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Craig Dobson looks at QPR's decision to sack Neil Warnock and replace him with Mark Hughes
Andy Pakes previews this Sunday afternoon clash in the first edition of Game of the Week for 2012
Dave Hughes tells us about his sporting hero, Wes Morgan
In 1991, Sheffield Wednesday travelled to Wembley and beat the almighty Manchester United in the League Cup final, and followed this up with promotion to the first division. Moving away from the tragedy of the Hillsborough Disaster, Wednesday were a most definitely a team on the up in the early 90s.
Meanwhile, Wednesday’s steel city counterparts, Sheffield United, were also enjoying success during this period. They were the first club to score in the newly created Premier League in 1992 and they were starting to make a name for themselves in the upper echelons of the English League.
Sheffield football’s day in the sun came on 3rd April 1993, when Wednesday and United met at Wembley in front of over 75,000 in the semi-final of the FA Cup. Wednesday were victorious that day, but, more than anything, the game showcased Sheffield football at its best. When you speak to fans from both sides of the city, they tell you it was a day where Sheffield emptied and the fierce rivalry between The Owls and The Blades descended on the capital.
Fast forward to the present day and the state of football in England’s fifth biggest city is rather different. United are currently anchored to the foot of the Championship and, bar a mathematical miracle, will be joining Wednesday in League One next season; it's a million miles away from the dizzy heights of the Premiership and that famous day at Wembley.
The question is of course, what has gone so badly wrong at both Wednesday and United? To answer that is to look deep into two clubs who, for all their surface differences, have the same basic flaws that have consigned them to their current positions.
At the end of the day it all comes down to money. Financial irresponsibility in the late 1990s saw Wednesday spend heavily in order to try and access higher positions within the Premiership, but a series of bad signings and an ever increasing wage bill was always going to spell disaster. When The Owls were relegated from the top flight in 2000, they were left with an unmanageable wage bill and players that nobody wanted.
From then on in, Wednesday’s woes got worse. With no money to spend it became an impossible task to get a group of players together who were capable of taking the club in the right direction, and when good players were found they were hastily sold because the club was so cash strapped.
Wednesday were relegated to League One for the second time in six years in 2010, and despite financial stability being created through Milan Mandaric’s takeover in December, success on the pitch hasn’t followed and Wednesday remain stuck in League One obscurity.
United’s story is much the same. Upon relegation from the Premiership in 2007, The Blades embarked on spending their parachute payments to try and rebuild the club. Ventures in the Far East saw them purchase a Chinese club, Chengdu Blades, and closer to home big money was spent on new players to try to propel United back to the Premiership, along with other projects such as building a hotel on the Bramall Lane site.
However, United’s cloak and dagger approach with regards to their recent finances have led many to think that the club are in trouble. Chairman Kevin McCabe has already expressed his desire to leave the club and it would be foolish to think that he will leave without some reward on his hefty investment in Sheffield United. Blades boss Mickey Adams has already stated that he will look to reinvent the club by using younger players next season, which would seem to be code for “there’s no money, so I’m using the kids”.
However, for all of the failings at both Wednesday and United, the passion for football in Sheffield remains high. It can be said with a great deal of certainty that if The Owls and The Blades play each other in a League One derby next season, passion amongst the fans will be just as high as it was at Wembley in 1993. There could be 35,000 fans at both derby games next year, and for those fans, it would mean everything. The sad reality is that Sheffield deserves so much better.
The whole of Yorkshire has suffered a footballing holocaust in terms of quality in the last 15 years. It's great for the whole region that things are on the up a bit. I agree with your final point. Sheffield is an impeccable footballing city in terms of fans and history, and puts Leeds to shame for being bigger and only having one club. Yorkshire's fans deserve so much more than they've been served up by chairmen, chicanery, and quite often players, in recent times. I'd love to see Leeds and one of the Sheffields back in the Prem.
I'm amazed that Yorkshire has seen such a dramatic collapse in its football teams. In Lancashire there's Manchester, with two teams, and then the satellite towns (Bolton/Wigan/Blackburn), all of whom somehow survive financially, despite losing so many fans to the two Manchester clubs. Then there's Bury/Oldham etc. who somehow operate also. Leeds and Bradford are very much rugby cities, but I can't understand why Sheffield has been unable to build on such a massive demand for football and improve itself financially.
David Spelling I agree with you (though some of my friend's dads say Leeds deserve it for playing such horrible football in the 70s) but was holocaust really the best descriptive term you could come up with?
James, the idea that Leeds and Bradford are rugby cities is absolute tosh! The Rhinos get about 15,000 a game which doesn't even fill headingly. Even for the rare huge matches that are occasionally hosted at Eland Road they top out at 35,000. Compare that with Elland Road. Even Bradford, despite playing long-ball football for a season under Peter Taylor in Division 4 attract 12,000 fans for each match, which is only a thousand under the average attendance at Odsal for the Bulls. When Bradford were a premier league club they sold out their 25,000 seater stadium every game (those days are gone sadly). Anyway, my point is that neither city is a rugby city (hardly any schools even have a rugby league team either btw), they just happen to have reasonably succesful rugby teams alongside their (less successful) football teams. Wigan on the otherhand is very much a rugby town.
I quite liked this article, though believe that there are plenty of differences between the Blades and the Owls. I think you're right in saying that the Owls have suffered largely due to financial problems and mismanagement to a certain extent. I'm not sure that's the case as much with United. I think they simply put too much trust in Blackwell, who persisted in playing route one football with poor players and sidelining better players for those who suit route one football. For too long they were playing Cresswell and Montgommery, who are just awful. They have an expensive squad that is, quite frankly, pants. Wednesday on the otherhand shipped their expensive players and thus struggled. The Blades still have much to blame Robson for, but Blackwell is their biggest problem still - even so long after he left, because he left them with an awful squad.
On a slightly different point, Sheffield is an interesting footballing city. It is home to the oldest football team in the world (Sheffield F.C) and Sharrow UTD, a team set up to encourage more Asian players into the game. Supported by FURD (Football Unites Racism Divides), Sharrow UTD play in the local leagues but also have friendlies against some big-name teams from all around the world.
Anyway, just wanted to say I liked the article and think Sheffield is a great footballing city -even though I'm from Bradford.
Dan
Probably not, Michael. It was written very hastily indeed. You mean you object to its use morally (disrespect being implied)? Or just because it's a cliche and a bit hackneyed? As for your other point, well...Leeds have very few friends in the rest of the country or even the rest of Yorkshire. Some of their fans were seriously horrible men in the 70s and 80s. And yes, the 1970s Leeds game was supposedly really ugly. But...I'm old enough to feel that the Premiership isn't really quite the Prem without Leeds. Ask a Man Utd fan over 30! Liverpool and City are just gravy to them...it's Leeds they really hate. Classic red vs. white rose rivalry and it chirped the Prem up a treat in the day.
Ha no i just think it's not a very good comparative term really. Decline would have cut it just fine. And they'll [Leeds] be back in the premier league in the next 5 years. My Forest supporting grandfather (this was when Forest were good) despises Leeds with a passion and my personal knowledge of 70s football comes from the Damned United. It's no wonder that there were few regrets when they dipped to League 1
Leeds are a huge club and perhaps don't now deserve their rep. Boring, ugly, HARD football and more than their fair share of firms and dodgy fans means they have entered English football folklore in a bad way, and it takes a generation or two to throw these things off. I still feel a bit uncomfortable around big groups of Leeds fans (a lot in York). Winning Post pub, Bishopthorpe Road, beginning of this season, huge group of Leeds fans in the car park singing 'I'd rather be a Paki than a Turk!' Hm. Fair play to your grandfather. I'm jealous of him! It must have been phenomenal to be a Forest fan during the Clough era.
My dad always says Sheffield Wednesday have got progressively worse since I was born. Sorry Owls fans, it's all my fault.
To be honest it probably would've been better had Wednesday gone into administration this year. At the time it would've been enough to keep us out the drop zone and might've made us work a bit harder for the second half of this season. Or we could've just been relegated to League two which would potentially have spelled the end.
But anyway, roll on next season. Can't wait for the steel city derby!
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