2015/16 - Stirring the giant

New Wednesday owner Deijphon Chansiri set about remoulding the club in his image with the announcement of his transfer committee. This group would be responsible for the the comings and going on the football side and would be made up of himself, head coach Stuart Gray, Glenn Roeder and former Leeds director Adam Pearson. This group was responsible for such signings as Dutch central defender Darryl Lachman.

The transfer committee was disbanded almost as quickly as it came together, and soon head coach Stuart Gray was also harshly dispensed with. As sad as I was to see Gray go given the job he had done with little resources it had a feeling of inevitability about it. Chansiri then allegedly formed a close association with sports agency Doyen, in a move that would controversially impact upon the clubs transfer activities for the next few years. 

So who would replace Stuart Gray - of course it was the little known Portuguese manager Carlos Carvalhal. After attempts to bring in several other targets including some bloke from Swindon and other British coaches news of the out of work Carlos began leaking out on local social media. He was officially appointed on 30th June. 

Pre-season was largely forgettable with the first chance to see Carlos and his (Chansiri’s) recruits was Owls in The Park. On a blistering warm Sunday afternoon Wednesday fans turned out to see playing staff new and old. 

On show were new signings Marco Matias, Lewis Price, Ross Wallace, Vincent Sasso, Jack Hunt, Alex Lopez and Lewis McGugan who returned permanently. 

It was also the end of an era with long serving fullback Lewis Buxton leaving. Also departing were Giles Coke, Paul Corry, Gary Madine, Jacques Maghoma, Joe Mattock, Rhys McCabe, Kamil Zayatte, Chris Kirkland and lovable rogue Chris Maguire. 

Wednesday further strengthened ahead of the season opener with the additions of Lucas Joao, Rhoys Wiggins and Modou Sougou. 

Anybody else excited!!!

8th Aug - Owls 2-0 Bristol City

The Carlos era got off to a flyer as the new look owls, boasting five summer signings in the starting line up, comfortably beat newly promoted Bristol City in the Hillsborough sunshine. Tom Lees opened the scoring and McGugan wrapped up the victory with a smart finish from a Ross Wallace cross. Great stuff!

11th Aug - Owls 4-1 Mansfield

A few days later a much changed line up saw Carlos give five full debuts to players. In what was a routine victory by a Wednesday reserve IX there was a real collectors item - a goal for veteran Jose Semedo! The game also saw first goals for Joao and Sougou, whilst Kieran Lee was also on the scoresheet. 

Transfer Bonanza!

At the end of August Wednesday strengthened the squad further with the loan signings of Michael Turner from Norwich and Watford fullback Daniel Pudil. Whilst Barry Bannan and Fernando Forestieri joined on permanent transfers. 

26th Sept - Brentford 1-2 Owls

Having gone six without a league victory since the opening day we went and won two in a row against southern opposition. We throughly enjoyed our day in London - Nuhiu dispatching a penalty following Tarkowski’s red card. Jeremy Helan was shown two yellows just after the hour, resulting in future Wednesday target Alan Judge notching an equaliser. But the impressive Joao broke through in added on time to notch the winner! 

3rd Oct - Owls 3-1 Preston

We followed the Brentford victory up with another to make it three in a row on a sunny October afternoon. Kieran Lee put us ahead just before halftime and Pudil doubled the lead in the second half. Preston pulled a goal back and put us under real pressure but having pushed everyone up for a last minute corner Lewis McGugan ensured the victory by chipping the retreating Preston goalkeeper Jordan Pickford from the half way line. 

27th Oct - Owls 3-0 Arsenal

Oh what a night! After 15 years in the doldrums we finally had a really big night to remember. Wednesday romped home against a mixed Arsenal side who had Petr Czech in goal, Debuchy, World Cup winner Per Mertesaker, Chambers, Gibbs, Flamini, Kamara, Trinidad World Cup hero Campbell, Ox-Chamberlain, Iwobi and Giroud. Throw in Theo Walcott who came off the bench to get injured and that’s a fairly strong reserve side. The Arsenal could not cope with our intensity and we took the lead through a superb Ross Wallace strike. Lucas Joao found the net just before half time and Sam Hutchinson bundled in a third just into the second half to make Hillsborough rock like it hadn’t in a long long time. 

In other positive news Wednesday announced the signing of Gary Hooper initially on loan, from Norwich, after protracted negotiations.

3rd Nov - Owls 0-0 Brighton

Wednesday played out a creditable goalless draw with Brighton in the midweek tie. A fine example of two good sides cancelling each other out in what was possibly a sign of things to come...

6th Dec - Owls 0-0 Derby

Having failed to win a game in November we started December goalless. We missed out on a chance to go back into the play off places but held third placed Derby at arms length. 

20th Dec - Owls 4-1 Wolves

One of my favourite ties of the season! We started slowly and after overplaying at the back gifted Afobe the opportunity to put Wolves ahead from the penalty spot. Wednesday came storming back however and equalised with a penalty of our own - Forestieri on the scoresheet. He then doubled our lead five minutes later. In the second half a sweeping team move that was one of my favourite goals of the season saw Hooper flick the ball back to Pudil who adjust his feet and found the top corner of the net! Gary Hooper scored a fourth to ensure we won our first game in five and to give us a first home victory over Wolves in forever!

9th Jan - Owls 2-1 Fulham

We secured our third win of the season over Fulham and second victory in a week over our opponents in this FA Cup third round tie!

January Transfers

Looking to kick on Wednesday added full back Joe Bennet and winger Aiden McGeady to the squad whilst the loans of Jack Hunt and Gary Hooper were made permanent. Meanwhile Darryl Lachman, Sergiou Bus, Jeremy Helan, Claude Dielna and Rhoys Wiggins we’re aloud to leave the club in loans and permanent deals. 

2nd Feb - Owls 1-1 Burnley

Wednesday put in a strong showing against promotion chasing Burnley. Andre Gray put the visitors one up before a second half leveller from Kieran Lee. We got a point but deserved more with Nuhiu playing particularly well.

13th Feb - Owls 4-0 Brentford

This tie was influenced early on when Brentford defender Barbet was sent off after five minutes for pulling Hooper back. After 12 minutes Forestieri gave us the lead, then an excellent finish from Hooper following Westwood’s long pass doubled the lead on the half hour. Lee wrapped it up on the stroke of half time, and substitute Lucas Joao scored a great fourth for the owls on 89 minutes to put gloss on the score line. 

5th Mar - Owls 0-1 Rotherham United

Hard work beats talent when talent doesn’t work hard! Wednesday were out fought in this local derby. Rotherham with a team of hard working blokes continued their good record at Hillsborough, despite late Wednesday pressure. Four games without a win meant we needed a good run to kick on!

30th Apr - Owls 3-0 Cardiff

After four games without a win Wednesday were in danger of making a late slip from the play off a places. We took on Cardiff who, with a victory, could have closed the gap on our sixth place position to 1 point going into the final game!

After a goalless first half Gary Hooper followed up a rebound to give us the lead. A defensive error led to an own goal for the visitors on 75 minutes before Hooper wrapped up the contest in injury time to absolutely guarantee a play off spot with a game to spare!

7th May - Wolves 2-1 Owls

Carlos made 11 changes to his starting line up for the trip to Wolves and handed Jose Semedo the captains armband. It was expected to be his last game in the blue and white. Our lack of cohesion was exposed early on and we soon fell behind - Turner looked particularly poor. We went in at half time two goals down. 

Wolves were on the beach for the most of the second half, however we were awarded a penalty in the last minute. Despite calls from the large travelling contingent for Semedo to take it forgotten man Lewis McGugan stepped up and tucked the spot kick away.

After the game the away fans stayed to applaud the players involved and there was a large round of “We’ll never forget Semedo” - It would have been a fitting tribute. 

Onto the Play-Offs!

Brighton had missed out on automatic promotion on goal difference to Middlesbrough, who went up courtesy of a Jordan Rhodes goal. 

13th May - Owls 2-0 Brighton

The big game! An injury hit Brighton came at Wednesday from the off, however on the day Wednesday rode our luck and took our chances! Forestieri put the ball into the net on the rebound but it was ruled out for a tight offside, however we were in front on the stroke of half time courtesy of Ross Wallace!

An excellent move and finish from Kieran Lee on 73 minutes gave us an important two goal cushion against a Brighton side who, despite heavy pressure, were out fought by Wednesday.  The Wednesday fans even brought out the lights in a show of appreciation on another great night at Hillsborough!

16th May - Brighton 1-1 Owls

Watching the tie on TV I have never had to leave a room to calm down like I did against Brighton. I was having palpitations as Brighton peppered the Wednesday goal. It was an endless stream of chances as we struggled to hold them back! 

Lewis Dunk finally gave them the lead after nineteen minutes. Typical Wednesday!

But then after barely keeping the ball Ross Wallace popped up with an equaliser! Talk about against the run of play! Replays suggested that there was a foul during the goal but it stood. That took the wind out of Brighton’s sails a little. 

The second half was a lot tighter affair. Wednesday got to grips with Brighton’s play and despite still conceding a few chances we held on for a draw and a 3-1 aggregate victory! 

We were going to Wembley! 

Telling my kids to soak it all up as these days don’t come around often!  Wembley way. Packed with smiling Wednesday fans.The coach journey, soaking up the atmosphere. 

I met up with old friends who I hadn’t seen for some time. I had arranged to sit with our usual gang from the kop, behind the goal. My wife however was sat elsewhere in the stadium as our daughter didn’t have enough priority points to get a ticket until general sale. 

Having wandered around the area before kick off, checked out the fan park, seen the bus make the drive from the players hotel, and wandered across with some tinnies to the party on the green excitement was building. 

Looking at the stats we had drawn with every side in the play offs during the campaign. Hull had looked a strong side in the league encounters and probably had the better squad on paper. And it was our old chum Steve Bruce managing against us again. 

In the white hot heat of the Wembley we kicked off. Instant pressure from Hull. Relentless pressure. Much like the Brighton second leg it appeared we weren’t quite at it. Our big game players were fairly ineffective, nulled by the Hull tactics. Goalless at half time, mainly due to some good goalkeeping from Westwood. 

Second half was much the same, although we pressed a little more. Then the one moment of magic in the game - Diame spotted Westwood off of his line and smashed a shot from distance over his head. We huffed and puffed and carved out a few half chances but Hull were never struggling. Tactically we had gotten it wrong and the players hadn’t delivered their normal level of performance. Carlos and Atdhe cried on the pitch. We stayed behind like many others to salute the players for an excellent season where we had fallen short at the final hurdle. Premier return ticket not yet checked in. 

28th May - Hull 1-0 Owls

What more can I saw other than it was great atmosphere in Wembley. The fans were magnificent. We were down but not out. Bring on next season! We go again!

2011/12 - Wednesday Risen!

We sat on the verge of a glorious promotion having overturned a deficit to move ahead of our local rivals. However my build up didn’t exactly go to plan.

4th May - The night before... 

Sat at 10:30pm in an A&E department with my four week old daughter. She was eventually diagnosed with a hernia and referred to a specialist. Great start to the weekend. After years of drama on and off the pitch why was I surprised?

On the day of the game I was up early with my little girl. It was a bright warm day, the sun shone high in the sky. Things looked good. Too good for my liking. I logged onto my rarely used betting account and put money on every possible scenario where Wednesday messed this up. I had seen far too many times us being able to snatch failure from the jaws of victory!

I set off early with my lad, to beat the traffic, it was a good idea.  Arrived about two hours or so before kick off and there were already thousands of fans mulling around outside. Shirts of this and yesteryear were out on show. In the build up it had become clear that this would be a sell out, with the visiting Wycombe fans, who faced relegation, being forced into the cheese wedge in the uncovered corner of the ground. 

The crowd was big. The crowd was tense. The crowd was expectant. 

We all know what happened that day!

Our neighbours and promotion rivals were away at Exeter City. On 24 minutes they were a goal behind, and as the news began to filter into Hillsborough Michail Antonio put the owls in front! And then on 36 minutes news came through that Blades striker James Beattie had received a red card, the blades down to ten men in a must win clash. The dream was on. However just before halftime the blades found an equaliser. The race was finely poised. 

The second half kicked off and within minutes the blades had turned their tie around and now led. A hush fell across the ground momentarily. Wycombe we’re doing their best in the tie but Wednesday were pretty comfortable, then on 52 minutes loan striker Nile Ranger knocked in a goal at Hillsborough to extend our lead. Cue an eruption from the crowd. The party started. The action became pretty irrelevant as the fans just waited for the full time whistle. Even a last minute equaliser at Exeter, that certainly ensured our promotion, went unnoticed. 

5th May - Owls 2-0 Wycombe

At the full time whistle a roar from the crowd preceded a pitch invasion and scenes at Hillsborough I had never seen before. We had secured promotion back to the Championship under Dave Jones, with a Gary Megson squad!

What a day! And certainly what a night! Quite possibly one the best feelings ever experienced! For me this topped the victory Cardiff in 2005. This was our rising!

Promotion!

2011/12 - Wednesday Rising - Part 2: A strong run-in!

On the 2nd of March Milan Mandaric unveiled Wednesday’s fourth permanent manager since the beginning of the 2009/10 season. Former Stockport County, Cardiff City & Southampton manager Dave Jones was appointed as the main to refocus the squad ahead of the final thirteen matches on the run-in. 

3rd Mar - Rochdale 0-0 Owls

Jones first game of his spell went pretty much the same way as the previous few. Pretty unimaginative from Wednesday in an even game where our fragile confidence was clear for all see. 

6th Mar - Owls 4-1 Bury

Jones’ first home tie of his tenure saw a comprehensive victory with goals from Madine, a brace from Antonio and a strike from Ryan Lowe against his former club. Back in the hunt?

10th Mar - Owls 3-0 Bournemouth 

And within a week Dave Jones seems to have fully turned the ship around - racing into a three nil lead within ten minutes against hapless Bournemouth. 

31st Mar - Owls 2-0 Preston

Two wins and a draw has catapulted Wednesday back into the promotion chase and they further strengthened their credentials as a brace from Gary Madine handed us the victory in this lunchtime televised game. 

6 Apr  - Bonus Arrival

Wednesday were going well at this point but as a family we received a bonus Easter holidays treat, as we welcomed into the world our daughter - born in the early hours of the good Friday ahead of Wednesday’s trip to Huddersfield! 

9th Apr - Owls 3-0 Oldham Athletic

Wednesday’s first home tie since the birth of my daughter. After seeing off fellow promotion chasers Huddersfield we were flying at this point just as our near neighbours, whom we were hunting down, had begun to falter. Madine, Llera - who was shining following his move from Brentford and Lowe with the goals. 

14th Apr - Colchester 1-1 Owls

One draw and eight wins in Jones’ 9 games so far. The unbeaten run continued but this was more of an off day for us. Having been playing so well a large contingent of Wednesday fans made the long trip to Colchester. Miguel Llera equalised in the second half after the home side had taken an early lead. 

21st Apr - Owls 2-1 Carlisle

This was the start of the turnaround! Not necessarily a game that many will recall however it is still one of my favourite games. Not because it was a classic but had Michail Antonio not snatched a 95 minute winner - following Carlisle’s late equaliser against the run of play - then maybe what was to follow wouldn’t have happened! The day previous our promotion chasing neighbours had lost their star striker Ched Evans - sent to Prison for an offence he has since been cleared of in the courts. His Blades side reacted by losing 1-0 at MK Dons. 

28th Apr - Blades 2-2 Stevenage - Turnaround complete!
Having been chipping away at the Blades points advantage in the previous 11 games Wednesday finally tipped the scales with a victory at Brentford - another goal from Llera and the only goal of his loan spell for Keith Treacy. All eyes turned to the late kick off in S2. The blue half of Sheffield were overjoyed as Stevenage went into a two goal lead just after half time. The Blades battled back but could only get it back level at 2-2 - handing the advantage firmly to the owls going into the final round of league games of this season! 😬 - I’m not nervous, you are!

2005/06 - Sturrocks Survival Season

There would be no summer holiday of note this summer, I was far too busy saving for other stuff!

After the euphoria of the previous seasons finale it was down to business as Paul Sturrock took to the task of rebuilding the squad in his own image.

This led to a spate of arrivals in the form of Yoann Folly (initially on loan from Southampton, Graeme Coughlan and Peter Gilbert from Sturrocks previous club Plymouth, Chris Adamson, Frankie Simek from Arsenal, John Hills from Gillingham, Scotsman Burton O’Brien, Drissa Diallo, Eagles (on loan from Man United), Stephen Partridge and striker David Graham who arrived for a pretty penny from Wigan. Football genius Craig Rocastle also made his loan move permanent. Whilst outgoing we’re Patrick Collins and Matt Hamshaw amongst others. Whilst Hull City away hero James Quinn returned to his parent club, alongside a number of loanees. 

Pre-season ended with a tie with Manchester City at Hillsborough. Most remembered for Steve MacClean being crocked and pretty much putting Sturrock’s preparations on the back foot. 

6th Aug - Stoke 0-0 Owls

The opening day came around. Myself and Russell were in the packed away stand to watch a goalless draw at stoke. From memory stoke missed or had a penalty saved - ? Either way it was an eye opener to the difference in standard at that level. A decent start to the season. 

9th Aug - Owls 1-1 Hull

Three days later Wednesday hosted Hull City who were promoted alongside Wednesday. This game was somewhat closer than the previous campaign. Loanee striker Leon Best scores for owls in a cagey draw. 

13th Aug - Owls 0-1 Southampton

Relegated from the premier league Southampton we’re looking to go back up and win through a goal from Kenwyne Jones (who received a really warm welcome from the home crowd). It was a cool day not befitting an early season tie, where the shot-shy Owls failed to carve open any real chances. 

20th Sept - Owls 2-4 West Ham

I have only one memory of this League Cup and that is a decent strike from Bobby Zamora. Out of the cup, but the league to concentrate on. 

9th Nov - Owls 1-3 Cardiff

The gulf in quality had been evident all season, with the owls failing to live with the pace and the quality with most sides at times. Chris Eagles scored for Wednesday in a game where Cameron Jerome tore Wednesdays backline to bits. 

3rd Dec - Blades 1-0 Owls

I said I’d never go again after what I witnessed on my previous visit, but here I was slumming it again at the Lane. A dull derby encounter sneaked by the home side after ex-wednesday man Alan Quinn being credited with the goal despite being stood on the goal line in an offside position. I was so incensed on the way home I almost got caught out by every speed camera en route. 

31st Dec - Burnley 1-2 Owls

It’s true what they say - it really is grim up north. It was a relatively mild pleasant day. But Burnley is still grim. A patched up Wednesday came away with a shock first win in ten games. Drissa Diallo came off the bench to play central midfield at one point as we held on at what had been a relatively happy hunting ground over the last few years. 

January the first - happy new strikers day! Wednesday announced the signings of Marcus Tudgay and Deon Burton to boost the clubs firepower and add some much needed goals, and it worked immediately as the owls won the following game 3-0 at home to Crewe. 

21st Jan - Leeds 3-0 Owls

After three league wins on the bounce post Christmas we travelled in numbers to Elland Road for the Yorkshire derby. Sadly nobody told the players as the Leeds romped to a comfortable victory. Despite investing in and some evolution of the squad over the course of the season it was looking pretty bleak at this point. 

4th Feb - Millwall 0-1 Owls

Forever remembered as ‘The Bullen Game’. Travelling to our relegation rivals. Forever a patched up wednesday side lost goalkeeper David Lucas to injury and with no substitute goalkeeper defender and captain Lee Bullen chose to don the pale blue goalkeeping jersey. He managed to keep a clean sheet in a ferocious tie in which Millwall thought they had scored, only for it to be ruled out, and with the referee allowing Wednesday to play on whilst Millwall were all off celebrating we broke and Frank Simek scored his first and only goal for the club. Cue limbs in the away end! A huge victory against a rival as we looked for survival. Watch Millwall 0-1 Wednesday

We only managed three wins from our next 11 games so survival was still in the balance and as fate would dictate we travelled late in the season to Brighton for a relegation six pointer. The hosts would go down with defeat and I believe a victory would guarantee survival for us

17th Apr - Brighton 0-2 Owls

After beating Norwich 1-0 at home in the previous game Wednesday had their dancing shoes on, so Russell and I travelled to Brighton in anticipation of survival and revenge after we were relegated there three years previous. We shuffled into the ramshackle ground onto the temporary stand. The away terrace, separated from the pitch by a running track, shook when we bounced. It had the feel of a school sports day! We ran out the victors, Burton O’Brien wrapped up the victory to guarantee another season at this level, and the opportunity for us to make so progression

22nd Apr - Owls 1-1 Reading

On my birthday table topping champions Reading came to town and were held by Wednesday. Tommy Spurr made his first team debut and put in a decent display. One for the future

30th Apr - Derby 0-2 Owls

Going from Brighton to Derby really was like going from the ritz to the rubble! Got to the ground nice and early. Forgot the tickets. Drove home, raced back. Arrived just in time for kick off. Walked into the gents desperate for a pee, that was empty aside from around 20 police officers. Heard a huge cheer go up, we’d clearly scored early! I’ll always remember the copper leaning over to me and saying ‘You’ve missed that one’. Phil Brown was the derby manager (not for much longer though). Leon Best, who had returned for a second loan spell, scored a second to wrap up a good win following a decent performance, and thus became the first player for Wednesday to score the first and last goals of a season for the club. This was also to be our last victory at Derby. And as I’d been late I wasn’t able to pick up a programme either. 

Our second half of the season had seen an upturn in form aided by the addition of multiple loanees such as Gabriel Agbonlahor, Nicky Weaver, Scott Carson and Mikkel Bischoff to name just a few. 

So the season came to a close with Wednesday having managed to survive in the championship. Mission accomplished for Paul Sturrock and his team of journeymen and loanees, but it was clear that we would have to invest in the squad somehow to be able to compete in the division, or face another season of struggle. 

The summer of 2006 would see England competing in the World Cup finals and I was hopeful the ‘golden generation’ could do us proud. And there was also the small matter of a wedding taking place that summer...