James O'Connor (Burnley)
Sheffield Wednesday were many people's dark horse for last season and tipped to do well after a strong finish to the previous year. It was a poor start for them though
and they failed to win until the end of September when they beat
Hull City at Hillsborough. Until then they were making QPR look
good keeping our winless wonders off the bottom of the table. That win gave them confidence and they began to improve with Deon Burton getting back among the goals and pushing them away from trouble. That poor start though meant they were never totally clear and a few bad results put them back in trouble and by January they were in the bottom three and stuck in a relegation battle. Brian Laws brought in some loan
talent in Adam Bolder and Ben Sahar and they battled to some vital
draws before finally pulling clear of trouble in April.
Sheffield Wednesday may well rue the vents of last season as a missed opportunity. Failure to build on a good second half of the 2005/06 season meant they struggled and missed a great chance to get promoted. That may sound odd about a side that finished sixteenth but if they had built on their momentum there was never a better chance to go up than last year when the top six was littered with a few average sides. Instead they struggled and in a tougher league this year I think they'll struggle again. The fighting spirit they showed last season will be needed again and they will need to be clever in the loan market if they are to stay up again. The arrival of Jimmy Smith on
loan could be a good move, Smith can score goals from midfield and
will add some spark to their side but they still lack some genuine
quality up front so I expect them to struggle again. Prediction: 19th in the Championship
I asked fans on the Rivals message board for views on the new season and here is what they had to say. How do you think Sheffield Wednesday will fare this season? If we get a good start top half but if we start like we did last year then we will struggle Who are your players to watch out for? Lee Grant is a top keeper Is your Manager the right man for the job? Everyone wants him to succeed with us but he didn't win many over last season Which three teams will be promoted this season? Reading, Birmimgham and Wolves Which teams will be relegated? Blackpool, Barnsley and Bristol City How do you think QPR will fare this season? Top half but no better than that despite all the money.
Wednesday defender Frank Simek had a short spell at QPR back in 2004. He signed on loan from Arsenal and looked decent at both right back and central defence but in the end opted for a move to Sheffield Wednesday where he has impressed in recent years. Going back to the 1980's Trevor Francis destination after being sacked as QPR manager was Sheffield Wednesday. He started as a player winning the league cup with Ron Atkinson before becoming manager. As the boss he took Wednesday to the league cup final and FA Cup final in the same season but ended up losing them both. Danny Maddix was a hugely popular defender at QPR. He joined from Spurs in 1987 and despite two horrific knee injuries he is still remembered as one of the best defenders from that era. He left QPR in 2001 after our relegation and went on to be a very good defender at Wednesday some of the last few years of his career.
Sheffield Wednesday have a good record against us and during the 90's and used to regularly beat us at Hillsborough and Loftus Road until the 1994/95 season when we did the double over them. In our relegation season from Division one Sheffield beat us twice. At Loftus Road Gavin Peacock gave us a first half lead but it didn't last as Wednesday ran out 2-1 winners. Chris Kiwomya had a last minute goal disallowed to rob us of a point. The return game was nowhere near as close. Peter Crouch got on the score sheet twice for Rangers but an embarrassing defensive performance saw us lose 5-2. A few years on we met again in Division two and Sheffield Wednesday were hot favourites for promotion. That pre season prediction was made to look a bit stupid as they struggled all year and Rangers did a memorable double over them. Rangers thrashed Wednesday at Loftus Road with Steve Palmer, Tony Thorpe and Kevin McLeod all getting on the score sheet. QPR fans will never forget the game at Hillsborough. We needed a win to gain automatic promotion back to Division one. Sheffield Wednesday put the Bristol City score on the scoreboard which upset many of the QPR players and supporters but it didn't matter when Kevin Gallen and Paul Furlong put us 2-0 up. They grabbed a goal back and it looked like we might blow it but a late own goal sent us back to division one and set off a fantastic party in Sheffield and West London. In 2005/06 the two matches were very forgettable. Rangers hosted the Owls in a Friday night game which ended 0-0 with very little happening. The return game also ended in a draw but Rangers had Paul Jones to thank as he produced a series of excellent saves to keep us in the game. Marc Bircham scored the only goal for us with Deon Burton netting for Sheffield Wednesday. In the 2006/07 season Paul Sturrock was sacked just days before we traveled to Sheffield and it seemed to inspire the home side to a 2-0 lead. Dexter Blackstock scored twice to draw us level before a late penalty gave the home side all three points. At Loftus Road a penalty from Martin Rowlands helped us to a point and it was a third draw in a row at Loftus Road last season as both sides played out an entertaining 0-0 draw. The return game was not a good one for rangers, we lead through Damien Delaney's first QPR goal but a poor second half resulted in another home win for Wednesday and a late red card for Hogan Ephraim was the cherry on the cake for a miserable day. Click on the match for a report of the game from this web site.
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