When History Repeats Itself: A Cycle of Failure

By Patrick McKenna

The uncomfortable fact is that, as a club, we are heading for our fourth spell in League One in 26 years.

This is not simply a case of Wednesday falling there once. It is a recurring pattern the club cannot seem to shake. It is imperative that, when we get promoted this time, we are in a position where the threat of returning is remote. The depressing loop of yo-yoing between the Championship and League One needs to be addressed and fixed.

Unfortunately, since 2000, we have been overtaken by a lot of clubs, and too many football fans will have little knowledge of us. There will still be people who remember the Wednesday teams of the 80s and 90s and see us as a big club. However, it is vital that, as a club, we finally shake off years of decay and show that this sleeping giant can rise again.

If you watch the highlights from the 2005 League One Play-Off Final, the words “Wednesday have done it, Wednesday are back” are uttered by the commentator. I think that matched the mood of the 42,000 fans who were there on that sunny day in Cardiff.

It was a far cry from the real struggle of the 2003/04 season, which saw us flirt with relegation to League Two, draw at home to Rushden & Diamonds, and lose four times to Blackpool. The squad that season contained some characters who still appear in those “name the worst ever Wednesday XI” chats down the pub.

It was a continuation of a failure to adapt to relegation from the top flight, and a significant fall from grace. It was hoped that the club would bottom out and that this spell in League One could be put behind us. Although the 2004/05 season was not always easy, a fifth-place finish was secured, giving us a shot at promotion. The Play-Off Final was a great day out and promotion was secured, but it was not properly built upon.

There was no expectation of an instant return to the top flight, but a two-season stint in the third tier had very much been a rarity in our history. However, the next few seasons were overshadowed by off-field matters, which ultimately affected progress on the pitch.

There was an unpopular chairman in Dave Allen battling with fans — sound familiar? There were failed takeovers and the shameful suing of supporters. As a result, his abrasive nature and unwillingness to invest saw us struggle to gain stability. He was followed by the good intentions of Lee Strafford, but ultimately his reign ended with another relegation to League One in 2010.

It seemed that no lessons had been learned. Again, the first season back was one of on-field disappointment and off-field turmoil. I’ll refrain from naming a few of the defeats, but there were some grim ones on the way to a poor 15th-place finish.

The highlight of the season was Milan Mandaric saving the club as winding-up orders hung over us.

The next season was a memorable one, as we overhauled the Blades to secure automatic promotion after being told to “mind the gap” all season.

After the momentum of a memorable promotion, and with an experienced chairman at the helm, the future seemed positive. But in classic Wednesday fashion, real progress did not happen, and lower-end Championship finishes followed over the next three seasons. It may have been steadier from an ownership perspective, and the reduced drama was appreciated, but little did we know how bad the next ten years were going to be when Dejphon Chansiri took over.

That is especially true given that his first two seasons brought us as close to the Premier League as we had been at any stage since 2000.

It is quite common for opposition fans to claim, “You weren’t complaining when he was spending the cash.” After 15 years of mainly disappointment, suddenly we were spending money, signing quality players, winning games, and things did seem brighter. Maybe we were fooled, but a lack of success can blind you in some ways.

Unfortunately, we failed to get over the line, and the realisation that it was all built on sand became more obvious. The next relegation was solely on Chansiri, as points deductions, non-payment of wages, and managerial chaos overshadowed proceedings.

Yet again, we would spend two seasons in League One before a dramatic return to the Championship. Strangely, things were almost quiet off the pitch for a while as Darren Moore got on with achieving a quick return. Eventually, this was achieved via the miracle of Hillsborough and that Windass winner at Wembley.

Yet again, we had managed to navigate our way out of League One, and there was a chance to build on the good feeling of promotion. Surely, we would not be repeating past mistakes and leaving ourselves at our lowest ever ebb.

But then, this is Sheffield Wednesday.

So, having gone through the history of the past 26 years, what caused this constant cycle of failure?

It is not a case of bad luck, even though you can pick out moments in this time when the world seemed to be mocking us. We did go down the year before parachute payments, and we have seen what an advantage they have given to their recipients. Could they have helped stop the initial spiral and seen us recover instead of being relegated in 2002/03? If we had won one of those play-off campaigns lost on fine margins, where would we be now?

But this does not excuse the fact that we have been outside the top flight for such a long period of time.

There have been other big clubs in this division during that time, such as Leeds, Nottingham Forest and Wolves. But the key difference is that they have not been relegated to it on four separate occasions.

The lack of youth players coming through during this period has been unacceptable. How much money have we made from developing players and selling them on for profit? It does happen in Sheffield, but unfortunately on the wrong side of the city, and they have stolen a real march on us in this area.

If we keep the focus on transfers, the number of loan players we have used over the years is quite high. This hints at short-termism, as it is harder to build a settled squad and identity this way.

A recurring theme of our League One promotions has been a focus on simply getting out of the division instead of planning ahead. We then habitually start as a weaker Championship team, leaving us fighting relegation rather than looking forward.

The lack of investment in training facilities has not helped our injury situation over the years, which has affected us on the pitch. The general approach at the club has been one of stagnation and being left behind. A failure to adapt to the modern game leaves a massive job on our hands to rebuild the club.

There is no doubt Chansiri is the worst thing to happen to this club, but his wrecking act included a refusal to properly fix recurring failure at Wednesday.

We finally have ownership who have money aligned with the knowledge and vision to take us forward. They know the issues mentioned in this article and will have a strategy for how to fix them.

We need to buy into this and help push that vision over the line.

This article cannot be written again in a few years’ time.