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This season they haven’t been so lucky and their second drop in three years has now been confirmed with two games still to play. The fall from grace has been rapid for a club that finished 3rd in the First Division in the last season before the Premiership and played in both domestic cup finals the year after.
That was in the days of Mr. Misery Trevor Francis but since he left in 1995 there has been a succession of managers. They have had four different managers in charge in their three seasons in the First Division and that lack of continuity cannot have helped the situation.
They started this season with Terry Yorath, he was in charge when we won 3-1 at Hillsborough in October. He resigned and they turned to Hartlepool boss and Wednesday fan Chris Turner but he has been unable to bring about a rescue act since taking over in November.
At no stage this season were they not in a relegation battle, they fell into the bottom three after just three games and have climbed out just three times and then for less than a week on each occasion.
There has been no good run at any time during the season and their nine wins is the lowest in the division. They are currently in their best run of form all season, they are unbeaten in their last five games that have brought two wins and three draws.
One of the wins was at top of the league Portsmouth, a last minute goal from Michael Reddy (on loan from Sunderland) clinching a 2-1 win. This was just their second away win, the other had come on New Year’s Day when they won 2-0 at Rotherham with goals from Shefki Kuqi and Wolves’ forward Adam Proudlock then on loan.
Last weekend they had games against Grimsby and Brighton and with the previous two games won there was hope that they could still avoid the drop. But draws in both games coupled with two wins for Stoke ended those hopes.
The second of those games was at Brighton and they led 1-0 with a goal from Grant Holt. It was his first goal in league football in his first start. He has been with Wednesday since transfer deadline week when he signed from Unibond Premier League club Barrow.
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Wednesday had been the better side up to that point in the game but never really looked as though they might get in front after the penalty incident. The result will also make it very difficult for Brighton to stay up, now the favourites to go down with Wednesday and Grimsby.
For some it is inconceivable that a club as big and as pompous as Sheffield Wednesday could be playing at the third level but it is not the first time and as recently as 1974 they were in the old Third Division.
But football has changed and it will be very difficult for them given their financial position and it is unlikely that they will start next season as favourites to return.
Their team at Brighton was: Kevin Pressman, Ashley Westwood (Richard Wood 73), Danny Maddix, Leigh Bromby, Dean Smith, Brian Barry-Murphy, Paul McLaren, Steven Haslam, Alan Quinn, Grant Holt (Shefki Kuqi 83), Michael Reddy (Lloyd Owusu 30). Subs not used: Chris Stringer, Richard Evans.
Just 47 goals have been scored in the league this season and Shefki Kuqi has the most with just eight of them. No other player has scored more than three goals.
There is nothing but pride to play for but Sheffield Wednesday boss Chris Turner has said this week that Burnley will need to be up for it to try and boost season ticket sales. He clearly seems to know what’s going on at the Turf.
Click HERE to see our preview for the away game and HERE to see Sheffield Wednesday’s results this season.
He played for both
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Waddle was signed for Wednesday by Trevor Francis from Marseille, costing £1 million. Having started his professional career with Newcastle he moved on to Spurs and the French club had paid Spurs £4.5 million for his services.
His England career was over by now, overlooked by Graham Taylor, but he became a crowd favourite with the Wednesday fans and in his first season helped them to the two cup finals with both of them being lost to Arsenal.
They finished seventh in the Premiership in each of his first two seasons at Wednesday but eventually Francis left to be replaced by Pleat and Waddle became surplus to requirements.
The 1996/97 season saw him looking round for somewhere to play. Although he started the season at Hillsborough he was no longer in the first team squad and it was Falkirk where he got his first game. There was just the one appearance north of the border before he signed for Bradford City newly promoted to the First Division.
Probably the highlight of his short stay there was a goal at Everton in the FA Cup, a tie won by Bradford. In March though Bradford cashed in on him and sold him to Sunderland for £75,000. It was at Roker Park that he played his last Premiership games and at the end of the season with Sunderland relegated he was released.
When Adrian Heath did a runner from the Turf rumour soon spread that Waddle was interested in the job and just after the start of pre-season training in July he was duly appointed.
Sadly the reality never matched the expectation and hype and he proved to be a disaster in his first, and to this date only, management job. No goals in the first six games, no wins in the first ten and no idea whether and in what position to play himself.
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Things improved and thankfully a win on the last day against Plymouth saved us. At the final whistle he legged it up the tunnel and disappeared although he did come back out to thank the fans.
When he walked back up the tunnel that was the last we saw of him, by the time we next kicked a ball and Stan Ternent had taken over.
Waddle had a short spell at Torquay the following season but after 22 games for them he decided to leave Plainmoor. With a total of 599 league appearances throughout his career it is hardly likely he took the decision himself just one short of the 600 but his league career was over.
He has played for Worksop, coached at Sheffield Wednesday and been linked with countless management jobs the latest of which is Chesterfield. It is though always Waddle doing the linking himself. His season at Turf Moor has made it very difficult for any chairman to take a risk on him.
A class player at his peak we never saw the best of him, he was way over the hill by the time he put a Claret & Blue shirt on.
League results in the last 20 years
Season | Div | Ven | Result | Att | Scorers |
a | |||||
1982/83 | 2 | h | 4-1 | 9,548 | Taylor(3) Hamilton |
a | 1-1 | 16,329 | Steven | ||
2000/01 | 1 | h | 1-0 | 16,372 | Davis |
a | 0-2 | 20,184 | |||
2001/02 | 1 | h | 1-2 | 16,081 | Taylor(pen) |
a | 2-0 | 21,766 | Taylor Cook(pen) | ||
2002/03 | 1 | a | 3-1 | 17,004 | Taylor Little I Moore |
Click HERE
Last Time in the League
Burnley 1 (Taylor 75pen) Sheffield Wednesday 2 (McLaren 30 Kuqi 90) – Nationwide League Division 1, Saturday 19th August 2002.
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I think it is fair to say that Sheffield Wednesday were the worst side to come to the Turf all last season but incredibly despite their appalling performance we allowed them to go away with all three points.
They went in front on the half hour but by this time we should have really been in front but had missed chances. Alan Moore hit the bar just before half time but things were to get worse.
The second half performance was abysmal and we looked a pale shadow of the side that had won six games in succession just a month earlier. We never looked likely to break down a poor Wednesday defence.
But then we got a lifeline via the penalty spot with fifteen minutes to go with Gareth Taylor now assuming responsibility and equalising.
We piled forward and it looked only a matter of time before the winner came. Wednesday had Marlon Broomes stretchered off and then things went worse for them when keeper Kevin Pressman was also stretchered off.
On came rookie keeper Sean Roberts with three minutes plus stoppage time left. Stoppage time was to be a full seven minutes. We had ten minutes to find a winner past the 17 year old debutant.
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Wednesday were even able to win and miss a penalty before the referee called time on what had been a disastrous game for the Clarets.
Our fans also came in for some criticism. They pelted coins at Marlon Broomes as he was stretchered off and they turned on two of our players in no uncertain terms. The abuse that Gareth Taylor and Graham Branch suffered was disgraceful and manager Stan Ternent had plenty to say about that after the game.
It had been a bad day for the Clarets, just our second home defeat of the season. It was though to get worse.
The teams were,
Burnley: Nik Michopoulos, Dean West, Ian Cox, Arthur Gnohere, Graham Branch (Brad Maylett 45), Kevin Ball, Tony Grant, Lee Briscoe, Alan Moore, Ian Moore (Dimitri Papadopoulos 80), Gareth Taylor. Subs not used: Luigi Cennamo, Gordon Armstrong, Paul Cook.
Sheffield Wednesday: Kevin Pressman (Sean Roberts 87), Leigh Bromby, Marlon Broomes (Derek Geary 67), Ashley Westwood, Steven Haslam, Paul McLaren, Matthew Hamshaw (Alan Quinn 80), Trond Egil Soltvedt, Gerald Sibon, Efan Ekoku, Shefki Kuqi. Subs not used: Pablo Bovin, Danny Maddix.
Referee: Mike Pike (Barrow-in-Furness).