Tommy Miller (free, Ipswich),
As opening days go Sheffield Wednesday had a great one last year winning 4-1 at home to a Burnley side that will start this season in the Premiership. The next game saw them lose 4-1
at Wolves and that probably sums up Sheffield Wednesday's season
well, always able to beat the best but also just as likely to lose
a few. Brian Laws side were always tough
to beat at Hillsborough but were weak on the road which meant they
never really looked like serious contenders for the playoffs. The goals of Marcus Tudgay and Leon Best meant that progress was made though and they never had to worry about the bottom end of the table. They did the double over local
rivals Sheffield United which always makes for a special season
and the clubs final league position of twelfth was a decent effort
for a club being tipped for relegation at the start of the season.
Once again expectations are not great at Hillsborough with most people outside the club tipping them for little more than mid table again and to be honest I am one of those. Brian Laws biggest signing of
the summer is keeping Marcus Tudgay who almost joined Burnley but
his pace and goals are key for Sheffield Wednesday and with them
they have as good a chance as anyone of making the playoffs. Brian laws has bought well this
summer, Darren Purse is an excellent defender whilst Tommy Miller
has bags of experience at this level. Once again I think they'll come
up a little short and are unlikely to challenge for the top six
but they'll certainly be difficult to beat at Hillsborough and could
well upset a few of the promotion challengers along the way. Prediction: 16th 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? We had a good year last year and I expect us to build on that, i reckon 9th place Who are your players to watch out for? Tommy Spurr and Akpo Sodje Is your Manager the right man for the job? Yes, he understands the club and the fans Which three teams will be promoted this season? Middlesbrough, Ipswich and West Brom Which teams will be relegated? Newcastle, Swansea and Scunthorpe 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 in 2007/08 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. last season Rangers should have won at Hillsbrough but Martin Rowlands missed a penalty and we lost by a single goal. The return game at Loftus Road was voted as best home performance of the season on this web site. Rangers fell 2-0 down despite playing well but fought back with three late goals to claim our last win of the season. Click on the match for a report of the game from this web site.
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