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side so he decided to get around them by making early substitutions which included goalkeeper Nicky Weaver who was withdrawn pretty much straight from kick off.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
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