2011/12 - Wednesday Rising - Part 1: Foundations

A strange sense of deja-vu swept over me as I looked ahead to the new season. Looking at the parallels to the previous occasion we had been at this level - we had witnessed a poor first season followed by a change of fortune's (and manager) and ultimately success. Could we repeat the trick under Gary Megson?

Following the take over by moneybags Milan Mandaric in the previous December and the appointment of a proper Wednesday man as manager I confess I was very confident going into the new term. Even the new shirt, which was leaked sponsor less early in the summer, was a shirt befitting of a promotion charge. And we also had the highlight of our near neighbours having themselves been relegated to League One too. 

Squad re-shaping began in earnest with a number of departures including Darren Potter, Gary Teale, Tommy Miller, Richard Hinds and Paul Heffernan, all released over the summer, whilst Tommy Spurr was sold to local Championship side Doncaster Rovers. January signing Michael Morrison was flogged to Charlton having failed to impress since joining. Mark Beevers and Giles Coke we’re both allowed to go out on loan. 

Megson made loanee Rob Jones’ move from Scunthorpe permanent and made him captain, whilst fellow loanee Danny Batth rejoined on a season long loan. Julian Bennett joined from Nottingham Forest to strengthen the troubled left back slot, whilst the signing of Charlton’s Jose Semedo and former Leeds man David Prutton certainly strengthened the midfield. And by the end of August there would be further recruits! 

17th Jul - Open Training! 

Wednesday hosted a family fun day with events taking place in the car park by the Megastore, before supporters could enjoy an open training session inside the ground. 

I say open training session. Some players jogged around a bit. A few stretched. Someone got the balls out, then we all went home. 

Wednesday enjoyed a decent pre-season with trips to Rotherham and Barnsley, whilst also playing home ties with Leeds (1-1) and Stoke (0-0). We rounded off pre-season with a 14-0 defeat at Alfreton!

6th Aug - Owls 2-0 Rochdale

Buzzing for the first weekend of the season! I took advantage of a great offer of a free season ticket for kids with every adult season ticket, bringing my lad along for his first game as a season ticket holder! 

A home tie with Rochdale would not normally get many people too excited but given it was the opening weekend of the season and Gary Megson had applied some surgery to his squad I was expectant. 

The 21,000 fans were not disappointed on a blistering day as we put in a good performance and claimed the points and David Prutton scored an early contender for the clubs goal of the season!

10th/11th/12th Aug - Triple Boom!

Gary Megson continued to strengthen his squad with three more signings. Long term target Chris O’Grady signed, as did Chris Lines, whilst winger Daniel Uchechi joined on loan from FC Dender. 

30th Aug - Bradford 0-0 Owls - Football League Trophy First Round

Gary Megson turned this televised tie into a farce. The rules stated he had to start a ‘strong’ side so he decided to get around them by making early substitutions which included goalkeeper Nicky Weaver who was withdrawn pretty much straight from kick off. The game was dire. And we lost 3–1 on penalties. It clearly wasn’t a priority. 

The August transfer window closed with Megson again strengthening. Ryan Lowe joining from Bury, winger Ben Marshall joining on loan from Stoke and defender David Kašnik joined on loan from Olimpija (He did not play a game for us). 

As the season got underway the squad continued to turn over with Clinton Morrison departing on a short term loan to MK Dons, replaced by David McGoldrick on loan from Nottingham Forest, whilst goalkeeper Stephen Bywater joined initially on loan from Derby County. 

8th Oct - Owls 3-1 Chesterfield 

At 4am the morning of this game I was vomiting in the streets. At 5pm I was celebrating an excellent win over the Spireites. Chesterfield fans had made lots of noise about how they were going to turn us over, and despite their lovely green pinstripe kit, they were picked apart by a strong Wednesday side. Leon Clarke did score for the visitors on his return to Hillsborough, however our win took us to second in the table after a decent start. 

And the headline in the paper was very satisfying!

16th Oct - Blades 2-2 Owls 

Former Owls midfielder Danny ‘agent’ Wilson was now the Blades manager. In the first Sheffield Derby of the season we came back from two goals behind to salvage a point - Late goals from O’Grady and Madine gave us a draw that felt like a win.

5th Nov - Owls 0-0 Brentford

The weather was turning. The lad was beginning to take some convincing to attend now it was getting cooler - A McDonalds pre-match was the bare minimum to get him there. In the match we struggled to break the Bees down, with a tall Spanish onion in a head guard repelling the majority of our attacks on his own. 

3rd Dec - Owls 1-0 Aldershot Town - FA Cup 2nd Round

It was a cold one. Ryan Lowe scored the only goal of the game as Wednesday avoided a cup upset. Only went as I’d never seen us play Aldershot before.

17th Dec - Owls 4-4 Huddersfield 

What. A. Game. Two goals down after 16 minutes following two finishes from Jordan Rhodes (whatever happened to him?). Then two goals in two minutes and we were level within the half hour! An excellent finish from Marshall gave us the lead and Chris O’Grady looked to have wrapped up an excellent performance. 

However....

77 minutes in and Rhodes completes his hat-trick. But we’re still on top. 

97 minutes. Rhodes picks up the ball. And carries it, unopposed, and carries it... and finishes past Bywater. Blew it. 

2nd Jan - Owls 2-1 Tranmere

The missus hadn’t been to a game for a while so I thought I’d treat her. 7 minutes in and we were two goals up - Reda and Chris Lines with the goals. However that’s where the fun ended as we preceded to try to see the game out. Big Ian Goodison pulled a goal back in the last ten minutes to make it nervy but we held on. 

8th Jan - Owls 1-0 West Ham - FA Cup 3rd Round

Hillsborough has been host to some decent cup ties over the years and whilst this wasn’t a classic it’s always nice to pull off a cup upset against a side from the a higher division. O’Grady’s late finish knocked the Hammers, who had missed a penalty, out of the competition. 

14th Jan - Owls 0-1 Charlton

Time wasting and shithousery of the highest order as promotion chasing Charlton came and became the first side to visit Hillsborough and leave with the three points in the league this season!

By the end of the transfer window Megson had continued to rebuild his squad and it was beginning to take better shape. However performances had begun to slide. 

Stephen Bywater made his loan deal permanent whilst that Spanish Onion Miguel Llera made the switch to Hillsborough from Brentford. Winger Mike Jones was signed from Bury as a replacement for the influential Ben Marshall, who returned to his parent club after his loan deal expired. And on deadline day highly rated young Spurs winger John Bostock joined on a loan deal. 

To make room for these new arrivals James O’Connor left for America on a free, whilst Mark Reynolds returned to Scotland on loan - exactly 12 months after joining. Giles Coke also left on loan returning to Bury for a second spell of the season. 

14th Feb - Owls 0-1 Stevenage

It’s Valentine’s Day - how better to spend your evening than watching Wednesday lose their second home game of the season. We failed to deal with a corner and Stevenage capitalised. It was a poor game. Despite still being in the promotion picture Wednesday’s form was beginning to tail off a little bit. And if things aren’t hunky-dorey the natives tend to get restless!

18th Feb - Chesterfield 1-0 Owls

So this was the lads first away game! What would lie in store for Bradley's first competitive fixture watching Wednesday outside of Hillsborough? Well it was flat and insipid. John Bostock put in the single worse performance by any player of the season.

The home side took the lead through a stupid penalty to concede. And we never looked like we would get back in it.

Some fans were beginning to reach for the panic button after a third successive defeat however I was still confident that Gary Megson could turn things around.

In a final throw of the dice Megson again dipped into the transfer market to strengthen Wednesday’s attacking output. Michail Antonio, Keith Treacey and Nile Ranger all joined on loan deals until the end of the season. 

26th Feb - Owls 1-0 Blades

“5 points clear, with games in hand and a Derby we can afford to lose” was the statement made in the build up to the game on Football Heaven by one United fan. 

Now if you wanted someone to be in your corner for a Sheffield Derby Megson would be on that list. However there were rumours circulating of a fall out between Milan and Megson. Yes the football hadn’t been sparkling but in less than 12 months he had revitalised the club and was rebuilding the squad on the go, whilst getting results. 

In the end it was a tense affair settled by Chris O’Grady's header, a goal that gave us one of THE iconic goal celebrations of the last 20 years! The scenes on the bench were something to behold! The win also took us two points behind our neighbours.

So despite a victory in the Sheffield derby within days came the announcement I had been dreading - Megson had been sacked! Whilst it wasn’t a shock, and many were pleased with the decision, for me he had done a great job. He inherited a piss poor squad and lifted them seriously into the promotion picture in less than a year. He had spoken about how he took new signings to the back of the Kop to give them a new perspective, and when he spoke to the media about the club it was with a sense of us. And that was refreshing and endearing. 

Milan better have a plan as this had the potential to let the promotion challenge slip away from us. Goals were drying up. Form had tailed off. But with 13 games to go surely this was the time to hold your nerve? Typical Wednesday! 

End of Part 1

2010/11 - “You are clearly trading insolvently”

“You are clearly trading insolvently and you are probably doing so using HMRC money”  so said the Judge in court on Wednesday 17th November 2010. But how did we get here and what happened next? If you’ve followed my previous blogs you will have noticed a trend. That since Premier League relegation Wednesday had been treading a financial tight-rope. Lurching from one crisis to the next against a back drop of debt and financial mismanagement.

Following our relegation on the final day of the season to English footballs third tier, for the second time in seven years, it would be fair to assume that confidence amongst the fan base was not particularly high. 

Alan Irvine, having taken the side down, retained his job and was tasked with rebuilding for an expected promotion challenge, because Sheffield Wednesday are far too big a club for League One. 

Out went former England internationals Francis Jeffers and Micky Gray along with Ettiene Esajas, Leon Clarke, Frankie Simek and Sean McAllister - all on free’s. Loan players Luke Varney, Louis Soares and Eddie Nolan all returned to their parent clubs respectively. 

Also departing the club was goalkeeper Lee Grant - Sold to Burnley for around £1Million, as it turned out, to pay an outstanding tax bill. Grants sale saw Wednesday go through pre-season with no senior goalkeeper on the books, a pre-season that saw disapointing trips to Darlington and Doncaster Rovers. 

Irvine however did manage to bring in fresh faces. If memory serves me correct it felt like we announced ten signings on one day! Fullbacks Daniel Jones (Wolves) and Jon Otsemebor (Liverpool), midfielder Giles Coke (Motherwell), winger Gary Teale (Derby) and another winger and Wednesday fan Chris Sedgwick joined from Preston. Irvine also looked to freshen up his forward line with the permanent signings of Paul Heffernan from Doncaster, Clinton Morrison from Coventry and the season long loan signing of Neil Mellor - the son of former wednesday striker Ian Mellor, again from Preston. 

So a lacklustre pre-season against a backdrop of news reports relating to winding up orders and unpaid HMRC tax came and went. And after training all summer without being able to sign, Wednesday finally brought in goalkeeper - Nicky Weaver, another lifelong Wednesdayite, who returned for a second spell having enjoyed a loan move during the 2005/06 season.

7th Aug - Owls 2-0 Dagenham & Redbridge

Third tier footy saw a new name crop up in Wednesday’s record books as we entertained a Dagenham & Redbridge side that had risen from non- league football to League One in no time at all. There were several debuts in the side including goalkeeper Weaver who’s arrival was so late he didn’t even make it onto the matchday programme. It was a poor, uninspiring performance. We rarely got out of second gear (and rarely needed too) as a goal from Morrison and an own goal saw us start with a win. Praise and grumble on the drive home was a mix of fans bemoaning the poor spectacle and those ringing to defend the manager, stating “a wins a win”. Strange days indeed. 

25th Sep - Owls 0-1 Southampton

After remaining unbeaten in August things quickly changed come September. A Lee Barnard goal condemned Irvine’s men to a fourth successive defeat in the month to give Nigel Adkins his first victory as Saints boss. Whilst the wednesday squad could boast the likes of James O’Connor, Darren Potter and Gary Teale the visitors could call upon the likes of Ricky Lambert, Morgan Schneiderlin, Jason Puncheon and a young Adam Lallana. 

6th Oct - Owls 2-2 Chesterfield (JPT)

The second round of the JPT rarely stands out as a season highlight but as the sides shared four goals, Mellor & Tudgay on target for the owls, it was the ensuing penalty shoot-out that is memorable. The epic contest went all the way through the 11 players with the owls triumphing 8-7, and the winning penalty was scored by Goalkeeper Nicky Weaver. 

2nd Nov - Owls 0-2 Huddersfield 

Huddersfield finished the day in second whilst the owls dropped to tenth following this defeat in a game the visitors dominated. After a mini revival in early October this made it consecutive league defeats. More worrying was the off field issues that were hitting the national headlines, whilst Irvine was beginning to feel the backlash of a disappointed fan base. 

7th Nov - Southport 2-5 Owls (FACup)

This televised FA Cup first round tie was a welcome distraction from a turbulent league season. Wednesday travelled to non-league Southport and twice allowed the hosts to come from behind before two goals in as many minutes by Morrison and another quick goal from Tommy Spurr wrapped up the win. 

9th Nov - Winding up order

Wednesday we’re issued a winding up order over unpaid HMRC payments. Howard Wilkinson is forced to ask for an extension due to an ‘imminent takeover bid’. 

17th Nov - The Big Day In Court!

Everyone knew that this was D-Day. The local rags and radio Sheffield had made a point that by this point it was too late to enter administration. I went to work as normal with no way of following the news as it unfolded. In these days before live tweeting and instant news updates I was forced into the murky world of the online chat forums trying to decipher the truth from the bullshit. Alas our day in court came - the judge muttered the immortal phrase “You are clearly trading insolvently”. The newspapers had been full of doom, and rightly so. Thankfully the club was able to successfully negotiate a 28 day extension to find a buyer and to settle the £1.1M debt to HMRC. But any new buyer would also have to negotiate the £23M owed to the Co-Op bank and with former Chairman Dave Allen, amongst others. 

20th Nov - MK Dons 1-4 Owls

Against the back drop of financial meltdown Neil Mellor became the last player to score an away hat-trick, a hat-trick oh headers I might add, until 2019 as Wednesday romped to a victory in Milton Keynes. 

25th Nov - Tudgay leaves for Forest

Despite the potential of a takeover on the cards unsurprisingly Marcus Tudgay was allowed to join Nottingham Forest, initially on loan. 

29th Nov - Saved! 

One of the most important days in the clubs history as it is reported Milan Mandaric had agreed to buy the club for £1 subject to approval. With the club having reached the end of the line with the banks. It was down to the shareholders to approve the deal at a meeting on the 14th December. 

4th Dec - Swindon 2-1 Owls

Only one League One tie survived the freezing weather. And Wednesday do what Wednesday do best. It was Chris Turner’s Wednesday all over again! 

11th Dec - Owls 6-2 Bristol Rovers

The ‘Milan Mandaric’ era got underway with a thrashing of Bristol Rovers moving us to second in the table. Six different scorers,  however try as he might Clinton Morrison just could not score, even missing a tap in on the line when it was easier to score. But finally the club could start looking forward? Soon to be debt free, with a few quid in the bank, maybe this would be the dawn of a new era! 

18th Dec - Exeter 5-1 Owls

New owner, same old issues. Going in level at half time thanks to a Tommy Miller equaliser in the only game to go ahead in the division due to bad weather again. However just before the hour we collapsed and the Grecians ran riot. 200 year old Jamie Cureton finishing the game with two goals. 

25th Jan - Owls 2-2 Yeovil

Hands down one of the worse games I have ever seen. So bad the game has gone down in infamy amongst those who witnessed it, as we failed to beat a woeful nine-man Yeovil side. January signings Gary Madine and Reda Johnson both scoring equalisers, and Giles Coke missed a penalty. 5 games without a win since the Bristol Rovers game and Irvine, despite making a number of new signings, was coming under severe pressure from the fan base due to poor results and awful football. 

29th Jan - Owls 4-1 Hereford (FACup)

FA Cup fourth round. Everyone was looking for a shock, and they nearly got it as the visitors took the lead. But a quick Potter equaliser settled the game and Wednesday duly dominated the rest of the tie. We went out in the fifth round with defeat at Birmingham City. 

3rd Feb - All Change!

So despite backing his man in public and spending big in the transfer window on defenders Mark Reynolds, Reda Johnson & Michael Morrison along with midfielder Isiah Osbourne (loan) and striker Gary Madine, Alan Irvine was rightfully dismissed from his role following a 5-3 defeat at Peterborough. We were now winless in 6. Milan acted swiftly in appointing a successor - A man with many wednesday connections - Gary Megson!

5th Feb - Owls 2-2 MK Dons

Meggo’s first game in charge saw us draw with MK. Mellor & Morrison on the scoresheet. 

5th Mar - Owls 2-4 Plymouth

The owls suffered our first reverse at Hillsborough since the 2nd November. Coke and Reda with our goals as a young Yannik Bolaise terrorised the shaky back line. 

16th/17th Mar - Things to come!

A 4-1 home defeat to Peterborough was the final straw as several under performing players were replaced. Two centre halves arrived in as many days with Rob Jones, Scunthorpe, and Danny Batth, Wolves, joining on loan deals until the summer. It was clear that Milan Mandaric’s January investment had been wasted! 

24th Mar - Joey O’Brien loan

Megson continued his reshaping of the squad by bringing Joey O’Brien back for a second loan spell. The midfielder having played his part in the 2004/05 promotion season from the same division. Sadly his career since had been blighted by injury and he was struggling to regain form. 

2nd Apr - Owls 2-1 Colchester

A first home victory since the Bristol game on the 11th December - a run of 8 matches - was delivered with a brace from Neil Mellor. Our last home victory had seen us in 2nd place during the Christmas build up. This victory saw us consolidate in lowly 16th spot. 

16th Apr - Owls 2-0 Hartlepool

A routine victory, our third in four matches, was secured by goals from Madine and Tommy Miller. Megson’s changes were beginning to take effect. 

7th May - Owls 1-2 Exeter City

Final game of the season, a bumper crowd of 21,000 (the highest since the opening day) saw Wednesday give a lacklustre performance and surrender a lead given to them by Jermaine Johnson with 15 minutes to go, to end a miserable season with a defeat. I remember this day vividly as I had attended my uncles wedding that morning and driven straight to the game, and I then drove straight back to the evening reception. Dedication on my part, not so on the part of the playing staff. 

Ending another season on a downer, it’s like we were forever destined to be on this endless cycle of decline and disappointment. Milan Mandaric rode in and rescued us at the 11th hour only to see his investment squandered on awful signings, many of which Megson would move on within months. As ever it was two steps forward, three steps back. But Megson was saying all the right things. He spoke with a passion for the club that really spoke to me. 

We’re we shit? Yes

Was I hopeful of an improve my? Well it couldn’t get worse, could it?

Would I be back next season? Absolutely