Sheffield Wednesday

This is the very first myspace site dedicated to Sheffield Wednesday Football Club. It is completely unofficial and set up by a lifelong fan. It's aims are to help promote the club while also showing the strength of support for The Owls. It will also give the fans a chance to voice their opinions. This is not official and not associated with the club in anyway! I do not have official links with the club and no inside information, I am just your average fan. The views expressed here are not necessarily the views of Sheffield Wednesday FC."SHEFFIELD WEDNESDAY CRICKET CLUB AND FOOTBALL CLUB - At a general meeting held on Wednesday last, at the Adelphi Hotel, it was decided to form a football club in connection with the above influential cricket club, with the object of keeping together the members of this cricket club during the winter season".Sheffield Wednesday Football Club was formed on the 4th of September in 1867 by the Sheffield Wednesday Cricket Club (formed in 1820). They didn't know it would happen at the time, but this new club would go on to become one of the most respected and cherished football clubs in England going on to win four League Titles, three FA Cups and one League Cup. The city of Sheffield can rightly claim to be 'the home of football' as the first ever football club, Sheffield FC, was formed in the Steel City in 1857. Now ten years later a new club in the city would go on to strengthen the game of association football. This new club was named 'The Wednesday Football Club' and in the first meeting at the Adelphi Hotel, now the site of the famous snooker venue the Crucible Theatre, the decision was formally made to adopt blue and white as the club colours. Blue and white has remained Wednesday's colours ever since traditionally in our famous stripe form, although we have played in hoops for a short while and in the late 1960's we wore blue shirts with white sleeves. The new football club soon eclipsed the cricket club which disbanded in September 1924 and Wednesday went on to become one of the biggest clubs in the country. Why the name Wednesday? Well the cricket players who formed the club were local craftsmen whose weekly half day off was a Wednesday so they used this day to practice. The club's first game of football was played against Mechanics Club on December 31st, 1867, with Wednesday winning by 3 goals and 4 rouges to nil. The first real competitive matches were played in the Cromwell Cup during February 1868, which the Owls eventually won by beating Garrick Club in the final 1-0. The club still have the trophy in the cabinet today! In 1880 the club entered the FA Cup for the first time and in September 1887 the club turned professional after twenty years as an amateur club and they have continued to trademark attractive football ever since. In 1892 Wednesday were granted admission to the Football League and The Owls have never played outside of the top three divisions ever since. The club's first Football League match was a 1-0 win away to Notts County on September, 3rd, 1892. The line-up was: Allan; Tom Brandon (1), Mumford; Hall, Betts, Harry Brandon; Spiksley, Brady, Davis, Brown, Dunlop. Wednesday's home grounds have included Highfield (1867), Myrtle Road (1869) and Sheaf House (1877). Some games were played at Encliffe in the 1880's and Bramall Lane was also used during this period for important games before Wednesday moved to the Olive Grove in 1887. In 1896 Wednesday won the FA Cup for the first time in their history by beating Wolves 2-1 in the final at Crystal Palace. In 1899 the club turned into a limited company and Hillsborough Stadium was built, and it has remained Wednesday's home ever since. The first ever match at the new ground was a 5-1 win over Chesterfield on the 2nd of September and Wednesday went on to win all of their first 19 matches at their new home. Originally when built it was named the Owlerton Stadium, but was renamed Hillsborough Stadium in 1914 as the ground's location was now deemed to be in the parliamentary constituency of Hillsborough. Hillsborough is one of the most traditional, finest and recognisable stadiums in Europe and has staged games for the 1966 World Cup and Euro 96 as well as two League Cup Final Replays and twenty-eight FA Cup semi-finals. Tragically in 1989, 96 Liverpool fans were killed during an FA Cup semi-final with Nottingham Forest in the West Stand. In the 1902-03 season Wednesday won the first of their four League Titles and actually became back to back Champions by winning the League again the following season. In 1907 it was another FA Cup triumph for Wednesday after beating Everton 2-1. Wednesday's success continued and again they became back to back English League Champions for the 1928-29 and 1929-30 seasons. The club continued to be known as 'The Wednesday' until 1929 when the decision was made to rename the club 'Sheffield Wednesday Football Club'. Wednesday were also originally nicknamed 'The Blades'!!!, but changed to the nickname of 'The Owls' at the start of the 20th century to re-brand the image of the club. This nickname has stayed the same since and is due to the fact that Wednesday are located in a suburb of Sheffield known as Owlerton. In 1935 Wednesday won the FA Cup for the third time in their history with a 4-2 win over West Brom at Wembley but tasted cup final defeat for the second time in their history in 1966 losing 3-2 to Everton, with the previous final defeat being in 1890, a 6-1 defeat to Blackburn. In 1962 Wednesday beat the mighty Barcelona 3-2 at Hillsborough in the first leg of the European Fairs Cup Quarter-Final, but sadly lost the second leg in the Camp Nou 2-0 and crashed out. In 1967 to celebrate and mark Wednesday's centenary, the club introduced a mascot, the famous Ozzie Owl. In the late 90's Ozzie was joined by new friends Ollie and Bazz. However Ozzie was disappointingly replaced in 2006 as official club mascot by the new designed Barney Owl. Sheffield Wednesday are the fifth oldest English Football Club and our Latin motto which has featured on previous crests and kits is: Consilio et Animis, which means "By Wisdom and Courage". In the late 1970's, Wednesday dropped down to the third tier of English football for the first time in their history. However this dark period saw a significant event dramatically turn the club's fortunes around. On Boxing Day 1979 in front of an all-time Third Division attendance record of 49,309 at Hillsborough, The Owls pulled off one of the greatest victories in their entire history, the scoreline read: Sheffield Wednesday 4 Sheffield United 0. 'The Boxing Day Massacre' would propel Wednesday onto promotion at the end of the season while The Blades, who were top of the table going into this match, never recovered and remained in Division Three for the following season. Goals from Ian Mellor, Terry Curran, Jeff King and a Mark Smith penalty will never ever be forgotten. The Owls hit the heights again in the early 1990's winning the League Cup in 1991 after a 1-0 win over Manchester United at Wembley with the goal coming from John Sheridan. United were a league above Wednesday at the time as The Owls gained promotion back to the top flight at the end of the season. The following 91-92 season Wednesday finished the campaign in third place and then finished the next two Premiership seasons in seventh as well as competing in the Uefa Cup. However this new era was slightly tainted as despite reaching both the FA Cup and League Cup finals in 1993, both were lost at Wembley to Arsenal 2-1 (the FA Cup went to a replay after a 1-1 draw in the first match). One very bright note though was The Owls had reached the Cup Final after a 2-1 win over rivals Sheffield United at Wembley in the 1993 FA Cup semi-final with the goals coming from Chris Waddle and Mark Bright. Wednesday became founding members of the Premier League in 1992 and made their record signing in 1997, with £4.5 million being spent on the flamboyant Paolo Di Canio. But just over two years later he had left after pushing referee Paul Alcock to the ground against Arsenal at Hillsborough. Sadly The Owls exited the Premiership after suffering relegation in 2000. The Owls then suffered relegation again in 2003 to League One and had now reached their worst ever position in their history. But under Paul Sturrock promotion was gained in 2005 at the Millennium Stadium in front of over 40,000 Wednesdayites as Hartlepool were beaten 4-2 after extra time. On return to the Coca-Cola Championship, Wednesday finished in 19th place which was deemed a successful season after avoiding relegation while also building a stronger foundation for the future. However the Owls started the 2006-2007 season very poorly and despite being hampered by injuries, Paul Sturrock was sacked as Wednesday manager and replaced by Brian Laws. Wednesday quickly moved up the table and away from any relegation worries by playing our hallmark attractive and adventurous attacking football, which had been abandoned by Sturrock but re-introduced by Laws. Wednesday eventually finished the season in 9th place and only four points short from the play-off places. Sheffield Wednesday now find themselves in a very strong position for the 2007-2008 Championship season with all our intentions focused on winning promotion back to the Premiership. These preparations were hampered somewhat however on Monday the 25th of June when the city of Sheffield was hit by terrible flooding and Hillsborough Stadium was put under water after the nearby River Don burst it's banks.HONOURS: League Champions: 1902-1903, 1903-1904, 1928-1929, 1929-1930. Runners-up: 1960-1961. FA Cup winners: 1896, 1907, 1935. Runners-up: 1890, 1966, 1993. League Cup winners: 1991. Runners-up: 1993. Charity Shield winners: 1935. Runners-up: 1930. Second Division Champions: 1899-1900, 1925-1926, 1951-1952, 1955-1956, 1958-1959. Second Division Promotion: 1949-1950, 1983-1984, 1990-1991. Third Division Promotion: 1979-1980. League One Play-off winners: 2005. European entrants: European Fairs Cup: 1961-1962, 1963-1964. Uefa Cup: 1992-1993.MANAGERS: Arthur Dickinson 1891-1920, Robert Brown 1920-1933, Billy Walker 1933-1937, Jimmy McMullan 1937-1942, Eric Taylor 1942-1958, Harry Catterick 1958-1961, Vic Buckingham 1961-1964, Alan Brown 1964-1968, Jack Marshall 1968-1969, Danny Williams 1969-1971, Derek Dooley 1971-1973, Steve Burtenshaw 1974-1975, Len Ashurst 1975-1977, Jack Charlton 1977-1983, Howard Wilkinson 1983-1988, Peter Eustace 1988-1989, Ron Atkinson 1989-1991, Trevor Francis 1991-1995, David Pleat 1995-1997, Ron Atkinson 1997-1998, Danny Wilson 1998-2000, Peter Shreeves 2000, Paul Jewell 2000-2001, Peter Shreeves 2001, Terry Yorath 2001-2002, Chris Turner 2002-2004, Paul Sturrock 2004-2006, Brian Laws 2006-Present. Football League Record: 1892-99: Division 1. 1899-1900: Division 2. 1900-20: Division 1. 1920-26: Division 2. 1926-37: Division 1. 1937-50: Division 2. 1950-51: Division 1. 1951-52: Division 2. 1952-55: Division 1. 1955-56: Division 2. 1956-58: Division 1. 1958-59: Division 2. 1959-70: Division 1. 1970-75: Division 2. 1975-1980: Division 3. 1980-84: Division 2. 1984-90: Division 1. 1990-91: Division 2. 1991-92: Division 1. 1992-2000: Premier League (Formerly Division 1). 2000-2003: Division 1 (Formerly Division 2). 2003-2005: League One (Formerly Division 3). 2005-Present: Championship (Formerly Division 2).