2019/20 - Consequences as yet unfulfilled? A football story pre-lockdown

After finishing the season on a slight downer all attention quickly turned to next year. Under Steve Bruce we had picked up hugely. As an experienced manager and someone hugely respected within the game his mere presence was enough to elevate the players to play above themselves. After some strong performances and turning relegation fodder into a play-off squeak I was quietly confident that if he could recruit to a similar standard as he had done in January, using his network of contacts, that we would be there or there about’s come the end of 2019/20. 

And then Rafa Benitez left Newcastle. 

I paid little attention to the rumours at first however everything came to a head on the day of a pre-season double header. Half the squad was at Lincoln City, whilst I chose to travel the shorter distance to watch a 5-0 run-out at Stocksbridge Park Steels, where amongst others new signing Kadeem Harris was on show after completing his free transfer from Cardiff. A few days later Bruce was confirmed as the new Newcastle boss, and whilst I was massively disappointed in all honesty would anyone have turned down the opportunity to go back up to Premier League level to manage their boyhood club? I know I wouldn’t turn it down if it was Wednesday for me. 

And so for the third time 2005 promotion winning captain Lee Bullen stepped up from the background and took the reigns. Two flat performances out in Germany on a short tour, no doubt impacted by the sudden departure of Bruce, ensued followed by a decent draw with Espanyol at Hillsborough. I was able to view the Espanyol game from a sun lounger as the game was broadcast on youtube. Whilst disappointed to miss the opportunity to watch the owls take on the spaniards I was consoled by the fact I was watching from beside the beach in Jamaica where I was attending a wedding of friends who live out in that part of the world! 

The summers pre-season action was rounded off as I took the kids with some friends to watch a Wednesday IX take on Staveley Miners Welfare. The owls registered a 4-2 victory in the evening sunshine with Bulgarian Preslav Borukov and a brace from Liam Shaw registering on the scoresheet. 

We went into the start of the season with a will-he-won’t-he saga of would 2018/19 player of the season Michael Hector return to the club? We had already added our first German signing Julien Borner, full back Moses Odubajo and Kadeem Harris. Before the close of the summer window we would also add midfielder Massimo Luongo, winger Jacob Murphy and defender David Bates (who would play just one game) to the ranks. Whilst it wasn’t immediately obvious at the time this summers recruitment appeared to be a shift in transfer policy from big spending to a more frugal approach. 

3rd Aug - Reading 1-3 Owls

Lee Bullen led the owls to an opening day of the season victory at Reading. Kadeem Harris looked a world beater and despite a red card for Keiran Westwood we clinched victory with an impressive goal from Lucas Joao. The inconsistent Joao was sold to Reading a short time after the tie. 

24th Aug - Preston 2-1 Owls

First away day of the season saw me lose my unbeaten record at Preston with summer signing Moses Odubajo turning in a terrible performance. Despite rallying late on led by an inspired Atdhe Nuhiu we were unable to find an equaliser in the baking sunshine. 

31st Aug - Owls 1-2 QPR

A flat poor performance from the Owls saw them slump to a home defeat to QPR. Steven Fletcher gave us the lead but we showed a soft underside to allow the visitors back into the game. This pretty much sounded the end of Bullen’s chances of getting the job full time. 

21st Sept - Owls 1-1 Fulham

Promotion hopefuls Fulham came to town for Gary Monk’s first home tie. After taking a lead the visitors began throwing themselves about wasting time. That tactic came back to bite them with Wednesday showing some resolve and Nuhiu grabbed a late stoppage time equaliser to start celebrations akin to a late cup final winner. In fairness for the efforts it was nothing short of what we deserved and maintained an unbeaten start for the latest Wednesday gaffer. 

24th Sep - Owls 0-2 Everton EFL Cup

This league cup 4th round tie was over within the first ten minutes as a strong Everton side eased to a two goal victory courtesy of early strikes from former blades striker DCL.

2nd Nov - Blackburn 2-1 Owls

After a decent months form we travelled to Blackburn in good spirits. A pretty uneventful game came to life in the last ten minutes when deadline day loan signing Murphy scrambled home to give us a lead. And despite some more pressure we succumbed quickly to an equaliser but a deflection from former Wednesday loanee Buckley in added time saw the home side turn the tie around, and to send us home into the rain pointless.

22nd Dec - Owls 1-0 Bristol City

After a mixed November we really got going during December. And despite some murmurs of discourse relating to style of play (or more a lack of it) we went into Christmas in third place in the league following a hard fought 1-0 win over Bristol City, courtesy of Barry Bannan’s penalty. 

The Christmas period going into 2020 saw a collapse of biblical proportions. Going into added time on boxing day the owls led Stoke 2-1 before the mother of all collapses saw us lose 3-2 to 93rd and 97th minute goals. This kickstarted a run of five defeats in six league games - the highlights include a 0-1 home defeat to Hull without a shot on target, a 5-0 home defeat to Blackburn after Luongo was wrongly sent off after 23 minutes and a last minute defeat to Wigan who were on a long winless run, with their winner came in stoppage time! During this period we were able to win at Brighton in the FA Cup 3rd round with youngster Osaze Uroghide excelling on his professional debut.

To counter this under pressure boss Monk brought in attacking players Alessio Da Cruz, Josh Windass and Connor Wickham to try to arrest the slump.

8th Feb - Barnsley 1-1 Owls

A 16th minute debut goal from Windass put us in front in the south Yorkshire derby however a goalkeeping error from Dawson allowed Barnsley a soft first half equaliser. We then spent the remainder of the game hanging on in the game as we struggled to retain possession or get any form of foot hold in the game. A lucky escape. 

22nd Feb - Birmingham 3-3 Owls

After horrible defeats against Luton and Reading we travelled to Birmingham chasing our second win in 11 games. After falling behind on six minutes to a Murphy own goal we bounced back with a Bannan equaliser. Despite falling behind once more Fernando Forestieri equalised before half time. We then took the lead through Murphy on 65 minutes and could have wrapped the game up with we had turned our dominance into goals. But with the clock ticking we again switched off and allowed the home side a soft equaliser against the run of play in the 91st minute. 

26th Feb - Owls 1-0 Charlton

We finally ended our winless run by scoring our first goal at Hillsborough in 2020 - Steve Fletcher, returning from injury as a substitute, notching the 95th minute winner to unbridled joy in the stands! The game itself had been nothing to write home about - Wednesday dominated, Charlton’s one chance was a long range shot from Lyle Taylor that struck the bar, whilst Wednesday huffed and puffed to little avail until late on.

4th March - Owls 0-1 Man City 

Gary Monk’s side took on Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City side at Hillsborough in this televised mid week fifth round FA Cup tie. Both sides made changes for the game but it was the Premier League champions who progressed into the sixth round thanks to Sergio Aguero’s strike slipping past Joe Wildsmith in the Wednesday goal. 

The following weekend Wednesday weakly surrendered to a 5-0 defeat at promotion chasing Brentford. We were in the middle of a disastrous slide, the manager was was under severe pressure against a backdrop of poor results, awful performances and having ostracised vocal members of the dressing room Westwood and Hutchinson. And that is where we left matters. A week later the footballing authorities took matters into their own hands and postponed all football fixtures in wake of the growing threat of the Covid-19 coronavirus. A week later the whole country went into an unprecedented national lockdown. With no idea when things would return to normal the footballing world went into hibernation... 

Lockdown 2020 had begun... 

2018/19 - False dawns & snake eyes...

Rumours of financial issues relating to FFP regulations dominated discussion going into the summer. Although at the time the club denied that it was under a transfer embargo no permanent signings were forthcoming over the close season for Jos Luhaky’s side. 

Wednesday bid farewell to popular players Glenn Loovens and Ross Wallace - both released and Jack Hunt who was sold to Bristol City. Reserve goalkeeper Jake Kean and youngster Sean Clare both left, the latter after refusing a new contract offer. The most notable departure however was record signing Jordan Rhodes who left for Norwich City on a season long loan deal. 

Pre season began with a lovely little Friday night trip to Lincoln City where they ran out of food and beer before the game kicked off, and the only goal of the game was scored by Fernando Forestieri. 

After a behind closed doors tie with NAC Breda we then lost at Mansfield in a tie marred by accusations of racial abuse made against Forestieri, who was also sent off for a wreckless challenge that resulted in a 22 man brawl. 

Our final friendly saw us take on Spanish side Villarreal. The visitors took the lead but a collectors item goal from Liam Palmer levelled. We succumbed to their greater quality second half but it had been a nice little warm up for the season. 

4th Aug - Wigan 3-2 Owls

New day - new dawn? Not quite. Newly promoted Wigan tore into Wednesday who notably had senior player Keiren Westwood missing, fuelling rumours of a rift. The pace of the game appeared to take us by surprise as wave after wave of attack came at us  We fell behind after 11 minutes but Nuhiu levelled against the run of play on 20. Wigan were soon ahead again, and stretched the lead in the second half with some questionable goalkeeping on display. Forestieri pulled a goal back but it wasn’t enough. Nuhiu also saw red late on for a second bookable offence. 

28th Aug - Owls 0-2 Wolves

After a poor start we had just secured back to back wins before the visit of last seasons Championship winners Wolves in the EFL cup. 

Despite being on holiday in Flamingo land the lad and I drove back to watch the game after we won tickets in the competition sponsors draw. 

A scratch Wednesday side laboured and actually did ok at times, forgotten man David Jones had a pretty decent game in midfield. Sadly we succumbed to their greater quality and fitness with Adams Traore ripping us to pieces at will. Ah well, concentrate on the league. 

Wednesday did eventually manage to complete some transfer activity with the deadline day loan deals for Tottenham midfielder Josh Onomah and Jamaican international defender Michael Hector. However Jos had tried to move the club in a more youthful direction with players such as Matt Penney, Ash Baker, Jordan Thorniley, Connor Kirby, Fraser Preston and all making first team contributions in the first months of the season. 

15th Sept - Owls 2-2 Stoke

After picking up some form Wednesday found themselves two down after twenty two minutes against Stoke, with ex-Owls loanee Benik Afobe on target twice courtesy of some poor defending. Luckily Marco Matias pulled a goal back within a few minutes of the second goal, and we completed a comeback with Barry Bannan finding the back of the net with a free kick. 

22nd Sept - Aston Villa 1-2 Owls

Wednesday made it consecutive wins at Villa Park. Marco Matias opened the scoring, before a stunning volley for our hosts equalised. We were the better side for long periods aside from a purple patch after they equalised. Steven Fletcher Knocked home a winner to cap a great day out! 

3rd Oct - Owls 2-2 WBA

Facing West Brom at Hillsborough we put in really strong performance for 85 minutes. We were two up at half time through Reach and Forestieri however poor game management saw us surrender the victory in the last five minutes, which coincidently was around the time brought the inexperienced Connor Kirby on, when they had just introduced former England international Gareth Barry. 

9th Nov - Blades 0-0 Owls

It’s fair to say despite being heavily criticised during the season we had Cameron Dawson to thank for a draw at Bramall Lane, particularly as he saved a penalty from ex-Wednesday loanee David McGoldrick. The game was pretty much a carbon copy of the previous seasons stalemate in the end. This game ended a four game losing run for the owls too!

22nd Dec - Owls 1-0 Preston

Lee Bullen took caretaker charge for a second time as Jos was given the boot after a run of one win in nine games. Jos’ sweary post match press confernace following defeat at Swansea was host last act as Wednesday manager. Bullen’s first act was to recall senior players Westwood and Hutchinson who had been ostracised by the Dutchman. The decision to sack the manager came after a bizarre fans forum outburst from the clubs owner where he publicly backed his manager, before announcing the club was for sale (he later retracted that comment). 

Wednesday won the game one nil via a Michael Hector goal.

5th Jan - Owls 0-0 Luton

We faced League One leaders Luton in the FA Cup third round. Wednesday, now led by the two Steve’s, maybe he the best chances but we were constantly under pressure throughout. 

27th Jan - Chelsea 3-0 Owls

We traveled south to face premier league big boys Chelsea in the cup after overcoming Luton in the replay. 

The game was scheduled for a late Sunday kick off, which meant a day out in London!

Chelsea played a reserve team that was not short on quality or full internationals, and aside from our first dalliance with VAR we were well beaten. 

The following day Steve Bruce became manager, stepping into the role after the club allowed his two assistants to take the team whilst he finished a sabbatical. He made his signings on deadline day with Dominic Iorfa joining from Wolves, whilst Achraf Lazaar and Rolando Aarons came on loan from Newcastle. 

4th Mar - Owls 0-0 Blades

Our neighbours were riding high chasing promotion making us massive underdogs however in this even contest it was Wednesday who probably had the best chance, the born again Sam Hutchinson putting the best chance of the game straight at the goalkeeper. 

9th Mar - Derby 1-1 Owls

It’s always a good day out at Derby and had it not been for a little bad luck we could have secured our first win there since 2006. Iorfa scored a second half equaliser and we wrongly had another goal rule out for something. A good away point against a side in the play offs. 

30th Mar - Stoke 0-0 Owls

Can Steve do it on a cold day in Stoke? After losing Aarons to injury in the warm up we were surprised to see Gary Hooper back to fitness for the first time in forever!

Stoke were the better side but we held out for another good away point. 

6th Apr - Owls 1-3 Aston Villa

Our form since Bruce has taken over the managerial reigns had seen results and performances improve, to the point there was a chance we could gate crash the play offs party. Just goes to show what can be done with a proper manager?

Sadly our play off hopes went with Barry Bannan’s hamstring in the second half of this tie with Bruce’s former club. Hooper gave us an early lead but poor defending from Liam Palmer allowed the ball to be cut back for McGinn to score. 

Villa had all the momentum going into the tie and with us pushing for a winner we were hit with two quick counter attacks in added on time to leave us six points off the play offs. This was Bruce’s first defeat as Wednesday gaffer. 

22nd Apr - Owls 2-0 Bristol City

We finished this Easter Monday fixture four points off the plays offs but looking unlikely to gate crash the party after a comfortable victory in the April sunshine.

Bannan and João with the goals to cap off an amazing day where my son was a mascot on my birthday. 

27th Apr - Preston 3-3 Owls

Kept up my personal unbeaten run at Preston as we came back into this tie in the second half to earn a point. We were two goals down at half time but Barry Bannan halved the deficit on 49 minutes. Browne made it 3-1 sweeping home following a counter attacking move. The away fans stayed with the side and the atmosphere became electric when Forestieri and Nuhiu both scored within in two minutes of each other. Dom Iorfa received a red card for a strong challenge a few monutes later but that didn’t take the wind out of our sails as we pushed for a winner. Sadly we were unable to nick a fourth goal however Kieran Lee came off the bench for his first appearance of the season following some bad injuries. 

5th May - Owls 1-2 QPR

The final game of the season saw defeat at home to QPR. In a forgettable clash Michael Hector scored a penalty in the second half, however with the Wednesday players clearly on the beach QPR snuck a 93rd minute winner that saw the side drop to 12th in the table. 

Looking to the summer Bruce looked to be the manager who had the character and experience needed to finally elevate the club to the levels it aspired too. An actual real football manager that other clubs would recognise and not an ex-coach, promoted assistant or an unknown. Going into the summer if felt a case of clear the deadwood, retain Hector and add some pace and the club could really get going under Steve Bruce... 

2017/18 - Cakeballs of fire

These seasons don’t half roll around quickly!

After the bitter disappointment of a second consecutive play off failure (and the only time we’ve failed to get passed the semi final stage) we were in somewhat of a state of limbo. Carlos’ contract was up, we now had an inflated squad after gambling on a promotion push and the eerie spectre of FFP was beginning to be whispered amongst the fan base. And all this in view of our 150th anniversary! 

After some discussion it was late May before the announcement that Carlos would stay on for a third play off push. At the time I felt this was a good move. He’d done tried twice before but maybe a summer of working and moulding our expensive January signings would give us a march on our rivals? Isn’t hindsight a wonderful thing. 

As it transpires it would be a disjointed summer. The club tried and failed to suitably strengthen the squad, with Carlos staying at one point they’d looked at 200 centre backs. And the players they did bring in failed to make much of an impact, at least initially. George Boyd was the only pre-season signing - the midfielder joining from premier league Burnley on a free. 

In August the club also added Dutch defender Joost Van Aken on a permanent, and loanees Frederico Venacio and Jacob Butterfield (who arrived in a bizarre loan/swap deal for Sam Winnall). 

Wednesday cleared some deadwood with the release of players like Sougou, Sasso, McGugan and Dielna. 

The club also finally said good bye to our promotion stalwart Jose Semedo. Well they didn’t actually, there was no announcement for the Portuguese midfielder who had been with us since 2011. It was left to him to announce he was linking up with a club in his homeland after not hearing from the club. 

Supporter unrest had grumbled on through the summer. Lack of recruitment, the kits being unveiled just days before the season started (owing to Chansiri bringing the manufacturing in-house under his own Elev-8 brand), and owls in the park being pushed back into September. 

Instead of the usual summer celebration of all things Wednesday we ended up with a damp day in September, an evening fire work display, and general apathy. However the massive cake ball has to go down as one of the more bizarre stunts in football history! In fairness this was followed up with a black tie evening featuring special guests from Wednesday’s history, and the unveiling of the fanatic fan made film ‘Our Wednesday’.

Preseason began with a strong team rolling out a routine 5-0 victory at Alfreton. The usual trip to Portugal followed before a promised marquee anniversary friendly transpired to be Glasgow Rangers who were given the north stand, and we played in last seasons away kit. 

8th August - Owls 4-1 Chesterfield EFLC

After an uninspiring opening day defeat at Preston we welcomed the Spireites to Hillsborough for the last competitive fixture between the sides to date. A strong Wednesday side easily swept aside the recently relegated League Two side. Fletcher, Hooper, Bannan and Hutchinson with goals. Sammy even donned the goalkeeping gloves at the end of the game for a short period. 

16th August - Owls 1-1 Sunderland 

After failing to to beat QPR we faced recently relegated Sunderland in this evening tie. A defensive error allowed Simon Grayson’s side in to score after four minutes, however we equalised through David Jones. At the time I said that this was a good result in an encounter that we could have won, yet seeing how their season went this would probably go down as a missed opportunity. 

9th Sept - Owls 3-1 Nottm Forest

Goals from Hooper, Fletcher and Kieran Lee moves us to within a point of the play off positions in the fledgling league table as we secured a win this televised Saturday evening game. Unbeaten since the opening day!

1st Oct - Owls 3-0 Leeds

Our first home game since a defeat to our local rivals saw the players to go some way to begin making amends as we hammered Leeds. Two first half goals from Gary Hooper and a Kieran Lee strike keeping us within sight of the upper reaches of the table. 

1st Nov - Aston Villa 1-2 Owls

It’s hard to remember this memorable victory came from this season! Adam Reach scored one of the best goals of the season one minute into the game. Rhodes scored to make it two in a dominant first half. 

15th Dec - Owls 0-1 Wolves

Moving day - We moved house on this day, luckily everything  was done and sorted so that me and the lad could set off for the match in time. 

A crippling injury list had seen Wednesday form drop off a cliff in November and December. As we welcomed the already run-away league leaders for this Pre-Christmas televised Friday night clash we were missing Westwood, Hunt, Lees, Bannan, Hutchinson, Forestieri and Fletcher amongst others. 

We competed well in the game and arguably deserved something from the game but it was settled by a wonderful strike from the divisions most expensive player Ruben Neves. Wednesday sat fifteenth and ten points off the play offs. 

A week later we were beaten at home by Middlesbrough. The following day, Christmas Eve, Carlos parted company with the club. 

1st Jan - Owls 0-3 Burton

Lee Bullen had taken charge of a Boxing Day victory at Forest, and I was hoping he could be the one to unite an unhappy fan base. Sadly we were treated to one of the single most gutless, heartless performances in many years. The sight of Jacob Butterfield strolling around the pitch like we were lucky to have him will live long in my memory! 

12th Jan - Blades 0-0 Owls

The first game of a new era! Wednesday unveiled unknown Dutch manager Jos Luhaky as the new man to take Hillsborough reigns. Famed for his decent record in lower league German football he caught many off guard by throwing a number of youngsters into the first team for his first tie - a steel city derby!

A nervy derby ended goalless thanks to heroic goalkeeping from Joe Wildsmith and last ditch defending. Our effort was not aided when captain Glen Loovens was sent off just after the hour! 

16th Jan - Owls 2-0 Carlisle FAC

A cold Tuesday night, in one of the coldest winters for a long time - and most sensible people stayed home. We entertained Carlisle United, who had held us to a goalless draw under Lee Bullen previously. The snow fell and the wind blew hard in a game where at one point I genuinely thought we would see and abandonment.

After going into a two goal lead against our lowly opponents I took the decision to leave on 75 minutes, a good move given the amount of snow on the road during my drive home. And my lad earned his ‘cold Tuesday night FA Cup replay badge’.

26th Jan - Owls 3-1 Reading - FA Cup

Wednesday scored our first goals under new manager Jos on another freezing cold winters evening. 

Wednesday did dip a toe into the transfer market to purchase Dutch central midfielder Joey Pelupessey from Heracles. The Dutchman was very nearly sent off on his debut after fouling on the edge of his own area after 8 minutes, but luckily only received a yellow card. Wednesday swept aside Reading - Atdhe Nuhiu scoring twice and George Boyd clinched it thanks to poor goalkeeping. A late undeserved consolation goal cake courtesy of a Dawson own goal, the ball arrowing back in off the post. 

17th Feb - Owls 0-0 Swansea - FA Cup

It had to be didn’t it - after leaving Wednesday Carlos has taken over at premier league strugglers Swansea - and would you believe it we hosted them in the FA Cup fifth round. A clearly emotional Carlos rightly receive a fairly warm reception Upon his return. A tight tepid affair was played out - the highlight being a great point blank save from Cameron Dawson in the Wednesday goal. We went in to lose the replay 0-2. 

30th Mar - Owls 4-1 Preston

Fernando Forestieri returned from a long injury lay off and was the catalyst for Wednesday securing a second successive win to move us 11 points clear of the relegation zone. Nuhiu, fast becoming a key part of Jos’ new look Wednesday, opened the scoring on 50 minutes and the equally improving Joao made it two merely minutes later. Preston pulled one back and pressed us hard, however a fantastic individual goal on 92 minutes gave us breathing space. The scoring wasn’t over though - Forestieri announcing his return with a great free kick on 96 minutes!

2nd Apr - Sunderland 1-3 Owls

Bank holiday Monday began with a few inch of snow on the floor. We set off for my first visit to the stadium of light to face struggling Sunderland who were scrapping to avoid successive relegations. 

On arrival it was not only wet but freezing cold, and we were seated high in the roof of the stadium!

After a goalless first half Joao’s opener was cancelled out a minute later. Seven minutes after that Tom Lees gave us the lead again. We nearly allowed Sunderland to equalise straight from the kick off again! And then another seven minutes later Nuhiu wrapped up a rare victory in Sunderland! 

6th May - Owls 5-1 Norwich

Having secured championship status against a back drop of poor form and injuries we faced Norwich at home on the final day. 

And in the baking hot sunshine any there was witness to Atdhe Nuhiu score the perfect hat-trick in a five goal demolition of the canaries. Forestieri and Venacio the other scorers in a game in which Norwich James Maddison limped off after 11 minutes. 

Our final league position was fifteenth - our lowest for some time, however given the injury situation Jos inherited he had done a decent job steadying the ship. Maybe next season we could kick on? 

There’s always next year... 

2016/17 - Carlos and his dream...

After the disappointment of the play off-final the off season was used to recharge our batteries as we looked to go one better in our second season under Carlos

The new season soon came back around and Wednesday had tried to strengthen the side with the addition of midfielder Almen Abdi for a reported £4M from Premier League Watford, he was signed on the same day that Daniel Pudil made his loan spell permanent. Striker Steven Fletcher was signed on a free from Sunderland and Jake Kean became the latest reserve goalkeeper, replacing Lewis Price who joined Rotherham United. 

16th Jul - Chesterfield 0-2 Owls

I returned from a wedding anniversary break in York to meet friends for this local pre-season game. Wednesday went in big numbers in what appeared to be one of the most poorly attended pre-season encounters between the two sides. We dominated the game. Kieran Lee and Forestieri with first half goals to settle to game. 

20th Jul - Owls 1-0 Benfica

We played out one of our more high profile friendlies on the occasion of my sons 8th birthday. We were sat close to the dug out for this friendly against the Portuguese giants! Forestieri's first half goal was enough to give us a victory against strong opponents. 

7th Aug - Owls 1-0 Aston Villa 

The opening game - played on the Sunday for TV purposes. Villa were freshly relegated from the Premier League and fancied themselves for promotion. But it was Wednesday who won the game courtesy of a Forestieri strike. Steven Fletcher was having a storming debut when he was forced off needing stitches on a head injury. A great start

13th Aug - Norwich 0-0 Owls

We fared well in Norwich against a backdrop of Forestieri refusing to play after supposedly being ‘tapped-up’ by another club. 

13th Sep - Owls 3-2 Bristol City

On a wet and windy evening and after a stuttering start to the season we looked for a second consecutive win, however found ourselves behind to two first half goals from Tammy Abraham. Fletcher pulled a goal back however Sam Hutchinson himself was soon sent off, having conceded a penalty. Fortunately Lee Tomlin hit the post and within minutes both sides were down to ten men. Wednesday then put there foot down and levelled through Barry Bannan. It looked like Bristol would hold out for a point but deep into added time Kieran Lee ghosted in to pinch a 96th minute winner!

1st Oct - Owls 1-2 Brighton

Brighton came back to Hillsborough with a score to settle after our play off victory. Goals from Baldock and Knockaert giving the visitors their first ever victory at our home. Substitute Hooper scored an injury time consolation in a tie that also saw young Goalkeeper Cameron Dawson come on at half time for the injured Kieran Westwood. 

5th Nov - Owls 1-2 Ipswich

Our mixed form continued as we slumped to defeat against Mick McCarthy’s tractor boys. Hooper equalised four minutes after we fell behind, but the visitors took the 3 points following a late goal from Luke Chambers. We really didn’t perform well in this tie!

3rd Dec - Owls 2-1 Preston

Having given Wednesday a first half lead Forestieri was then sent off after 65 minutes following yet more shithousery from Preston's usual suspect. Fletcher’s 79 minute penalty made it two, however Doyle pulled a goal back three minutes later. The abiding memory of the game is the two late red cards dished out to Preston strikers Doyle and Beckford for fighting - with each other!

26th Dec - Newcastle 0-1 Owls

Watched five minutes on TV, then got called in to work. Listened to it on the radio. Car battery packed up on the way home. Great result. 

31st Dec - Preston 1-1 Owls

We never get anything at Preston? Great scenes at the end when Reach smashes in the equaliser, the jump and celebration from Bannan at the end sticks vividly in my mind!

14th jan - Owls 2-0 Huddersfield 

Huddersfield has been having a surprisingly good season and we’re amongst the contenders at this stage. However after a mixed first half a Ross Wallace thunderbolt gave us the lead. After 70 minutes Town were down to ten men before Forestieri wrapped up the points and moved us within a point of our visitors. 

10th Feb - Owls 3-0 Birmingham 

After a flurry of late January transfers saw Morgan Fox, Sam Winnall and Jordan Rhodes arrive at Hillsborough, it looked like we could really kick on. After slightly shaky recent form Wednesday picked up a second consecutive win by cruising to a home win over Birmingham.

First goals for Wednesday for new strikers Rhodes and Winnall were topped off by a late Reach strike. 

4th Mar - Owls 5-1 Norwich

A run of two defeats ended with a thumping of play-off chasing Norwich. Ross Wallace fired home a long range rocket following a goalkeeping blunder. Rhodes made it two, and Morgan Fox’s first goal just before half time gave us a 3-1 halftime lead. Rhodes again and Forestieri rounded off a great victory. This was probably Fox’s best performance to date. 

17th Mar - Owls 0-2 Reading

This Friday night game offered Wednesday the opportunity to close the gap on the top two. Sadly after fans battled the busy Sheffield traffic we witnessed a really poor game. Yann Kermorgant gave Reading the lead in a game where visiting manager Jaap Stam had clearly done his homework. After pressing late on Reading pinched a second with the final kick of the tie following a swift counter attack when we had sent everybody up. 

1st Apr - Barnsley 1-1 Owls

Our shaky performances continued at Barnsley. After an even first half Sam Winnall latched onto a goalkeeping error to score against his former club. Sadly we couldn’t hold on and Barnsley secured a point with a late equaliser.

Out of the play off places in April!

8th Apr - Owls 2-1 Newcastle

A midweek victory at lowly Rotherham restored some confidence going into the game with the table topping Geordies. We shaded the first half and deserved to go in ahead, but the game remained goalless until Tom Lees headed home on 59 minutes. By the time Fletcher made it two the stadium was rocking. I was sat with my visiting Newcastle friend and he remarked how good our atmosphere was! Jonjo Shelvey pulled a goal back late on as the visitors rallied, but we held on for a big win!

22nd Apr - Owls 2-1 Derby

After four wins in a row confidence was high, and we secured our first home victory against Derby in eight ties! Fletcher and Hooper turning around a deficit to give me a lovely birthday treat, sadly missed by my lad who was at home poorly. 

7th May - Owls 1-2 Fulham

After securing our play off place Carlos chose to make wholesale changes to the squad. We took on a Fulham side who were also guaranteed a play off place - Many people felt this would be a dress rehearsal for a Play-off final. Sam Winnall gave us a lead after nine minutes, but we were outplayed by a fairly strong Fulham team, not helped by a Marco Matias being stupidly sent off on the stroke of half time. The game also gave us a real rare treat - Urby Emanuelson coming on as a substitute with fifteen minutes remaining for his one and only appearance. 

14th May - Huddersfield 0-0 Owls

Flat. Dour. Negative. Went for a draw. Got a draw but must do better. 

17th May - Owls 1-1 Huddersfield 

All to play for in this winner takes all clash. Having beaten Huddersfield in the league twice I was extremely confident going into the clash. A strong first half performance saw us clearly on top but it remained all square. Steve Fletcher gave us the lead shortly after the restart and we waited for the magic to happen.

Sadly this was as good as it got. Fletcher limped off ten minutes after scoring to be replaced by the ineffective Rhodes. Huddersfield began to press us and we began to look tired. Then on 73 minutes Pudil’s lack of fitness was exposed as he struggled to get back to block the cross that led to an own goal equaliser. 

The game then fell to a pretty slow pace, both sides looking to play on the counter attack until the referee called an end to normal time. Just re-read the last paragraph for the extra time, although we did go for it late on. 

So the game went to Penalties. Sam Hutchinson misses, our visitors score their first four. Huddersfield fail to convert there fifth, but so does Forestieri. No return trip to Wembley. A second play off failure in two years. The rest is history.

Carlos was out of contract. The squad clearly looked tired and aged. But we will go again. There’s always next year!