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Sheffield Wednesday F.C.

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Sheffield Wednesday Football Club are a football club in the English Football League, based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England.

Sheffield Wednesday won the play-offs of Football League One on 29 May 2005 to win promotion to the Football League Championship. Their current manager is Paul Sturrock.

They play their home games at Hillsborough stadium in Sheffield, which staged numerous F.A Cup semi finals until the 1989 Hillsborough Disaster which claimed the lives of 96 Liverpool fans.

The Owls so far have four league titles, three F.A Cups and one League Cup to their name, but their League Cup triumph - secured in 1991 - is their only major trophy since the Second World War. They did reach both domestic cup finals in 1993, but lost 2-1 to Arsenal each time.

The club almost suffered relegation to the Fourth Division in 1976, but a revival over the next few seasons saw them reach the First Division in 1984. They spent 15 of the next 16 seasons at this level before going down in 2000. Another relegation in 2003 saw the Owls slip into Division Two, and they had to wait two seasons before winning promotion (via the playoffs). They avoided relegation in their first season back in the second tier of the English league, but before long the club's fans will be expecting Premiership football and cup runs.

Famous former managers of Sheffield Wednesday include Jack Charlton World Cup Winner with England in 1966, Howard Wilkinson, Ron Atkinson, Trevor Francis, David Pleat, Danny Wilson, Paul Jewell and Terry Yorath. Famous former players include Roland Nillson, David Hirst, Mark Bright, Chris Waddle, Kevin Pressman, John Sheridan, Des Walker, Paolo Di Canio, Gary Megson and Chris Woods.

Contents

History

For more details on this topic, see History of Sheffield Wednesday F.C..
The club was initially a cricket team formed in 1825 named The Wednesday Cricket Club after the day of the week when they played their matches. The footballing side of the club was established to keep the team together and fit during the winter months. SWFC was born on the evening of Wednesday 4 September 1867 at a meeting at the Adelphi Hotel, Sheffield.  





Leaflet advertising the opening match at Olive Grove between 'The Wednesday' and Blackburn Rovers, 12 September 1887.

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Leaflet advertising the opening match at Olive Grove between 'The Wednesday' and Blackburn Rovers, 12 September 1887.






Even at this first meeting it became apparent that football would soon come to eclipse the cricketing side of the club. By 1 February 1868 Wednesday were playing their first competitive football match as they entered the Cromwell Cup, a four-team competition for newly formed clubs. They went on to win the cup, beating The Garrick Club 1-0 after extra time in the final at Bramall Lane.


In the summer of 1882, after a season in which The Wednesday reached the semi-finals of the F.A. Cup, the cricket and football teams split permanently, and by the end of 1925 the cricket team had disbanded. In the 1880s Wednesday became a permanent fixture in the F.A. Cup as they attempted to move away from local competitions, however their failure to enter the tournament before the deadline in the 1886-87 led to a revolt by several of the top players.


Wednesday's President at the time, John Holmes, was against the club turning professional, but under the immense pressure of the possibility of losing his star players he entered in to talks with the rebels, eventually offering professional terms. At the meeting called to set up a rival team, Sheffield Rovers, one of the rebel players Tom Cawley argued that Wednesday should be given one final chance and the football club duly turned professional on 22 April 1887.


The move to professionalism led to the team leaving Bramall Lane which took a share of the "" and building a new ground at Olive Grove.


In 1889 the club became founder members of the Football Alliance of which they were the first champions in a season where they also reached the 1890 FA Cup Final, losing 6-1 to Blackburn Rovers at the Oval. Despite finishing the following season bottom of the Alliance, they were eventually elected to the expanded Football League in 1892. They won the FA Cup in 1896, beating Wolverhampton Wanderers by a 2-1 scoreline at Crystal Palace.


More history from early 20th century to be added





Sheffield Wednesday badge in the 1970s.

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Sheffield Wednesday badge in the 1970s.






Wednesday won the FA Cup again in 1907, beating Everton, again at Crystal Palace by two goals to one.


Sheffield Wednesday spent the majority of the 1980s and 1990s in the top tier of English football. 1990-91 was the only season out of sixteen in a row that Wednesday spent in a lower division, but the season is best remembered for Wednesday's swift return to the top flight and their League Cup victory over Manchester United to win their first major trophy for over 50 years.


Wednesday finished third in the First Division at the end of the 1991-92 season, booking their place in the following season's UEFA Cup as well as earning a place in the new FA Premier League. The following season was one of the most eventful seasons in the history of Sheffield Wednesday football club. They finished seventh in the Premier League and reached the finals of both the FA Cup and the League Cup, but were on the losing side to Arsenal in both games. This prevented the Owls from making another appearance in European competition. Still, the 1992-93 season established Sheffield Wednesday as a top club and they visited Wembley four times during the season.


Wednesday's fortunes took a turn for the worse when a succession of managers failed to maintain this form, first David Pleat and later Danny Wilson spent small fortunes building squads that were ultimately ineffective and the club's debts got out of control as a result. Things eventually came to a head early in the 1998-99 season when Italian firebrand Paulo Di Canio was sent off in a match against Arsenal and proceeded to push the referee on his way off. Danny Wilson was sacked the following March with relegation looking a certainty for the Hillsborough club, following a disastrous season in which they had been hammered 8-0 by Newcastle United. His assistant Peter Shreeves took temporary charge but was unable to stave off relegation.


The club's flirtation with relegation continues in Division One, the only highlight of the early years of the new millennium being a run to the semi finals of the League Cup in the 2001-02 season, the club finishing two places above the relegation zone. After yet more managerial changes Chris Turner was hired as boss and made a big effort to rejuvenate the side but a failure to beat Brighton in the penultimate game of the 2002-03 season condemned them to another relegation.





Wednesday lift the 2005 League One Playoff Trophy

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Wednesday lift the 2005 League One Playoff Trophy







Turner was optimistic of an immediate return to Division One, but this was not to be. Wednesday finished 2003-04 in 16th place in Division Two, with the lowest goals tally in the division. Turner the following season after a poor start to the 2004-05 Coca-Cola League One campaign, and replaced by former Southampton manager Paul Sturrock.


Sturrock revitalised Sheffield Wednesday's fortunes and they finished fifth in League One at the end of the 2004-05 season, qualifying for the promotion playoffs. They defeated Brentford 3-1 on aggregate in the semi-finals, moving them into the playoff final on May 29, 2005 at the Millennium Stadium. 41,000 Wednesdayites travelled to Cardiff and watched the Owls beat 4-2 after extra time, achieving promotion to the Championship.


On 17 April 2006, Sheffield Wednesday retained their place in the Championship with two matches remaining, with a 2-0 away win at Brighton, condemning Brighton, Millwall and Crewe to the drop in the process.[link]. Wednesday went on to finish the season in 19th place, 10 points clear of the relegation zone.



Names


The Wednesday Football Club was known to many simply as The Wednesday until 1929, when sources suggest that the club was officially renamed Sheffield Wednesday under the stewardship of manager Bob Brown. Evidence however suggests that the name Sheffield Wednesday dates back as far as 1883: the former ground at Olive Grove had the name Sheffield Wednesday painted on the stand roof and indeed the winner's name on the FA Cup was inscribed as The Wednesday in both 1896 and 1907.


They are the only English League club with a day of the week in their name. The club derives its name from its predecessor, The Wednesday Cricket Club, whose meetings were held on Wednesday afternoons. Wednesday was traditionally the day that the local steel workers who formed the club took their half-day off to play sports. Links between football and cricket were severed in 1883 and the cricket club has not existed since the 1920s.
The only other club in the UK with a day of the week in its name is Abergavenny Thursdays, which plays in a lower dvision of the Welsh leagues.


Wednesday's original nickname was "the Blades" - now the nickname of their long-term rivals, Sheffield United - until the start of the 20th century when a player presented them with an owl mascot to honour their stadium at Owlerton, adjacent to Hillsborough. Since then, the club has simply been known as "the Owls".



Colours


Since its founding the club has played its home games in blue and white shirts, traditionally in vertical stripes. However, a monochrome photograph from 1874-75 shows the Wednesday team in plain dark shirtsRichard A. Spalding (1926), Romance of the Wednesday, Desert Island Books, ISBN 1874287171. The 1871 'Rules of the Sheffield Football Association' listed the Wednesday club colours as blue and white hoopsPercy M. Young (1962), Football in Sheffield, S. Paul.  A quartered blue and white design was used in 1887 and a blue shirt with white sleeves between 1969 and 1973Bob Bickerton (1998), Club Colours, Hamlyn, ISBN 0600595420. This does however date back to 1965, and would have received greater notoriety had they not worn their away kit for all of their games in the 1966 FA Cup run when all of their ties were drawn away. Given the option in the final of wearing their first strip they chose the away strip for luck but Everton managed to claw back a two-nil defecit after 54 minutes.


The current home strip consists of blue and white vertical stripes with black shorts and black socks. The change strip (used for away or cup fixtures where there is a clash of colours) is all yellow with blue and white trim. The goalkeeper's home strip is all gold with black trim; the change strip is dark grey with yellow trim.



Grounds




Plan of Hillsborough Stadium and the surrounding area

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Plan of Hillsborough Stadium and the surrounding area







Sheffield Wednesday's first permanent home ground was at Olive Grove, a site on Queen's Road originally leased from the Duke of Norfolk. Extensions to the adjacent railway forced the club to move in 1899, when work began on the famous Hillsborough Stadium at Owlerton, to the northwest of the city. The first game at Olive Grove was a 4-4 draw with Blackburn Rovers, and the first game at Hillsborough was a 5-1 win for Wednesday over Chesterfield.


Originally, Wednesday played matches at various locations in Sheffield (including Bramall Lane, before Sheffield United made it their home ground). Before moving to Olive Grove in 1887 the Owls played a number of home games on a site where Highfield Library was later built.


The story goes that the Owlerton ground became known as Hillsborough because supporters found the tram taking them to Owlerton involved a longer journey. Renaming the ground Hillsborough apparently allowed them to catch the right tram!!



Fanzines


Sheffield Wednesday have had a relatively large number of fanzines over the years which supplement, oppose and complement the club's official magazine and matchday programme. Examples included ‘Just Another Wednesday’ (JAW) which was produced by Daniel Gordon who subsequently went on to write a book about the club including Blue-and-white-wizards: The Sheffield Wednesday Dream Team (see Books below). Other fanzines include Out of the Blue, Boddle, A View From The East Bank, Cheat! and War of the Monster Trucks - named after a local TV station elected not to show the final scenes of an unlikely cup victory. A download can be found at the founders current website [SheffieldWednesday.com]



Books





Honours












Managers and players


Managers




Name
Nat
From
To
Record


P
W
L
D


 Arthur Dickinson
 1 August 1891
 31 May 1920
 919
 393
 338
 188


 Bob Brown
 1 June 1920
 1 December 1933
 600
 266
 199
 135


 Billy Walker
 1 December 1933
 31 November 1937
 187
 66
 68
 53


 Jimmy McMullan
 1 December 1937
 1 April 1942
 77
 33
 21
 23


 Eric Taylor
 1 April 1942
 31 July 1958
 539  	 
 196 
 215
 128


 Harry Catterick
 1 August 1958
 30 April 1961
 138  	 
 77
 30
 31


 Vic Buckingham
 1 May 1961
 1 March 1964
 134  	 
 63  	
 47
 24


 Alan Brown
 1 August 1964
 31 July 1968
 174
 60
 70
 44


 Jack Marshall
 1 February 1968
 1 April 1969
 48
 12 
 20
 16


 Danny Williams
 1 August 1969
 1 January 1971
 67
 16
 35
 16


 Derek Dooley
 1 January 1971
 24 December 1973
 130
 41
 54  	
 35


 Steve Burtenshaw
 29 January 1974
 1 October 1975
 68
 13
 38
 17


 Len Ashurst
 15 October 1975
 5 October 1977
 92
 31
 34
 27


 Jack Charlton
 8 October 1977
 27 May 1983
 269
 105
 77 
 87


 Howard Wilkinson
 24 June 1983
 10 October 1988  	 
 255  	 
 114  	 
 73  	 
 68


 Peter Eustace
 28 October 1988
 14 February 1989
 18
 2
 9
 7


 Ron Atkinson
 14 February 1989
 6 June 1991
 118
 49
 34
 35


 Trevor Francis
 7 June 1991
 20 May 1995
 214  	 
 88
 58
 68


 David Pleat
 14 June 1995
 3 November 1997
 102
 32
 40
 30


 Ron Atkinson
 14 November 1997
 17 May 1998
 27
 9
 11
 7


 Danny Wilson
 6 July 1998
 21 March 2000
 80
 23
 40
 17


 Peter Shreeves
 21 March 2000
 21 May 2000
 9
 3
 5
 1


 Paul Jewell
 21 June 2000
 12 February 2001
 38
 12
 21
 5


 Peter Shreeves
 12 February 2001
 17 October 2001
 31
 11
 11
 9


 Terry Yorath
 17 October 2001
 31 October 2002
 56
 16
 25
 15


 Chris Turner
 7 November 2002
 19 September 2004
 96
 29
 36
 31


 Paul Sturrock
 23 September 2004
 Present
 91
 33
 33
 25



Source: [SoccerBase]



Current first-team squad





































Detailed Squad Info



Former players





For more details on this topic, see Sheffield Wednesday F.C. players.


Famous former Sheffield Wednesday players include:



Pre-World War II




 Jack Allen
 Ernest Blenkinsop
 Tom Brittleton
 Tom Crawshaw
 Teddy Davidson










Post-World War II







 Viv Anderson
 Gary Bannister
 Mark Bright
 Benito Carbone
 Lee Chapman


Paolo Di Canio
Derek Dooley


Andy Hinchcliffe
David Hirst


Mick Lyons
Brian Marwood


Gary Megson
Roland Nilsson
Carlton Palmer


Kevin Pressman
Albert Quixall
John Sheridan


Peter Shirtliff
Ron Springett

Imre Varadi
Chris Waddle
Des Walker
Paul Warhurst


Chris Woods
Nigel Worthington






Records


Team



Biggest Premier League Win:
6-2 v Leeds United, Home, 16 December 1995 


Heaviest Premier League Defeat:
0-8 v  Newcastle United, Away, 19 September 1999  


Biggest Football League Win:
9-1 v Birmingham City, Division 1, 13 December 1930 


Heaviest Football League Defeat:
0-10 v Aston Villa, Division 1, 5 October 1912 


Biggest Cup Win:
12-0 v Halliwell, FA Cup Round 1, 17 January 1891 


Most goals scored in a Premier League season:
76 - 1993-94 (42 games) 


Most goals scored in a Football League season:
106 - Division 2, 1958-59 


Record Premier League points total:
64 - 1993-94 (42 games) 


Record Football League points total:
88 - Division 2, 1983-84 






Transfers



Highest Fee Paid:
£4.7m to Celtic for Paolo Di Canio, 6 August 1997


Highest Fee Received:
£2.7m from Blackburn Rovers for Paul Warhurst, 11 September 1993






Players



Most Appearances (Total):
545 - Andy Wilson, 1900-1920


Most Football League Appearances:
501 - Andy Wilson, 1900-1920


Most Premier League Appearances:
227 - Des Walker, 1992-1999 


Most Consecutive League and Cup Appearances:
214 - Martin Hodge, 1983-1987 


Highest all-time goalscorer (Total):
216 - Andy Wilson, 1900-1920


Highest all-time Premier League goalscorer:
48 - Mark Bright, 1992-1997 


Highest goalscorer in a Premier League season:
19 - Mark Bright, 1993-94 


Highest goalscorer in a Football League season:
46 - Derek Dooley, Division 2, 1951-52 


Most Goals Scored in a Match:
6 - Douglas Hunt, v Norwich, Division 2, 19 November 1938


Most Capped Player (whilst at club):
Nigel Worthington - 50 ( Northern Ireland)


Youngest Player Ever:
Peter Fox, 15 years 269 days, v Leyton Orient, 31 March 1973


Oldest Player Ever:
Tom Brittleton, 41 years 8 days, v Oldham Athletic, 1 May 1920






Attendance



Highest Home Attendance (all-time):
72,841 v Manchester City, FA Cup Round 5, 17 February 1934 


Highest Premier League Attendance:
39,640 v Manchester United, 2 February 2000






Famous fans



References





External links


Official site



Supporters' clubs and associations



Unofficial news sites



Fans' forums



Other links
















 Sheffield Wednesday Football Club

The Club | Records | History | Seasons

Current squad | Former players

Olive Grove > Hillsborough

Steel City derby > Wednesdayite






























 





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