robertowl

Amazing I have no memory of this result .but I do recall going out with a girl that day at university. It was our first date and she said most of her friends were'nt going out that night because they were so upset about JFK. For all their faults, the comparison between Kennedy,Harold Macmillan (PM) and Harold Wilson (Labour leader) and their three present day counterparts is staggering and truly depressing.

Football League v Scottish League in early 1950s. Can't remember score. I was v.impressed by the ground though. Had only been to Millmòor before that.A lot of folk there got a free view from climbing up a huge pile of scrap metal behind one of the goals. My dad said,darkly, "If one of that lot slips they'll be cut to ribbons". Since that visit to Hillsborough I've supported Wednesday ever since.

Thanks for setting record state.Certainly remember the 7-2 tho' I wasn't there. The other thing I remember from the 1-0 is us getting a corner right at the end. With no Fergie time then, Alan Finney pushed the ball over the line for a goal kick. He obviously thought retrieving the ball and taking a goal kick would take precious seconds compared with the threat of United clearing the corner and breaking up field. Alan wasn't the most popular man inside Old Trafford at that moment.

Whilst I would agree in general with you, it wasn't all sweetness and light in the 50s and 60s. I saw some nasty behaviour at a number of grounds then, including Highbury,Goodison and Old Trafford. I recall a cup tie at OT when we won 1-0 (Fantham penalty) I saw a number of Wednesday supporters being attacked and was scared for myself. A large number of tough looking plain clothes police intervened and one might ask why they were there at all if violence wasn't anticipated. The other issue,of course, is the under reporting then compared with today. If there had been a punch up at, say, a Portsmouth v Southampton game in 1959 how many kids at my Sheffield school would have ever known of it? Now with TV cameras there and everyone filming on their mobiles and uploading to Facebook anyof us might have heard of it.

FA Cup Final 1966. 2-0 up so I and my friends genuinely thought we had in the bag. "It's not the despair that gets to you ,it's the hope".

My impression is that one of these charlatans used the club as an asset to borrow money on to fund his other deals which then failed. How could the EFL allow that? Surely they should be employing more accountants whose sole responsibility is to monitor the financial health of it members. With Bury gone and BWFC on the brink are we looking at a house of cards?

I doubt you have to be a scholar to follow football and know the EU don't determine the rules of football world wide.

Ian Holloway is quoted this morning as saying that the new hand ball rule is the fault of the EU and Brexit will get rid of it. Unless he was joking (and the report didn't suggest it) may I, as a very occasional poster, suggest he is too thick to be our manager. I want somebody for SWFC who has a modicum of intelligence.

These stats are impressive but they are inflated by the omission of the three promoted teams. The results of the relegated (from Premiership) teams are meaningless for obvious reasons.

In 1909 the Liberal MP C.F.Masterman published a book called the Condition of England about English society, especially the working class. (Later Masterman was to work on the 1911 National Insurance Act, effectively the beginning of the welfare state with Churchill and Lloyd George.). One of the issues he looked at was the rise of spectator sport amongst the working class and I came across the following extract from the book which is quite moving After writng that the 'modern city crowd' " demand excitement, adventure: the vision of that physical activity and control which is denied to themselves." he goes on to describe how a "young workman from Sheffield, confronted with the prospect of certain and speedy death, journeys to London by the midnight train to see the final Cup Tie. On his return he takes to his bed. "In his last moments he asked his mother to so place the Wednesday colours that he might see them, exclaiming, `I am glad I have lived to see good old Wednesday win the Cup.'" And so he died. It seems likely the match referred to was that of 1907 when Wednesday had beaten Everton 2-1 in the Cup Final at Crystal Palace before a crowd of over 84,000. I guess the 'young workman was suffering from T.B. I hope the press conference this morning and the events leading up to it make it more likely that some of us old supporters will see 'good old Wednesday', if not win the cup, at least back where they belong in the top tier of English football.

Going back a bit. August 1959 when we beat Arsenal 1-0 at Highbury in the first game of the season . We'd just been promoted back to the First after years of yo-yoing between the 1st and 2cnd. This game was the first sign that things were going to be different this time (which they were for the next 11 years) . Others that season included beating Leeds 3-1 at Elland Rd and then Man Utd. 1-0 in the Cup at Old Trafford. That was the first time I was aware of real trouble at a ground . Fans weren't really separated then and the Utd lot were hurling missiles (included sharpened pre-decimal pennies!) at us and attacking those nearest them. A load of plain clothes police came charging down the terrace and sorted them out. Sadly, I missed the game the next season - also in the cup - when we beat them 7-2 at Old Trafford. Wednesday's best post war result? Worst was probably losing 3-2 at Bradford just after Jack Charlton had been appointed. We played quite well but I was incredibly optimistic beforehand (which I'm not usually after nearly 60 years of supporting the Owls) and it was a huge let-down.

Earlier this season there was a discussion about Ian MacMillan (the Bard of Barnsley) and whether we would benefit from our own poet. I came across this in an old school magazine from 1958. Admittedly it's pretty down beat but I thought it was quite good. The positive news is that, as ever, the gloom didn't last and the next year we won Division 2 and went on to finish 5th in Division 1. LAMENT FOR THE ‘OWLS’ Gather round,both young and old Whilst I my tragic tale unfold A tale of grief; a tale of shame How Wednesday failed to pay the game. For years it has been our ambition To see them head the First Division But now alas! Our hopes are shattered; Back to the Second,bruised and battered. Hours and hours in frost and rain We’ve watched and prayed,but all in vain; Same old story;same old tale: Open goals, and shots that fail. Dig up the grass,tear down the posts, For Wednesday are but withered ghosts; Rip up the flags,take down the stand, And lets grow turnips on the land. Then lets all with one accord, On bended knee implore the Lord Prepare a pitch up there in heaven And take away the whole Eleven!

Owls fans could be forgiven for assuming this season has seen the closest race ever for promotion between the Sheffield clubs. In fact, that took place in 1949-50 for promotion from the old second division (championship) to the first (premier league. Spurs won the league with 61 points . The final positions of the Sheffield clubs were as follows. 2 Wed p 42 w18 d16 l 8 f 67 a48 pts 52 3 Utd p 42 w 19 d 14 l 9 f 68 a 49 pts 52 Astonishingly, the two teams ended not just on the same points but with the same goal difference- + 19 - but it didn't matter because in those days it was goal average that counted (goals scored divide by goals conceded) . The difference between the two was 0.01 of a goal! Wednesday's final match was at Hillsborough against Spurs, already promoted. The score was 0-0. Had it been 1-1 both clubs would have ended up with exactly the same number of goals scored and conceded. Does any one know how it would have been settled then? Certainly not a play-off. If It went on results between the clubs, United would have gone up. 2-1 to us at Hills borough, 2-0 to them at the Lane. I suspect it would have been a throw of a coin. Won't be there on Saturday, unfortunately, except in spirit. All the best to the lads whom I'm sure will do it but I won't be celebrating till the fat lady sings.,

Torryowl think we beat roma 4-0 but we never played napoli in the fairs cup.....we did play them in the anglo italian cup and won 4-3 but that was in the 70s . Yes you are spot on.My memory played me tricks.We lost 5-1 in Naples in 1970 in the return so the less said the better. The Fairs cup results in 1961-2 were impressive though 1961-2 1L1 Tue 12 Sep Olympique Lyon.......... 2-4 Keith Ellis, Gerry Young 1L2 Wed 4 Oct OLYMPIQUE LYON.......... 5-2 John Fantham 2, Colin Dobson, Billy Griffin Wednesday won 7-6 on aggregate Tom McAnearney 2L1 Wed 29 Nov ROMA.................... 4-0 Gerry Young 3, John Fantham 2L2 Wed 13 Dec Roma.................... 0-1 Wednesday won 4-1 on aggregate 3L1 Wed 28 Feb BARCELONA............... 3-2 John Fantham 2, Derek Wilkinson 3L2 Wed 28 Mar Barcelona............... 0-2 Barcelona won 4-3 on aggregate Chelsea result was 6-1 not 6-0.Forgotten they got their miserable goal. 1966 Sat 31 Dec CHELSEA................. 6-1 12 31,032 David Ford 2, John Ritchie 2, John Fantham, Jim McCalliog

I wonder if anyone is old enough to remember us playing Napoli at Hillsborough in the old Fairs Cup (the old name for the UEFA cup) We won 6-0. (I also saw us beat Chelsea 6-0 about the same time - early 60s). I don't recall any Napoli fans there at all -certainly nothing like the ones at Stamford Bridge last night