A point deduction, two managerial casualties and a first relegation for over a decade: Sheffield Wednesday end of season review

The 2020/21 season had been overshadowed by predicaments and turmoil off the pitch for Sheffield Wednesday before a ball was even kicked.

Yet, it didn’t get much better on the pitch as the Owls endured a point deduction, three different permanent managers and, ultimately, relegation to League One for the first time since 2010.

This campaign was always going to be an uphill battle for the Owls with the sanction of a 12-point deduction in the summer (later to be reduced to six) as well as the loss of some key players. However, very few expected Wednesday to come as close as they did to Championship survival.

Five key games/moments

Point deduction

This seems a pretty obvious place to start off. On 31 July 2020, a month-and-a-half before the beginning of the 2020/21 season, it was announced that an independent disciplinary panel had been sanctioned for breaking spending rules with a 12-point deduction.

Rules were breached as the Owls included the sale of their home ground, Hillsborough, in their 2017/18 accounts despite the stadium being sold a year later.

The South Yorkshire club had sold Hillsborough for £60m and, by including the sale in the financial year for that season, the club avoided having to report a pre-tax loss of £35.4m instead of the pre-tax profit of £2.5m that they did report.

Wednesday then appealed the decision and, subsequently, their deduction was halved to six points back in November.

Having finished the season three points from safety, the point deduction arguably made the difference between relegation and survival.

Managerial woes

When you think back, it feels like aeons ago that Garry Monk was still the man in charge at Hillsborough at the start of the season.

The 41-year-old saw 14 months in charge at Wednesday come to an end before the November international break, having opened the season with three wins and three draws from the opening 11 games.

Despite the point deduction, which then had recently been halved, they didn’t sit bottom of the Championship, where they ultimately finished.

Then came Tony Pulis. The appointment of the ex-West Brom and Middlesbrough manager Monk’s replacement was simply wrong.

That became obvious relatively quickly as the Welshman was sacked after just 45 days in the job, with just one win from ten games under his stewardship.

It took almost three months for Pulis to be replaced by a permanent manager as Darren Moore was lured away from his tenure at League One side Doncaster Rovers.

Complications with Moore’s health have meant that the 47-year-old hasn’t been in the dugout for some of Wednesday’s games. Ultimately, it looks like the ex-West Brom manager will be trusted to oversee the summer overhaul as Wednesday look to instantly bounce back to the second-tier.

Rotherham home heartbreak

It’s a tough ask to pick out a couple of games from a batch of 46 as the ‘defining’ matches, but the home defeat to Rotherham was certainly memorable.

Just days after his appointment, Darren Moore’s first task in the dugout was a South Yorkshire Derby against a fellow relegation candidate in Rotherham United.

Paul Warne’s side took the lead in the first-half through Michael Smith, who was later sent off, but couldn’t maintain their clean sheet as a Matthew Olosunde own goal eight minutes from full-time looked to have given Wednesday a lifeline.

However, the Owls had their wings severely clipped as a 97th-minute winner from Freddie Ladapo for ten-man Rotherham proved a major blow to the hosts’ survival hopes.

Hitting Cardiff for five

Even though it looked as if relegation was where Wednesday were headed, there was still plenty of fire in the players’ bellies as they thrashed Cardiff City 5-0 at Hillsborough in early April.

The Welsh side had seen real improvement under Mick McCarthy in the few months prior, however, it was certainly a memorable result and performance for Sheffield Wednesday – it was also a statement to those around them.

Ultimately, five days later they lost 4-1 at QPR. That sort of inconsistency is certainly a contributing factor to their relegation.

Final day drama at Pride Park

Sheffield Wednesday still had a shot at survival going into the final day as they travelled to fellow relegation candidate Derby County.

Two of the division’s lowest scorers somehow conjured up a thrilling contest which virtually played out as a relegation playoff, with the game ending 3-3.

Wednesday had to win and hope Rotherham dropped points at Cardiff to ensure safety; the latter requirement did happen, but the Owls couldn’t hold on to win.

Darren Moore’s side led twice in the match but Martyn Waghorn’s penalty proved the straw to break the camel’s back and the Owls were relegated to League One.

 Transfers and their impact

A handful of players joined Sheffield Wednesday in the summer, as free transfers with the club struggling financially. However, the additions of note were Josh Windass, Callum Paterson and Elias Kachunga, who racked up 111 Championship appearances between them.

Windass ended the season as the Owls’ top scorer, scoring nine in the league alongside six assists having played the second half of last season on loan at Hillsborough from Wigan Athletic.

Paterson also had a decent campaign, scoring eight goals, having joined for just shy of half a million pounds from Cardiff City. Both proved strong additions despite the final outcome of the campaign.

Verdict

Having gone into the season as one of the favourites to be relegated to the third tier, it’s hard to argue that the Owls underachieved.

However, having gone so close to securing an unlikely survival, despite the series of unfortunate events off the pitch, all those involved with the football club will be particularly devastated to see their club relegated.

The verdict has to be expectations were met in terms of league position. Although, I’m not sure many would’ve expected two managerial casualties.

What’s next?

There’s no doubt that there will once again be numerous outgoings during the summer and that the club requires a rebuild in the summer, with it looking likely that Darren Moore will be entrusted with that task.

The 47-year-old has proven to be a strong prospect in the coaching world and, having already managed in the third tier with Doncaster, Wednesday should be in decent hands.

Of course, the hope will be to go back up at the first attempt, but how likely that will be will depend on recruitment during the summer.

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