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Sheffield Wednesday 2014-2015


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I took over a Sheffield Wednesday squad littered with a few quality players, a few old has beens and a whole lot of loans. Broadly speaking though there was more than enough here to see the squad climb from it's lowly league position to the top end of the table


The two players who stood out a mile were Jose Semedo and Reda Johnson. They looked top end Championship quality. Rhys McCabe also has bags of talent and I’d be looking to structure the team around these players:


The board want me to play attacking football, so I’m looking at a 4-2-3-1 to build around and fully utilise the best of the players we have. I signed up Jason Puncheon on loan from Southampton and went with this as my best looking squad for my first game with The Owls:


This lot should do a good job until the transfer window when I will intend to spend some of that war chest on really building my own team. Current targets are primarily Bongani Khumalo and Donal McDermott. Attached are the current dealing that have been done this season (Puncheon being my only addition on loan):

Also attached is the league table upon taking over:


October
Sheffield Wednesday 0-0 Bury

Somehow we failed to score. Varney and Weimann hit the woodwork and we were desperately unlucky. Morale is low so a couple of wins early on will be vital here.

AFC Wimbledon 1-1 Sheffield Wednesday
Semedo

A really poor performance against the bottom club. They took the lead and had even more chances to put the game to bed. I pushed them on second half and Semedo got us out of jail with a rocket from 25 yards. We should be winning games like this without question. Given our lack of potency in front of goal I’d be looking for a forward immediately as well.

Sheffield Wednesday 0-1 Colchester

Wow. Absolutely dreadful. We threatened a few times, had most of the possession but they still attacked more decisively and scored the winner in the first half from a set piece. I would be dipping further into the loan and free market immediately; there are players here who just can’t cut it clearly. Embarrassing result!

Transfer News:
Nikola Zigic signs on a free transfer after being without a club. Just about beat Sturm Graz to his signature; he should be a huge asset at this level.

Preston 1-2 Sheffield Wednesday
Zigic
Varney
Took it back to a 4-4-2 and it paid dividends. Zigic scored the opener on debut before the home side equalised, it was another sloppy goal. Varney then grabbed the winner and we claimed our first three points under my management. Still, the performance was not very convincing.

November
Sheffield Wednesday 2-0 Morecambe (FA Cup 1st​ Round)
Gardner
Roche (og)
Rotated the squad for this one and we got through comfortably. Gardner opened the scoring from a corner and Roche then knocked the ball into his own net for the second. We were saving players for the league game against Shrewsbury.

Shrewsbury 2–1 Sheffield Wednesday
Zigic

Oh dear. They went ahead but Zigic equalised before the stroke of half time. I tried galvanising them to push on second half and grab a winner but no; Harrad scored for the home side and that was that. Fines handed out everywhere.

Sheffield Wednesday 2-0 Crewe
McCabe
Weimann
We dominated this game and was the first real solid performance since I took over. McCabe scored from outside the box for the first and Weimann tucked the second away from close range. Hopefully we can put a run together off the back of this and climb up the table.

Sheffield Wednesday 1-2 Colchester
Zigic
If I’m not careful I could be sacked just as soon as I was hired. We gave away five clear cut chances in the first half and went two behind early on. It’s totally unacceptable play. Zigic did pull one back and had another disallowed but getting anything from this would have glossed over the fact that we were again dreadful.

Sheffield Wednesday 3-1 Gillingham
McCabe
Semedo
Dillon
When Dean Whitehead was sent off after 40 seconds I did begin to wonder how I would be wording the post-match interview, but within twenty minutes we’d raced into a three goal lead. McCabe, Semedo with another beauty and Dillon with a header put us well clear. They pulled one back before half time but it was done and dusted by then. A good win!

Sheffield Wednesday 1-0 Hartlepool
Johnson
A game in which we dominated again, Reda Johnson converting a corner at the front post for the only goal. We’d managed back to back wins for the first time since I took over and I would aim to stabilise things until we hit the transfer window.

Hereford 0-1 Sheffield Wednesday (FA Cup 2nd​ Round)
Mayor
We fielded a second string again in this one and scraped through, some of the free transfers picked up in the summer do defy belief; the squad is full of 30 plus wasters. I’ll be looking to get rid of quite a few in the window. Mayor scored the only goal of the game with a neat volley.

Overview

A mixed bag and it was clear I had a much harder job on my hands. The squad was built on loans and a over the hill players mixed it with a few good players. I still thought it would be enough to see us through some of these games easily but clearly not. I needed the transfer window desperately!


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Fixtures / Results

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Table

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December - January

Another tough couple of months; my tenure at Wednesday hadn’t started well and we really needed to get points on the board if I was to match the boards expectations this season

December

Charlton 1-0 Sheffield Wednesday

We played fairly well against the league leaders in this one, although defeat put us 18 points off them… Not so sure on our title aspirations on this form. Still, it was a better performance and I hope that we can turn the corner now and aim for the top six.

Sheffield Wednesday 2-1 Rochdale
Hendrie
Weimann
A vital win. Hendrie put us ahead with a scorcher but then former Wednesday boy Liam Palmer pulled Rochdale level. Weimann tucked one away second half though to give us three points and alleviate growing pressure from the board

Rotherham 0-0 Sheffield Wednesday

This one could have gone either way, Zigic had a great effort saved in the dying minutes. A point was better than nothing but we needed to get a decent run going to get us at the top end of the table sharpish.

Chesterfield 0-0 Sheffield Wednesday

Another draw but this was against a high flying team. We had our chances but couldn’t grab all three this time. A big positive was that the defence were now performing as a solid unit, no coincidence that on loan Carl Ikeme’s return marked the upturn in shutouts.

Sheffield Wednesday 1-0 Stevenage
Weimann
Another game where we had plenty of chances but only scraped through, Weimann beating the keeper from the angle. We were desperately short of attacking options and I would be addressing this in the window.

Doncaster 2–1 Sheffield Wednesday
Weimann
We struggle on the road and there were a few tired legs out there; I’m loathe to use some of the squad players because they’ve proved how awful they are. Weimann levelled after the home side went ahead but David Cotterill snatched the winner in the second half.

Sheffield Wednesday 3-0 Coventry
Weimann
Puncheon
Whitehead
An emphatic victory. Weimann put us ahead and then Puncheon doubled it from close range. Dean Whitehead (playing his first game since his red card against Gillingham) scored the third and we strolled to victory in the kind of way I expect us to play every week.

MK Dons 1-1 Sheffield Wednesday
McCabe
We should have won this. Went ahead through a decent McCabe strike and then the home side went down to ten men after Clarke got his marching orders on 40 minutes. We held it together second half until the last five minutes when we inexplicably conceded a very soft and poorly defended goal.

January
Transfer News
Two deals we’d already signed in advance of the window opening went through; Adam Webster from Portsmouth for £450k and striker Nick Proschwitz from Hull for £100k. Both would add strength in depth to key areas of the side.

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Sheffield Wednesday 0–1 Barnet (FA Cup 3rd​ Round)

I decided to give the second string a chance and they blew it massively against a greatly inferior side. Transfer listed a lot of players after this one or instructed my assistant to move them on.

Sheffield Wednesday 1-1 Wycombe
Puncheon
We went behind in this one to the second placed side but got back into it after Puncheon latched onto a through ball. Disappointing not to win and close that gap up.

Transfer Update:
We’d signed a few more in this window. Gallas, Marlon Pack, Conor Clifford and Graham Carey all came in as some of the loan deals that were in place when I joined began to run out.

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Sheffield Wednesday 1-0 Bournemouth
Proschwitz
With a new 4-1-3-2 system we dominated the game but left it late to get the crucial goal, Proschwitz diving in with a header with five left on the clock. This win helped us close in on the playoff places and I was eager to build on this result.

Carlisle 1–1 Sheffield Wednesday
McCabe
McCabe put us ahead first half with a 30 yard scorcher but Lee Miller equalised straight after the restart and we couldn’t find the killer goal to claim all three. Incidentally a win would have seen us reach the heady heights of 6th​.

Swindon 3–1 Sheffield Wednesday
Zigic

Battered at the County Ground. The squad has shrunk dramatically and despite having a large wage budget available the club aren’t allowing a wage higher than £2k for first team players. Swindon cruised into a three goal lead and Zigic pulled one back with a cheeky lob at the death. I’m feeling the pinch and Mandaric is in charge. It’s feeling ominous.

Overview

Hmmm. Down in fourteenth and five points off the playoffs. With the lack of consistency and cohesion in the team even salvaging a playoff position was looking tough. I've asked Mandaric for a bit more time; unbelievably he agreed to it. Still not happy with how it's started at Wednesday and I was desperately trying to turn the tide.

Table
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Fixtures / Results

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February - March

February

Deadline Day and transfer overview
After some major reconstructive surgery I must admit I wasn’t sure what this squad would be able to do. After releasing a load of deadwood and losing players whose loans were expiring I had to get a lot of new faces in; January isn’t the ideal place to conduct your best work. Four new faces joined on deadline day, the pick of them being Tyrone Barnett who I hoped would give another dimension up front:

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Sheffield Wednesday 1–1 Barnsley
Ghilas
Former Hull man Ghilas put us ahead with a majestic lob but the visitors powered home a header from a corner to level it. Reda Johnson had a chance to win it for us late on but his shot after a seventy yard run was saved at the near post.

Oldham 0–0 Sheffield Wednesday

We had the better of this game but were not convincing in front of goal. Proschwitz had a couple of chances from distance but we weren’t building enough chances to threaten the home side significantly. We needed to pick up wins urgently now, starting with Preston on Saturday

Transfer News:
Jerome Thomas joins on loan from Norwich for three months. He should offer competition on the flanks.
Sheffield Wednesday 1-0 Preston
Ghilas
A very nervy win. Preston didn’t threaten us at all but our football was not fluid and we had to wait late until we got the goal, a well worked move from defence set Proschwitz free; he squared the ball to Ghilas and he slotted the ball home. Such an important win.


March
Bury 1–2 Sheffield Wednesday
Semedo
Ghilas
A last gasp winner sealed this one for us after it looked like Glen Murray had salvaged a point for the home side. Semedo had put us ahead first half before Murray equalised with ten minutes remaining. Luckily Ghilas (who was looking a snip at £20k) took a through ball from McCabe and fired in from the angle

Sheffield Wednesday 2–0 AFC Wimbledon
McCabe (2)
A fine performance and two goals from Rhys McCabe settled this one; his first within the opening minute to slot home a Thomas cross and the second a drive from 25 yards that hit the top corner. A really solid performance and a third win on the trot.

Colchester 1-0 Sheffield Wednesday

A limp display. Freddie Sears got the only goal with a tap in at the far post after we failed to cut out a cross. We’d set up quite defensively for this but had to change it second half as we searched for an elusive goal. Four points off the play offs with seven games to play.

Transfer News:
West Brom’s Scott Allan has joined the club on a three month loan deal

Crewe 2–2 Sheffield Wednesday
Ghilas
Zigic (pen)
A good result on paper, but we were in desperate need of wins now. Ghilas put us ahead before the home side equalised ten minutes later. Doran put them ahead with twenty left on the clock but with time running out we won a penalty and Zigic tucked it away.
***​

Despite winning three on the bounce this was again a mixed bag of results and we'd need snookers at this stage to get in the top six; the consistenacy and form of the team simply wasn't good enough.

Fixtures / Results

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Table

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April and End of Season

April
Sheffield Wednesday 1-0 Shrewsbury
Ghilas
We were on top for most of the game but couldn’t get a breakthrough, so I pushed everyone forward for the last quarter hour to force a goal and Ghilas obliged. We then sat back and gave away a penalty in injury time, luckily former Wednesday man Mark Yeates clipped it straight down the middle of the goal for Lee Grant to gratefully catch. Three points.

Sheffield Wednesday 0-1 Tranmere

This one was must win and we failed. They scored on the hour and we just couldn’t forge a goalscoring opportunity. We were still three off the playoffs at the end of this game but there were only three games remaining. Huge ask from here.

Gillingham 0-1 Sheffield Wednesday
Thomas
A solid win away from home. We cranked the tempo up from kick off in the second half and were rewarded when Thomas tucked home a rebound after Ghilas saw his shot saved. We then held out for the remainder of the game.

Sheffield Wednesday 0-1 Charlton

The dream was officially over. We hadn’t made the playoffs. We’d have to wait and see what Mandaric thought of this. Not a good season at all and can’t say I’ve enjoyed my stay here much at the moment.

Hartlepool 0-1 Sheffield Wednesday
Ghilas
A good win to end the season with in what was effectively a dead rubber. Ghilas gave us all three points and elevated us to a finishing position of 9th​ in the table.

Season Overview:
If I was kept on here I would be overhauling and freshening up this squad massively. The board also want us to play attacking football so I would begin to rebuild the side in earnest. The team underperformed this season and I would be looking to get some young and hungry players in to replace the money grabbing and aging dross that we’d got rid of.
One bad thing had happened, when I joined I had got the chairman to agree to build and upgrade the youth and training facilities… Then this happened!

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As a Pompey fan who once saw Mandaric wearing a hard hat in a digger; promising to start the redevelopment of Fratton Park I shouldn’t really have been too surprised at the U-Turn! Oh well, a new season was just around the corner and I wanted us start with a clean slate and plan a promotion charge.

April Fixtures / Results

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Final League Table

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