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.

History

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.

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 "gate receipts" 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

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.

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.^*. 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

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

• Blue-and-white-wizards: The Sheffield Wednesday Dream Team; Daniel Gordon; ISBN 1840186801
• Dooley!: The Autobiography of a Soccer Legend; Derek Dooley, Keith Farnsworth; ISBN 1874718598
• Flying with the Owls Crime Squad; Paul Allen, Douglas Naylor; ISBN 1844540936
• Hillsborough Encyclopedia, The: A-Z of Sheffield Wednesday; Dean Hayes; ISBN 1851589600
• Jackie Robinson Story, The; Eric Brodie, Allan Troilett; ISBN 0954726421
• One Hundred Years at Hillsborough, 2nd September 1899-1999; Jason Dickinson; ISBN 1874718296
• Sheffield Football: A History: 1857-1961 (Volume 1); Keith Farnsworth; ISBN 187471813X
• Sheffield Football: A History: 1961-95 (Volume 2); Keith Farnsworth; ISBN 1874718148
• Sheffield Wednesday 1867-1967; Nick Johnson; ISBN 0752427202
• Sheffield Wednesday Football Club: A Complete Record, 1867-1987; Keith Farnsworth; ISBN 0907969259
• Sheffield Wednesday Head to Head; Peter Waring; ISBN 1859834175
• Sheffield Wednesday, Illustrating the Greats; Michael Liversidge, Gary Mackender; ISBN 0954726456
• The Romance of the (Sheffield) Wednesday, 1867-1926; Richard A. Sparling; ISBN 1874287171
• Wednesday: Every Day of the Week - An Oral History of the Owls; Keith Farnsworth; ISBN 1859831311
• Wednesday!: The History of Sheffield's Oldest Professional Football Club; Keith Farnsworth; ISBN 0900660880

Honours

• Cromwell Cup
  • Winners 1867

• Football Alliance
  • Champions 1890

• Football League First Division
  • Champions 1903, 1904, 1929, 1930

• Football League Second Division
  • Champions 1900, 1926, 1952, 1956, 1959

• Football League One
  • Play-off Winners 2005

• Football League Cup
  • Winners 1991

• FA Cup
  • Winners 1896, 1907, 1935

• FA Charity Shield
  • 1904, 1935

Managers and players

Managers

Source: SoccerBase

Current first-team squad

Detailed Squad Info

Former players

Famous former Sheffield Wednesday players include:

Pre-World War II

Post-World War II

Records

Team

Transfers

Players

Attendance

Famous fans

• David Blunkett - politician
• Joe Carnall - bass guitar, Milburn
• Louis Carnall - rhythm guitar, Milburn
• Jamie Cook - guitarist, Arctic Monkeys
• Thomas Craig - actor
• Joe Green - drummer, Milburn
• Roy Hattersley - politician
• Matt Helders - drummer, Arctic Monkeys
• Michael Palin - actor, TV presenter
• Tim Rowley - lead guitar, Milburn
• Alex Turner - vocalist, Arctic Monkeys
• Michael Vaughan - cricketer
• Chris Walker - actor

References