Ipswich Town vs Sheffield Wednesday
Saturday 15th August 2015 – 15:00
Portman Road
Opening Thought – Jamma
What a nice change it makes to be sitting here the day after a League Cup tie – or any cup tie, for that matter – safely through to the next round! Incredibly, last night’s win against Stevenage was Mick McCarthy’s first cup success in his time at Portman Road but, Ipswich being Ipswich, we had to do it the hard way, coming back from a goal down to prevail with a deserved 2-1 victory. Similarly to the Brentford game, Town took their time to get into their stride, understandably not helped by the ten changes from the opening day. It therefore didn’t come as much of a surprise to find ourselves behind at the break, and seemingly heading for yet another early League Cup exit. Just as Kevin Bru’s withdrawal had contributed to a shift in momentum at Griffin Park, though, Ryan Fraser’s introduction at half time changed the course of the match. His pace and trickery were instrumental in earning us the initiative and it was from his corner that Josh Yorweth converted to level the scores. From this point, there only looked to be one winner, as the Blues’ superiority began to show. But, after Saturday’s events, no one was taking anything for granted! Having created a number of chances, we were left to sweat it out with just the one-goal advantage given to us by a well-worked team goal scored by Jay Tabb. Barring a little bit of late drama, in the shape of the referee’s eventual decision to overturn a penalty decision made by his assistant, we sailed relatively comfortably though to round 2.
Aside from the result, the biggest positive to come out of last night was the emergence of another two promising prospects to follow in the footsteps of Josh Emmanuel. While Josh Yorweth admitted to having a mixed experience on his introduction to First Team football, he made up for his lapse in concentration for Stevenage’s opener with his headed equaliser. He grew into the game and looked strong in the tackle and composed with the ball. Myles Kenlock took this a step further, as he surged forward at every opportunity and rivalled Emmanuel for the award of ‘Most impressive academy debutant of the week’ with his Man of the Match display. Once Fraser had been introduced, the front four, with Tabb and the strike duo of David McGoldrick and Brett Pitman, linked up very well, playing some fluid football to open up the opposition. The performances of the aforementioned players will provide Mick with a welcome selection headache in several areas of the pitch for our return to league action on Saturday. Sheffield Wednesday have enjoyed a strong start to the campaign, with a convincing win over Bristol City followed up by an emphatic 4-1 victory against Mansfield in the cup. Tickets are selling well for our first home league match of the season, as we look to build up some momentum heading into a busy week…
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, losing 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 clubs 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 on the last day of the season.
In the 2013/2014 season, Wednesday ended the season in 16th place with 53 points, finishing the season under Stuart Gray’s management following Jones’ departure.
Last season, the Owls finished in 13th place in the table with 60 points
One To Watch – Caolan Lavery
Wednesday’s recent takeover has seen an overhaul in the playing staff as well as a managerial change at Hillsborough, with, like Ipswich, six players making their debuts on the opening day. Another new arrival, Lewis Price, joins fellow former Town player Caolan Lavery, who seems to have found his feet in South Yorkshire.
After failing to make the grade at Portman Road, Lavery signed for the Owls in August 2012, initially as part of their U21 Development Squad. Having impressed with a number of goals for the U21s, he joined Southend on loan for regular competitive football. This served him well as he came back the following summer and made his debut in Wednesday’s first home game of 2013/14. This was something of a breakthrough season for the youngster, as he went on to make 23 appearances, scoring 4 goals. The campaign also took in a further productive loan spell, this time at Plymouth, where the Northern Ireland international claimed 3 goals in 8 games. Lavery returned to his parent club in the New Year and really introduced himself to the Hillsborough faithful with 2 goals against Yorkshire rivals Leeds in a 6-0 win. He started 2014/15 in and around the First Team but only managed 13 league appearances, also taking in a loan at Chesterfield, where he again scored 3 in 8. The 22-year-old was recalled in March and scored 2 goals in 4 games, suggesting that he would have a big part to play this campaign. However, the arrivals of the likes of strikers Marco Matias and Lucas Joao, together with the goalscoring prowess of Lewis McGugan and Atdhe Nuhiu, has put him back down the pecking order. Lavery was on the bench against Bristol City but will be keen to grab his chance again when it comes his way.
The Gaffer – Carlos Carvalhal
49-year-old Portugese-born Carlos Carvalhal was born in Braga.
Carvalhal represented mainly hometown club S.C. Braga during his career as a central defender. In the 1987–88 campaign, in one of his three spells at the club, he had one of his best years in the first division, appearing in 34 games.
Immediately afterwards, Carvalhal joined FC Porto, but was released after only one year, going on to represent in the following nine seasons – until his retirement at the age of 32 – S.C. Beira-Mar, Braga, F.C. Tirsense, G.D. Chaves and S.C. Espinho. At the top level, he amassed totals of 197 games and one goal.
He also made 9 appearances for the Portugal Under 21 side in his early playing years.
Carvalhal began managing at his last club Espinho, in the second division, being dismissed midway through his second year. In 2002, he became the first coach in the country to take a third-tier team to the UEFA Cup, after leading Leixões S.C. to the final of the Portuguese Cup. Two years later, he led Vitória de Setúbal back to the top flight, which prompted his move to a side in that division, C.F. Os Belenenses.
Carvalhal was sacked by Belenenses early into 2005–06, after five defeats in eight games. He met the same fate with the two teams he coached in the following season, Braga and S.C. Beira-Mar. With the latter, he was dismissed in January 2007, after the Aveiro club signed a cooperation deal with Inverfutbol, a Spanish-based sporting company, in a relegation-ending campaign.
Returning to Setúbal for 2007–08, Carvalhal enjoyed his best year as a manager, leading the Sadinos to the sixth position in the league – with subsequent UEFA Cup qualification, with the club posting one of the best defensive records in Europe that year – and victory in the inaugural edition of the domestic League Cup, against Sporting Clube de Portugal.
Carvalhal then took over C.S. Marítimo, only winning one match in 11, but with the Madeira team finishing comfortably in mid-table. He was sacked late into 2009, moving to Sporting in mid-November.
As originally intended, Carvalhal left his Sporting post at the end of the season, with Sporting finishing in fourth position, 28 points behind champions S.L. Benfica. On 2 August 2011, he was appointed caretaker manager at Beşiktaş J.K. of Turkey, as incumbent Tayfur Havutçu resolved his legal issues stemming from the 2011 Turkish sports corruption scandal.
On 30 June 2015, after nearly three years of inactivity, Carvalhal was appointed head coach of Sheffield Wednesday.
Past Match - Video Highlights - Trev
Here’s footage of the last time the Owls made the trip to Suffolk, in an entertaining game from February which kept us in the promotion hunt:
Trev's Trivia
Players to play for both clubs
Alan Quinn ITFC 2008-2011 SWFC 1997-2004
Connor Wickham ITFC 2009–2011 SWFC 2013–2014 loan
Chris Bart-Williams ITFC 2003–2004 SWFC 1991–1995
Shefki Kuqi ITFC 2003–2005 and 2008 loan SWFC 2002–2003
Media Watch – K L Blue
Here’s an interesting piece from the EADT, in which Josh Yorweth gives his honest thoughts on how his debut went:
http://www.eadt.co.uk/sport/josh_yorwer ... _1_4189725
Stat Time
Head to Head
Ipswich Town Wins.......................16.....(36.36%)
Sheffield Wed Wins......................17.....(38.64%)
Draws......................................11......(25.00%)
Ipswich Town Goals......................53.....(1.20 Ave. Per Game)
Sheffield Wed Goals.....................64.....(1.45 Ave. per Game)
Head to Head at Ipswich
Ipswich Town Wins........................10......(45.45%)
Sheffield Wed Wins........................9......(40.91%)
Draws........................................3.......(13.64%)
Ipswich Town Goals......................27....(1.23 Ave. Per Game)
Sheffield Wed Goals.....................31....(1.41 Ave Per Game)
The Predicted Teams
Ipswich Town
We can expect to see a return to something resembling the line-up from the opening day, following ten changes in midweek.
33 Bartosz Bialkowski
29 Josh Emmanuel
4 Luke Chambers
6 Christophe Berra
3 Jonas Knudsen
7 Ainsley Maitland-Niles
8 Cole Skuse
22 Jonathan Douglas
14 Ryan Fraser
9 Daryl Murphy
20 Freddie Sears
Sheffield Wednesday
Carlos Carvalhal is likely to revert to the side that brushed aside Bristol City on the opening day, with McGugan and Matias amongst those expected to come back into the starting line-up after being on the bench in midweek.
1 Keiren Westwood
4 Sam Hutchinson
5 Glen Loovens
15 Tom Lees
32 Jack Hunt
21 Alex Lopez
17 Jeremy Helan
7 Marco Matias
10 Lewis McGugan
33 Ross Wallace
9 Atdhe Nuhiu
Marko's Caption Contest
As promised, I have taken some pictures of the trophy everyone wants to win. No, not the League Cup, but the shiny new Tractor Boys Caption Contest trophy! Congratulations to Blueblood, who gets his name onto it for the 2014-15 season:
Scoring this season is almost the same as last season except its 5 points top score, then 4, 3, 2, then 1 point for entering.
After looking over both the Brentford and Stevenage previews, the very first Caption table is as follows:
League Table
Quasar 7
Foxy Lady 5
Charnwood 5
Herforder 5
DerickIpsw 3
Floors 2
James Scharmann 2
Ohiotractorboy 2
Barmy Billy 1
Nicscreamer 1
Blueblood 1
Number9 1
Give it your best shot for this picture of a hungry Paolo Di Canio and Benito Carbone:
Match Referee – James Linington
Final Thought – Jamma
So, for the second time in as many games, we took more positives than negatives from our latest outing. The difference this time, of course, was that we also got the win that our performance merited. Although there were no league points at stake, it was important to come away with something to show for our efforts against Stevenage, not only to get into the winning habit but also to reassure the players that they are going about their business in the right way. The victory also gives us a welcome boost heading into what, on paper at least, looks a tough couple of home games, the first of which is against a Sheffield Wednesday side in buoyant mood themselves. But the Blues’ home form rivalled anyone in the Championship in 2014/15 and we should go into this double header with the confidence of a team that won 15 of our 23 matches at Portman Road last season.
Rather like last weekend’s opponents, it is difficult to know quite what to expect from the Owls this season. Whereas there was a consensus that it was a good time to face Brentford early on, the same may not be true of Sheffield Wednesday. They look to have started how they mean to go on and, like ourselves, are one of a number of Championship clubs who will be thinking that we have outstayed our welcome outside the top tier. Wednesday have long had the foundations in place for a return to the Premier League but their recent investment has given them real cause to believe that this could be their time. With two teams whose strength lies predominantly in their attack, this could make for another entertaining encounter. As the stats above show, there has been little to choose between the sides historically, with the Owls one win ahead overall but Town one better off at Portman Road. It’s finely poised and, after last week, I think it’s fair to say that no one will be leaving early if the scoreline is in the balance after 90 minutes...!
IPSWICH TOWN 1 SHEFFIELD WEDNESDAY 0
Unimaginative, maybe, but I had to include this tribute to The Don!
Trust me this is very emabarrassing and I have not been allowed to forget it!!
