquiry into the disaster, Sheffield Wednesday were criticised for the low number of turnstiles at the Leppings Lane end and the poor quality of the crush barriers on the terraces there. However, the report concluded that the root cause of the disaster was the failure of local police to adequately manage the crowds. The police failed to direct fans away from already-full central pens; these pens had an official capacity of 2,000, which should have been reduced to 1,600 as the crush barriers did not conform to the Health & Safety Executive's Guide to Safety at Sports Grounds 1986. Over 3,000 people had probably gathered in these pens shortly after kick off at 3.00pm, causing the fatal crush.
The Taylor Report gave 76 recommendations designed to improve safety at football matches in
Wednesday have enjoyed good support despite their recent decline in fortunes. They had the highest average attendance during both seasons in Division Two/League One and continued the trend when returning to the Championship with the highest attendances in that division. At the 2005 playoff final they took over 40,000 fans to the Millennium Stadium.
Their most famous fan is Paul Gregory. Known to many as "Tango" or "Tango Man" due to his similarity to a character appearing in advertisements for the eponymous soft drink in the 1990s, he takes his shirt off for every match. He achieved national fame during the '90s appearing on The Big Breakfast and The Sunday Show. Another famous Wednesday institution was the Wednesday Band, a brass band that played during matches. Although unpopular amongst many rival fans (and some home fans), they have released several records and have been invited to regularly attend England matches. They were often banned from away grounds and have now suffered the same fate at home.
Supporters groups include Wednesdayite, an independent football supporters organisation which owns over 10% of Sheffield Wednesday Football Club and The London Owls, an active supporters club for Wednesday fans living in
Wednesday's main rivals are city neighbours Sheffield United. Other rivals include Rotherham United, Barnsley, Leeds United and to a lesser extent Chesterfield, Doncaster Rovers and Hull City. In a recent poll of English football fans, Wednesday were named the fifth most rivalled club in England.[25Matches between Wednesday and United are nicknamed Steel City derbies (as opposed to Sheffield derbies, which can be between any two Sheffield teams) and are usually the highlight of the season for both sets of fans. Famous matches include The Boxing Day Massacre, a Football League Third Division match which took place at Hillsborough on 26 December 1979. A record Third Division crowd of 49,309 fans watched Wednesday beat United 4-0 and the game has become part of Sheffield Wednesday folklore, even inspiring a song.
The two teams also met at Wembley for an FA Cup semi-final match on 3 April 1993. The match was scheduled to take place at Elland Road but due to pressure from fans and the sheer number of supporters wishing to see the game the Football Association decided to switch the game to Wembley and 75,365 fans made the trip down to London to watch the match. Wednesday took the lead through a spectacular Chris Waddle free kick before United forced extra time courtesy of a goal from veteran striker Alan Cork, despite Wednesday completely dominating the game. Mark Bright eventually scored the goal that secured victory for Wednesday and earned the Owls bragging rights until the next meeting.
Since their move to Owlerton, the owl has become a theme that has run throughout the club. The original club crest was introduced in 1956 and consisted of a shield showing a traditionally drawn owl perched on a branch. The White Rose of York was depicted below the branch alluding to the home county of Yorkshire and the sheaves of Sheffield (Sheaf field) were shown at either side of the owl's head. The club's Latin motto, Consilio et Animis, was displayed beneath the shield. This translates into English as "By Wisdom and Courage".
The crest was changed in 1970 to a minimalist version that shows a stylised owl with a large round head and eyes perched on the letters S.W.F.C. Various different colours were used on this badge, regularly changing with the kit design. The predominant colours however were black and yellow. This version remained in use throughout the 1970s and 1980s before being replaced in 1995.
The new crest reverted to a similar design to the original crest. It again featured a traditionally drawn owl perched on a branch although the design of both had changed. The sheaves were replaced by a stylised 'SWFC' logo that had been in use on club merchandise for several years prior to the introduction of the new crest. The Yorkshire Rose was moved to above the owl's head to make way for the words '
The current crest was introduced in 1999. It reverted to the 1970s minimalist version, however the shield from the previous crest was kept and it now features the year of establishment below the owl. These changes were made to create a more 'sophisticated image'. The most recent change was the addition of a copyright symbol in 2002.
In 1967, to coincide with the centenary, the club introduced a mascot, known as Ozzie Owl.[27] He was subsequently joined by Ollie Owl and both appeared at every home game up until 2006. A third owl, Bazz Owl, was introduced in 1997. For the start of the 2006-07 season, Ozzie, Ollie and Bazz were replaced by a new mascot, named Barney Owl.