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!

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!