Sheffield Wednesday v Ipswich Town
Tuesday 6th March 2018 – 19:45
Hillsborough Stadium
Pre-Match Thoughts - Bluemike
With Town's game against Hull City having fell victim to the "Beast from the East" there is little to report on the playing side of things. At the time of the call off it was clearly the right decision, strangely enough the pitch was by all accounts perfectly playable but what with health and safety being what it is today it was deemed that the roads around and approaching the ground were too dangerous, not to mention the stands and concourse areas etc, add to that a decision needed to be made with Hull City travelling a fair way too so the "Game Off" signs were put up nice and early to avoid any confusion for all concerned. Such was the rapidity of the thaw Saturday I could not help but wonder why I wasn't at a game that afternoon but I guess that is called sod's law so for a change I had a Saturday in the warm and comfort of my own home.
A few games did take place, the most noticable one being Bristol City's thumping win over our next opponents Sheffield Wednesday, it was a win that saw there climb back into the play off places and in doing so they widened the gap between ourselves and the top Six to Nine popints, albeit with a game in hand. Barring a massive collapse the top Five places seem destined to be reserved for Wolves, Cardiff, Villa, Fulham and Derby meaning just One more place is up for grabs in the end of season lottery of the play offs, of course nothing is certain and Derby in particular have a habit of imploding at the crucial time and with a run of no win in their nlast Five it could just be happening again but assuming they scramble over the line it looks as though the final place is up for grabs with no less than Nine teams in with an outside chance of creeping in, that takes us down to Norwich who are in Fourteenth place with Forty Seven points so if any proof was needed that the play offs keep the season very much alive for lots of teams then that is it because Bristol City, Middlesbrough, Sheffield Utd, Preston, Brentford, Millwall, Leeds, Town & Norwich would all have nothing to play for, as it is every game still means something and keeps the season alive for the fans.
As mentioned next up is a Tuesday night visit to Sheffield Wednesday who are in a torrid run of form right now, while you would think they are just about safe they ahve hit a really poor run of results at just the wrong time, as it stands they have a Seven point gap between themselves and third from bottom crisis club Birmingham City but with only One win in the last Seven league games they do need to pick up a few more points which is why this will be no easy task for Town, their last Two have seen them ship Eight goals against Villa & Bristol City so clearly defensively they can be got at and with confidence low they could well be there for the taking. It just goes to show too that changing manager is not always the "way to go" as the appointment of Jos Luhukay shows, he arrived in January and since then things have gone from bad to worse for the Hillsborough club while outgoing boss Carlos Carvalhal goes from strength to strength at Swansea as he hauls them away from danger, who says it's always the managers fault ? I can see Town certainly coming away with something from this game, hopefully we will be fresh following a free weekend while they have had the trip to Bristol to contend with not to mention Two additional FA Cup games against Swansea in the last couple of weeks, with any luck they may just be feeling a bit tired. Heart says 2-1 Town, Head says 1-1 Draw. COYB'S.
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
Chansiri stated his intention to win promotion back to the club for the 2017–18 season – the football club's 150th anniversary – and came close to achieving that goal a year head of schedule, with new coach Carlos Carvalhal leading the club into the end of season play-offs at the end of the 2015–16 season, but Wednesday were beaten in the final by Hull City at Wembley.
Last season Sheffield Wednesday performed well again finishing in fourth spot but were beaten in the semi’s by Huddersfield on penalties.
The Manager – Jos-Luhukay
Form Guide
Sheffield Wed Last 5 Matches - Currently in 17th place with 37 points
0 Feb Barnsley 1 - 1 Sheffield Wed
13 Feb Sheffield Wed 2 - 0 Derby County
20 Feb Millwall 2 - 1 Sheffield Wed
24 Feb Sheffield Wed 2 - 4 Aston Villa
3 Mar Bristol City 4 - 0 Sheffield Wed
Ipswich Last 5 Matches - Currently in 13th place with 48 points
3 Feb Sunderland 0 - 2 Ipswich Town
10 Feb Ipswich Town 0 - 0 Burton Albion
18 Feb Norwich City 1 - 1 Ipswich Town
21 Feb Ipswich Town 0 - 1 Cardiff City
24 Feb Preston 0 - 1 Ipswich Town
Fixtures they may affect Towns position on the Table
BURTON ALBION VS BRENTFORD
NORWICH CITY VS NOTTINGHAM FOREST
HULL CITY VS MILLWALL
LEEDS UTD VS WOLVERHAMPTON
Past Match - Video Highlights - Trev
[youtube] [/youtube]
Media Watch - K L Blue
Match Referee – Oliver Langford
SHEFFIELD WEDNESDAY 1 IPSWICH TOWN 1
But what memories of the place being a complete shithole. "Proud of our steel city!"....... yeah right. Steal city more like. Lock yer cars up safe. 
, Yeah Yellow card tosser
