Sheffield Wednesday v Ipswich Town
Saturday 5th November 2016 – 15:00
Hillsborough Stadium
Opening Thought – Jamma
I sat here this time last week saying how we had effectively thrown away any chance of the 3 points by conceding after 30 seconds at St. James’ Park. We may not have burst out of the traps quite so quickly ourselves against Rotherham but, having taken a 3rd-minute lead through the prolific Freddie Sears (can I call him that yet?
), the outlook was surely good for a home win. Playing against a side adrift at the bottom of the league, and still looking for their first away point – let alone win – of the campaign, there was no way we should have been the ones thankful for a last-minute goal to salvage a draw. When the under-fire Mick McCarthy then came out and said that this result could prove to be a turning point in our season, it was adding fuel to the fire of some already very irate fans. But, while McCarthy undeniably hasn’t helped himself with some of his barbed comments, not to mention the verbal battle in which he seems to be engaged with supporters, it is hard not to feel at least a smidgeon of sympathy for him at the moment. He has gone on record as saying that he is happy with the limited resources that he has at his disposal, and just as readily admits that others’ opinions of him don’t bother him. But it would surely take a more hard-hearted man than Mick not to have been affected by the accusations being hurled at him from the stands on Saturday. It must seem that he is damned if he does, damned if he doesn’t, particularly with his team selection. On paper, the side that he sent out against the Millers was possibly the most creative and energetic that he has picked this season, with Teddy Bishop, Tom Lawrence and David McGoldrick all starting and Freddie Sears filling the striker’s role that everyone has been clamouring for. In another context, in another season, McGoldrick’s 30-yard strike in the dying moments would have been celebrated as a potentially valuable goal. As it was, it merely served to paper over some ever-widening cracks.Both Mike and I had said that we needed a minimum of 7 points from our last 4 games to keep our season on track. After a win, a draw and a defeat out of Burton, Blackburn and Newcastle, that meant that 3 points was a must against Rotherham. McCarthy knew as much (either that or he’s been reading our previews…), and stressed in his pre-match press conference that we needed to win. He had said the same ahead of the Burton game, when the Blues had escaped with a slightly fortuitous victory. This time, there was no get out of jail free card, with the best that the manager could come up with being that ‘we kept going’. As we mark Mick’s fourth anniversary in charge, this would appear to be as critical a period as any during his tenure. November 1st is usually a chance to look back and reflect on just how far we have come under his stewardship, and, coincidentally, has also tended to come in the midst of a good run of form. The situation couldn’t be much more different this time around, with uncertainty surrounding everything from results to personnel to tactics. Ironically, just about the only thing on which there seems to be any kind of consensus is Marcus Evans’ continued backing of McCarthy – something on which we can admittedly only speculate. But there has to come a point, if Town continue in their current vein, where the owner starts wondering if a new man could provide the impetus needed to turn things around. As has been mentioned a lot since Saturday, it is very rare that a manager recovers once he has lost the supporters. Mick needs results, then, and fast. It doesn’t get any easier, as we make the trip to Hillsborough this weekend. But Sheffield Wednesday have had an inconsistent time of it too recently, and an away win would, remarkably, take us to within 3 points of the pre-season promotion favourites…
The Opposition – Sheffield Wednesday
The club was a cricket club when it formed in 1820 as The Wednesday Cricket Club, Lancashire (named after the day of the week when they played their matches). A meeting on the evening of Wednesday 4 September 1867 at the Adelphi Hotel established a footballing side to keep the team together and fit during the winter months.
On 1 February 1868, Wednesday played their first competitive football match as they entered the Cromwell Cup.
Charles Clegg joined Wednesday in 1867, starting a relationship that would last the rest of his life and eventually lead to him becoming the club's chairman. He also became president and chairman of the Football Association and was known as the "Napoleon of Football". In 1876, they acquired Scot James Lang. Although he was not employed by the club, he was given a job by a member of the Sheffield Wednesday board that had no formal duties. He is now acknowledged as the first professional football player in England.
The football club turned professional in 1887 after pressure from players threatening to defect to other clubs. The move to professionalism took the club from Bramall Lane, which had taken a share of the ticket revenue, to the new Olive Grove.
In 1889, the club became founder members of the Football Alliance. Despite finishing the following season bottom of the Alliance, they were eventually elected to the expanded Football League in 1892.
Due to an expansion of the local railway lines, the club was told that they would have to find a new ground for the 1899–1900 season. After a difficult search, the club finally bought some land in the village of Owlerton, which at the time was several miles outside the Sheffield city boundaries. Construction of a new stadium (now known as Hillsborough Stadium) was completed within months.
In the summer of 1912, a Wednesday player, George Robertson, presented the club with an owl mascot. A monkey mascot introduced some years earlier had not brought much luck.
The club was almost relegated in the 1927–28 season, but they pulled off a great escape, rising from bottom to 14th. Wednesday went on to win the League title the following season (1928–29), which started a run that saw the team finishing lower than third only once until 1936. The period was topped off with the team winning the FA Cup for the third time in the club's history in 1935.
The 1950s saw Wednesday unable to consistently hold on to a position in the top flight and this period became known as the yo-yo years. After being promoted back up in 1950, they were relegated three times, although each time they bounced back up by winning the Second Division the following season
This led to a decade of successfully remaining in the First Division, which included a run to the FA Cup final in 1966.
Off the field, the club was embroiled in the British betting scandal of 1964, in which three of their players were accused of match fixing and betting against their own team in an away game at Ipswich Town. The three were subsequently convicted and, on release from prison, banned from football for life.
Wednesday were relegated at the end of the 1969–70 season, starting the darkest period in the club's history. After going into free-fall, they dropped to the Third Division for the first time in their history and were marooned there for five seasons. The club was almost relegated to the Fourth Division in 1976, but a revival under the management of Jack Charlton, and the aid of coach Tony Toms and – after Charlton resigned in 1983 – Howard Wilkinson, saw them return to the First Division in 1984.
Sheffield Wednesday spent the majority of the 1980s and 1990s in the top tier of English football.
On 15 April 1989, the club's stadium was the scene of one of the worst sporting tragedies ever, at the FA Cup semi-final between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest, at which 96 Liverpool fans were fatally crushed in the Leppings Lane end of the stadium. The tragedy resulted in many changes taking places at Hillsborough and all other leading stadiums in England.
The 1990–91 season was the only one out of sixteen in a row that Wednesday spent in a lower division, but the season is best remembered by fans 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. This League Cup triumph was the last domestic cup to be won by a club competing outside the top level of English football.
Wednesday's fortunes took a turn for the worse when a succession of managers failed to maintain this form, and new managers spent small fortunes building squads that were ultimately ineffective, which saw the club's debts get out of control and Wednesday being relegated down to League 1.
After narrowly avoiding yet another relegation in 2003–04 and a poor start to the 2004–05 Football League One campaign, Paul Sturrock took over the Manager’s role and they were promoted back to the Championship via the playoffs. Sturrock was sacked after a poor start to the 2006–07 season and replaced by Brian Laws.
The 2007–08 season began with Wednesday's worst ever start to a season, as they lost six league games in a row, and they only avoided relegation with a win on the last day of the season. Halfway through Sheffield Wednesday's 2009–10 season, Brian Laws was sacked, and was replaced by Alan Irvine. On the last day of the season, needing a win to stay up, Wednesday drew 2–2 with Crystal Palace and were relegated to League One.
Between July and November 2010, Sheffield Wednesday faced a series of winding up orders for unpaid tax and VAT bills. On 29 November 2010, Milan Mandarić agreed to purchase the club. The purchase was completed after an Extraordinary General Meeting of Sheffield Wednesday's shareholders on 14 December 2010, during which 99.7% of shareholders voted to sell the company to Milan Mandarić's UK Football Investments for £1, as well as settling the club’s outstanding debts.
Gary Megson replaced Irvine as the club's manager in February 2011 and the Owls went on to finish 15th in League One. The following season, the Owls pushed on for promotion out of League One. But, after falling behind Charlton and Sheffield United at the top of the table, Megson was sacked and replaced by Dave Jones. Jones went on to guide the Owls to promotion to the Championship on the final day with a 2–0 home victory over Wycombe.
Following this season, the Owls struggled in the Championship. However, with a better run of form after Christmas, the club secured Championship safety on the final day of the season, beating Middlesbrough 2–0.
In the 2013/2014 season, Wednesday finished in 16th place with 53 points, ending the season under Stuart Gray’s management following Jones’ departure.
In 2014, the club was again taken over by a new owner, Thai businessman Dejphon Chansiri, who purchased the club from Milan Mandarić for £37.5m
In the 2014/15 season, the Owls finished in 13th place in the table with 60 points, before going up a gear last season to finish in 6th place and ultimately reaching the play-off final at Wembley, where they narrowly lost to Hull City 1-0 under Carlos Carvalhal’s leadership.
The Gaffer – Carlos Carvalhal
Form Guide
Sheffield Wed Last 5 Matches currently in 8th place with 24 points
Derby County 2-0 Sheffield Wed
Sheffield Wed 1-0 QPR
Cardiff City 1-1 Sheffield Wed
Huddersfield 0-1 Sheffield Wed
Sheffield Wed 1-2 Brighton
Ipswich Last 5 Matches currently in 16th place with 18 points
Ipswich Town 2-2 Rotherham
Newcastle Utd 3-0 Ipswich Town
Ipswich Town 2-0 Burton Albion
Blackburn Rovers 0-0 Ipswich Town
Ipswich Town 0-1 Huddersfield
Fixtures of Interest
BRENTFORD VS FULHAM
WOLVES VS DERBY
BURTON VS BARNSLEY
FOREST VS QPR
BRISTOL CITY VS BRIGHTON
Past Match - Video Highlights - Trev
Let’s cast our minds back to the beginning of last season, when expectations were slightly higher, and Town knocked the Owls off their perch at Portman Road:
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Media Watch - K L Blue
West Ham Striker
http://thisisfutbol.com/2016/11/blogs/n ... ed-target/
Liverpool sniffing round Dozzell
http://www.footballinsider247.com/repor ... ld-target/
Possible free transfer
http://footballleagueworld.co.uk/ipswic ... ntre-back/
Burley on McGoldrick and Williams
http://www.sudburymercury.co.uk/sport/g ... _1_4761555
The Don Cup Competition
Good week with those Rotherham captions. Number 9, have to say, a unanimous 5 points for you this week. Absolutely superb linking that with the caption. Chris Farley is greatly missed. Guy was brilliant. RIP.
Scores
Number 9 5pts
Shed on Tour 4pts
Bluemike 3pts
Gold&Black 2pts
LEAGUE TABLE
Herforder 28
DerickIpsw 26
Gold&Black 22
Quasar 21
Ando 20
Bluemike 19
Nicsreamer 18
Blueblood 18
Frosty 14
Number 9 11
Watership Down 10
Tangfastic 8
IpswichtownNo1 8
Shed on Tour 5
Patthegimp 5
Ashfordblue 4
LoudNProud 3
Supershred 2
Foxy Lady 1
Barmy Billy 1
ItfcTrev76 1
Have a go at the man of the moment....... 5 points for the funniest caption:
[/color]Match Referee – Andrew Madley
Final Thought - Bluemike
I came away from Portman Road feeling like we had lost following the disappointing draw with the mighty Rotherham last Saturday, it was a game that even by Mick's own admission had to be won and in that sense we failed again big time. Never in all my days have I not celebrated a Town goal, that changed when Didsy fired home a 30 Yard cracker to salvage a point, I didn't move a muscle, that pretty much sums up the way most Town fans are feeling right now. There is no doubt we are teetering on the brink of a crisis, with each passing week the fans are turning more and more against MM and it won't ever change now, the inevitable result will be that Mick will go, that is my opinion, whether it will be in a couple of weeks, at Christmas or in the new year I don't know but unless we hit some real form I don't see him being here at the season's end.
A couple of my match reports have been anything but supportive lately but that is purely down to how I see each game, I take each one on its own merits and some of them have been pretty dire. As Jamma mentioned in his opening piece the starting line up last weekend was without doubt the most creative we have seen for many a day so we cannot complain at that, we still have to realise that Bishop, Williams & Didsy are only just returning to the fold and need games, in view of this I am still prepared to give it more time, after all we are what Six points off the top Six which although not fantastic it is hardly a crisis just yet but we do need to start finding some consistency.
It's the easiest thing in the world to pick holes when things are not going well and that certainly seems to be the way right now, I have read various comments from fans complaining about the Manager, Owner, performances, funds, lack of kids in the team, the Academy, you name it, sometimes we still need to keep a level of perspective about things, not everything becomes rotten over night because before we know it we as fans are actually making things even worse when our club needs us most. Clearly the best way to dampen the fires of discontent is for the team to start winning more games and that will be no easy task this week either as we head to Hillsbrough, I am unable to make this one but unfortunately I can see us coming home empty handed from what for me will be a routine home win for Wednesday
SHEFFIELD WEDNESDAY 1 IPSWICH TOWN 1
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