Sheffield Wednesday have endured a mixed season.

The Owls had been hoping to potentially emulate their success in the 2015/16 and 2016/17 seasons this term, with the club having achieved back-to-back play-off finishes in the Championship in those two campaigns, but since then they have been struggling for form and consistency, as a few managers have come and gone.

Sheffield Wednesday have not been in the Premier League since they suffered relegation at the end of the 1999/2000 season, and for a club of their size it has been too prolonged a period without them being in the top-flight of English football.

The Yorkshire club have even spent a couple of seasons in League One since they last played in the Premier League, and their supporters will be desperate for the club to get back to the sorts of level they have been at in in their history, which has seen them achieve much.

Here, we take a look at EIGHT facts you might not know about Sheffield Wednesday…

 

Sheffield Wednesday’s record breaking 2011/12 season

Sheffield Wednesday headed into the 2011/12 season desperately needing to put together a much stronger challenge for promotion back to the Championship than they had done in the 2010/11 season, which saw them finish in a lowly 15th position in League One in their first term back in the English third tier.

The Owls went on to enjoy an incredible campaign where they were pushed all the way in the race for automatic promotion by fierce rivals Sheffield United – and Sheffield Wednesday eventually beat their neighbours to second place picking up their highest ever points tally of 93 points.

 

Kevin Pressman’s earliest of early baths 

Former Sheffield Wednesday goalkeeper Kevin Pressman was a very reliable performer between the sticks throughout his length spell as a player at Hillsborough, with the keeper playing well over 400 games for the club, which included a host of Premier League appearances and even some in the UEFA Cup.

However, one of the keeper’s most memorable moments came when he was sent off just 13 seconds into the Owls’ clash with Wolves on the opening day of the 2000/01 season, after handling the ball outside of his penalty area – and that red card at the time became the fastest sending off in the history of the English football league.

 

Hillsborough’s name change 

Hillsborough has been the home of Sheffield Wednesday since the stadium was opened in 1899, with the Owls enjoying many memorable moments at their iconic stadium, but the ground was initially known as the Owlerton Stadium due to the stadium being built in the Owlerton part of Sheffield.

However, in 1914 a decision was made to re-name the stadium to it’s now synonymous title of Hillsborough, following Owlerton being made part of the Hillsborough constituency and coinciding with a series of improvements that were being made to the ground at the time.

Have Sheffield Wednesday done these 15 things in the last 10 years? - Yes or no? Have a go now!

 

Deep connection with Sheffield United 

Sheffield Wednesday’s meetings with Sheffield United in the Steel City Derby have become one of the most synonymous rivalries in English football, and the Owls share a lot of deep routed connections with their fierce rivals, including the club previously having held the nickname of the Blades, until they moved to Owlerton in 1899.

The Owls also spent time playing at Bramall Lane during their formative years, before they eventually settled in at Hillsborough and Sheffield United began to play all of their home matches at the stadium – and Sheffield Wednesday even helped construct certain parts of their rivals’ home.

 

The reason for Wednesday

Sheffield Wednesday have one of English footballs more unusual names, but there is a logical reason behind it with the Owls’ formation back in 1867 having been deeply routed with the Wednesday Cricket Club, with the club initially being set up as an offshoot to the Cricket Club.

The Owls were initially named Wednesday football club, before the club eventually changed its name to Sheffield Wednesday back in 1929, so that explains why the club have adopted one of the stranger names amongst the clubs in English football.

 

The curious case of Eric Cantona

One of the most memorable transfer sagas involving Sheffield Wednesday relates to the time when the club were thought to have had Eric Cantona on trial in 1992, but then manager Trevor Francis could not get the Frenchman onto the grass due to bad weather and so he left the club without a deal.

The striker would go on to establish himself as one of the greats during his spells at both Leeds United and Manchester United, but in his recent autobiography ‘One In A Million,’ Francis seemed to deny that the club had taken him on trial and that it was instead an arrangement to allow him to train with them to help with his fitness.

The former Sheffield Wednesday boss went onto say that the club were never in the race to sign Cantona, which if true, perhaps means that one of the more curious transfer sagas in the club’s history could just all be down to a misunderstanding.

 

Sheffield Wednesday’s Steel City Derby record

The Steel City Derby between Sheffield Wednesday and Sheffield United has become one of the most tightly contested rivalries in English football, with the Owls having claimed 48 wins to the their rivals’ 49, while there have also been 47 draws between the two sides.

However, the Owls have been struggling more recently against their fierce rivals, with Sheffield Wednesday managing to win just one of the last eight matches between the two sides, which came during the 2011/12 season when both sides were in League One – and with the Blades currently in the Premier League it could be a few years before they face off again.

 

Sheffield Wednesday’s record runs of form

Sheffield Wednesday are currently on a run of three matches without a win in all competitions and have won just two of their last 11 Championship matches, but they would still have to go some to go on a worse run than the 20 matches they went without a victory from 11th January 1975 to 30th August 1975, which is the worst run in the club’s history.

Contrastingly the Owls did manage to win a club record nine successive matches between 23rd April 1904 and 15th October 1904, whilst they have also gone 19 games unbeaten on two separate occasions, between December 1960 and 1961 and also between 26th February 2012 and 2nd September 2012.