Bearwood Owl1 Posted March 19, 2019 Author Share Posted March 19, 2019 50+ surveys completed. Really pleased with the response. Should make for a good read when I've completed it all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Utah Owl Posted March 25, 2019 Share Posted March 25, 2019 Just sent mine in, look out for the Polish last name! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ibbo48 Posted March 25, 2019 Share Posted March 25, 2019 Just sent mine in mate. Think you may have suffered for it not being in Matchday section first. I’ve only just spotted it cos Wednesday History section is not one I often look in. Being in the wrong ( but right ) section or being moved is the kiss of death to many a good thread 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bearwood Owl1 Posted March 25, 2019 Author Share Posted March 25, 2019 Thanks everyone. Slow but sure wins the race! I've got plenty of interesting material to use now. Will keep all informed how I'm getting on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
asteener1867 Posted March 28, 2019 Share Posted March 28, 2019 On 03/03/2019 at 22:19, torryowl said: think because we were so crap the fans got behind the team , last game of the season in 75 away at hull despite scoring only 2 goals since Christmas we took over a 1000 and ken knighton led the players over to the fans before the start to applaud the support and we returned the compliment big time , didn't do us any good though they still played crap and we lost 1-0 as per …...2 years down the line we hadn't won away for 18 months and took 2000 down to reading and the joy at the end when finally got the victory was celebrated like we'd won the cup . …..for 3 years defeat was so ingrained in us that it didn't really hurt and when we did get the odd victory it really was party time ……… it really was an amazing time mainly because of the fans .we'd rock up at Colchester ,Aldershot Cambridge etc etc in our thousands get turned over and not once blame or boo the players . That Hull game We were on that green roofed terrace down the side..pre match a message over the tannoy said summat like... "Welcome to the Sheffield Wednesday fans who have travelled in their thousands even though they have already been relegated"...I dunno whether they were admiring or were taking the p*ss...Obviously the 200 or so Owls fans who suddenly appeared on their terrace behind the goal and charged in..thought the former. It also kicked off at Grimsby around about the same period when their chairmans little bit in the programme said "Today we have to put up with the "Unwashed hordes from Sheffield"..That went down well. It was a period that was tragically hopeless at the time, but fans of my age look back at it with a ridiculous sort of fondness...I dunno why...We were simply terrible...and I mean terrible in the sense that we sometimes never even had a shot...It was desperate, crap football. Home games were far worse...the gates were down, the Eastbank at times denuded, and funnily enough the loudest chants coming from the South stand! (True story). Away games...We always took an amazing following...It was like we wore our ineptitude like some badge of pride..and only WE were allowed to rip the p *ss. York away during the "Save Our Owls" thingy...unbelievable following...Met at York Railway station by a couple of coppers and a dog ..I'll always remember the walk to Bootham ... One 60 yr old copper a small alsatian and god knows how many Owls just offa the train...The copper was brilliant... laughing and joking and takin' the p*ss...he didn't get an ounce of trouble as what I recall as a bloody long walk..over a mile or so I reckon..took ages. Home games though..apart from the Southend thingy were abject hopelessness... Hardly anyone after a season of misery would have expected 25000 or so to pile into Hillsborough..It took me and me mates by surprise...The sheer relief of winning that game and avoiding the drop into the 4th was numbing... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bearwood Owl1 Posted March 28, 2019 Author Share Posted March 28, 2019 I think away games are going to need a section all to themselves. :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bearwood Owl1 Posted April 4, 2019 Author Share Posted April 4, 2019 60+ replies to the survey now. Got an offer to publish a short article on it, and the potential to turn it into a full account/book. Going to keep working at it. Thanks for all the responses. Happy still to take more. I'm particularly interested in memories of Derek Dooley's sacking and what memorabilia people have kept :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fredmciverslovechild Posted April 29, 2019 Share Posted April 29, 2019 That three year period, 1973/74 to 1975/76, was absolutely desperate. We won 29 of 130 league games (22%), only five away from home and lost 63 times. There were times when you simply thought it couldn't get any worse and yet it did. It just seemed that there was no limit to how far we would fall. And, of course, it was Sod's Law that this coincided with when I started working and was able to go to away games as well. One match sticks out in particular....Shrewsbury (away) on Tuesday, 13 April 1976. Our first ever season in Division Three and we were fighting desperately to avoid Division Four. We'd been totally embarrassed at Wrexham on the Saturday and we simply had to get a result. I'd just relocated to London and couldn't get to the Wrexham game but I had this notion that if I went to a game we'd somehow play better and get a result. So, that morning, I decided that I simply had to get to the game from London. Managed to get a half day at work, got on the train and changed at Wolverhampton (I think). Arrived in Shrewsbury about 6pm and managed to find a pub nearby. This, of course, was the old Gay Meadow ground which was just the other side of the river and I'd worked out on a map how to get there. Of course, back then the floodlight pylons gave grounds away and got to the ground about half an hour before kick off. Gay Meadow was next to a school and you entered in one corner right by the school wall and could walk round virtually the whole ground. Found the small group of Wednesday fans in the opposite corner including some guys from the place In Sheffield I'd just left. Pissed it down all evening, as I recall, but we got a 0-0. Terrible, terrible game but the result was all important and just avoiding defeat was like a victory. Matches like this you never cared about how to get home so when I got back to the station I found there was no connection to get me back to London. I did see there was a train to Crewe so got on that; it stopped at every station you could think of. Then spent about three hours on a bench on the platform at Crewe till a train back to London arrived. Got back at Christ knows what time, just in time to get up for work the following day. I've always been absolutely gutted that I missed the Southend home game which kept us up. I simply couldn't get up to Sheffield for that and of course back then there were no instant scores or anything like that. The only sure way I had of getting the result before the morning papers was Sports Report which was on Radio 2 after the 10pm news. Spent that whole evening absolutely bricking it about what had, or might have, happened and from 9.15 or so on it was worse....because then I knew it had happened but I didn't know what. Remember going to the pub, having one pint and then being physically sick with nerves. What great days they were..... 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bearwood Owl1 Posted April 30, 2019 Author Share Posted April 30, 2019 On 29/04/2019 at 14:53, fredmciverslovechild said: That three year period, 1973/74 to 1975/76, was absolutely desperate. We won 29 of 130 league games (22%), only five away from home and lost 63 times. There were times when you simply thought it couldn't get any worse and yet it did. It just seemed that there was no limit to how far we would fall. And, of course, it was Sod's Law that this coincided with when I started working and was able to go to away games as well. One match sticks out in particular....Shrewsbury (away) on Tuesday, 13 April 1976. Our first ever season in Division Three and we were fighting desperately to avoid Division Four. We'd been totally embarrassed at Wrexham on the Saturday and we simply had to get a result. I'd just relocated to London and couldn't get to the Wrexham game but I had this notion that if I went to a game we'd somehow play better and get a result. So, that morning, I decided that I simply had to get to the game from London. Managed to get a half day at work, got on the train and changed at Wolverhampton (I think). Arrived in Shrewsbury about 6pm and managed to find a pub nearby. This, of course, was the old Gay Meadow ground which was just the other side of the river and I'd worked out on a map how to get there. Of course, back then the floodlight pylons gave grounds away and got to the ground about half an hour before kick off. Gay Meadow was next to a school and you entered in one corner right by the school wall and could walk round virtually the whole ground. Found the small group of Wednesday fans in the opposite corner including some guys from the place In Sheffield I'd just left. Pissed it down all evening, as I recall, but we got a 0-0. Terrible, terrible game but the result was all important and just avoiding defeat was like a victory. Matches like this you never cared about how to get home so when I got back to the station I found there was no connection to get me back to London. I did see there was a train to Crewe so got on that; it stopped at every station you could think of. Then spent about three hours on a bench on the platform at Crewe till a train back to London arrived. Got back at Christ knows what time, just in time to get up for work the following day. I've always been absolutely gutted that I missed the Southend home game which kept us up. I simply couldn't get up to Sheffield for that and of course back then there were no instant scores or anything like that. The only sure way I had of getting the result before the morning papers was Sports Report which was on Radio 2 after the 10pm news. Spent that whole evening absolutely bricking it about what had, or might have, happened and from 9.15 or so on it was worse....because then I knew it had happened but I didn't know what. Remember going to the pub, having one pint and then being physically sick with nerves. What great days they were..... I love the stories :) Great times, awful team. I'd also not done the maths on the results. That truly is abysmal. Yet, despite how awful it all was - your user name is Fred McIver's Love Child - it that because you are (his love child) or some other reason related to the time?! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Utah Owl Posted April 30, 2019 Share Posted April 30, 2019 (edited) On 29/04/2019 at 07:53, fredmciverslovechild said: That three year period, 1973/74 to 1975/76, was absolutely desperate. We won 29 of 130 league games (22%), only five away from home and lost 63 times. There were times when you simply thought it couldn't get any worse and yet it did. It just seemed that there was no limit to how far we would fall. And, of course, it was Sod's Law that this coincided with when I started working and was able to go to away games as well. One match sticks out in particular....Shrewsbury (away) on Tuesday, 13 April 1976. Our first ever season in Division Three and we were fighting desperately to avoid Division Four. We'd been totally embarrassed at Wrexham on the Saturday and we simply had to get a result. I'd just relocated to London and couldn't get to the Wrexham game but I had this notion that if I went to a game we'd somehow play better and get a result. So, that morning, I decided that I simply had to get to the game from London. Managed to get a half day at work, got on the train and changed at Wolverhampton (I think). Arrived in Shrewsbury about 6pm and managed to find a pub nearby. This, of course, was the old Gay Meadow ground which was just the other side of the river and I'd worked out on a map how to get there. Of course, back then the floodlight pylons gave grounds away and got to the ground about half an hour before kick off. Gay Meadow was next to a school and you entered in one corner right by the school wall and could walk round virtually the whole ground. Found the small group of Wednesday fans in the opposite corner including some guys from the place In Sheffield I'd just left. Pissed it down all evening, as I recall, but we got a 0-0. Terrible, terrible game but the result was all important and just avoiding defeat was like a victory. Matches like this you never cared about how to get home so when I got back to the station I found there was no connection to get me back to London. I did see there was a train to Crewe so got on that; it stopped at every station you could think of. Then spent about three hours on a bench on the platform at Crewe till a train back to London arrived. Got back at Christ knows what time, just in time to get up for work the following day. I've always been absolutely gutted that I missed the Southend home game which kept us up. I simply couldn't get up to Sheffield for that and of course back then there were no instant scores or anything like that. The only sure way I had of getting the result before the morning papers was Sports Report which was on Radio 2 after the 10pm news. Spent that whole evening absolutely bricking it about what had, or might have, happened and from 9.15 or so on it was worse....because then I knew it had happened but I didn't know what. Remember going to the pub, having one pint and then being physically sick with nerves. What great days they were..... I was at that Shrewsbury game (I'd also been at Wrexham as well) and you forgot about the missed penalty about 5 minutes from the end! Agree with the sentiment though, everyone felt they just had to be there otherwise if the result went badly it was always a case of "I let them down, they'd have won if I'd been there!" Edited April 30, 2019 by Utah Owl Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Utah Owl Posted April 30, 2019 Share Posted April 30, 2019 20 minutes ago, Bearwood Owl1 said: I love the stories :) Great times, awful team. I'd also not done the maths on the results. That truly is abysmal. Yet, despite how awful it all was - your user name is Fred McIver's Love Child - it that because you are (his love child) or some other reason related to the time?! I can understand the sentiment. If you are of a certain age it's when that unbreakable bond between you and Wednesday was forged and the fact that we were so poor at the time makes the good times (such as they are) so much sweeter. Often wondered if I should change my user name to Eric Potts Boiled Egg! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nevthelodgemoorowl Posted April 30, 2019 Share Posted April 30, 2019 The crowds going to away matches grew and grew no one wanted to miss our next away goal or maybe away win. When it Finally happened...Well I'll leave Utah to tell you the story. He tells it so much better than me. It involves a famous fan by the name of Sammy 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Utah Owl Posted April 30, 2019 Share Posted April 30, 2019 (edited) 5 minutes ago, nevthelodgemoorowl said: The crowds going to away matches grew and grew no one wanted to miss our next away goal or maybe away win. When it Finally happened...Well I'll leave Utah to tell you the story. He tells it so much better than me. It involves a famous fan by the name of Sammy Except I flipping well missed it! Was working! Managed to see us score a few times and even a couple of League Cup wins, but when it came to the win at Reading I bloody well wasn't there! As for Sammy well there's a whole separate thread devoted to him in the Owls Reunited section........... ..................I'd walk a million miles, for one of your smiles oh Saaaaaammmy! Edited April 30, 2019 by Utah Owl 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Utah Owl Posted April 30, 2019 Share Posted April 30, 2019 Here you go Bearwood. No article on Wednesday of this period is complete without reference to Sammy! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nevthelodgemoorowl Posted April 30, 2019 Share Posted April 30, 2019 (edited) 18 minutes ago, Utah Owl said: Here you go Bearwood. No article on Wednesday of this period is complete without reference to Sammy! Someone posted an up to date photo 12 or 18 months ago can't find it though. I was at Southampton with about 2.5k Owls on 28th Dec 74 as Eric Potts slid in to pinch a 1-0 away win. That was it for the rest of the season, though we did manage a further goal at Fulham in a 2-1 defeat. Won 0 Drawn 1 (0-0) Lost 7 Goals 1 against 14 Following season Won 0 Drawn 10 lost 13 For 14 Against 34. Four away defeats on the trot 76-77 season and then it happened. In front of a crowded rather than packed away end at Reading, one of our new players scored Jeff Johnson. Sammy was over the railings in a flash to celebrate with the players. Poor sod never saw the wild celebrations as we held on for that oh so special win ! Edited April 30, 2019 by nevthelodgemoorowl Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fredmciverslovechild Posted May 1, 2019 Share Posted May 1, 2019 (edited) 10 hours ago, Utah Owl said: I was at that Shrewsbury game (I'd also been at Wrexham as well) and you forgot about the missed penalty about 5 minutes from the end! Agree with the sentiment though, everyone felt they just had to be there otherwise if the result went badly it was always a case of "I let them down, they'd have won if I'd been there!" Don't remember the penalty at all which is odd as I seem to recall just about every game from those times but virtually none when we were actually decent.... I think probably the lowest moment for me, however, was Boxing Day 1977. Big Jack had been manager for about two months to huge expectation but the first thing he'd said was that things might get worse before they got better. How right he was. That day we lost away to Tranmere (I seem to recall Tommy Tynan's cousin getting a hat trick for them), our fifth successive defeat including Northern Premier League Wigan away the previous week and we were already adrift at the foot of Division 3. I remember the brief chants of "Charlton Out" from the terraces as we'd got walloped at Cambridge (Big Ron was their manager) and we just seemed doomed. If Charlton couldn't save us then who the f00k could? Yet from that moment we literally turned the corner. He brought Bob Bolder in for the next game; whilst he was always a bit accident prone I always thought Bolder was a far better keeper than Chris Turner. We were fortunate to have two successive home games against fellow strugglers Rotherham and Hereford to follow which we won 1-0 and the acorns were planted! Carlisle next was a typical last minute disaster (f00kin Porterfield!!!!) but all of a sudden we became stronger defensively. And the hope had returned. Amazing to think that just six years after that game we were in the middle of a fantastic season that was going to take us back to the Big Time. All about having the right guy in charge at the right time....which is why I'm so hopeful at the moment. And if you haven't got hope.... Edited May 1, 2019 by fredmciverslovechild Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fredmciverslovechild Posted May 1, 2019 Share Posted May 1, 2019 League Division Three Bradford City 2-1 Wrexham Cambridge Utd 2-0 Port Vale Carlisle Utd 2-0 Walsall Chester 1-0 Shrewsbury Town Colchester Utd 1-1 Lincoln City Gillingham 0-0 Portsmouth Hereford Utd 0-0 Peterborough Utd Oxford Utd 3-3 Swindon Town Plymouth Argyle 2-2 Exeter City Preston North End 4-0 Bury Rotherham Utd 1-2 Chesterfield Tranmere Rovers 3-1 Sheffield Wednesday Table Pld W D L F A Pts 1 Wrexham 21 11 6 4 35 23 28 2 Gillingham 22 10 8 4 37 27 28 3 Tranmere Rovers 22 11 5 6 36 21 27 4 Cambridge Utd 21 11 4 6 38 26 26 5 Peterborough Utd 21 9 8 4 17 14 26 6 Preston North End 21 8 9 4 26 19 25 7 Colchester Utd 21 9 6 6 31 20 24 8 Shrewsbury Town 22 8 6 8 35 31 22 9 Chester 21 6 10 5 23 27 22 10 Bury 21 7 8 6 23 28 22 11 Swindon Town 21 7 7 7 35 30 21 12 Carlisle Utd 21 6 8 7 28 27 20 13 Exeter City 21 8 4 9 27 28 20 14 Oxford Utd 22 7 6 9 32 34 20 15 Rotherham Utd 21 6 8 7 29 31 20 16 Chesterfield 21 8 4 9 21 23 20 17 Walsall 21 6 8 7 24 27 20 18 Bradford City 21 6 7 8 25 29 19 19 Plymouth Argyle 21 5 8 8 25 28 18 20 Hereford Utd 21 5 8 8 16 24 18 21 Port Vale 21 3 11 7 21 32 17 22 Lincoln City 21 5 6 10 21 31 16 23 Portsmouth 21 3 10 8 21 35 16 24 Sheffield Wednesday 21 3 7 11 18 29 13 Boxing Day 1977! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Utah Owl Posted May 1, 2019 Share Posted May 1, 2019 30 minutes ago, fredmciverslovechild said: Don't remember the penalty at all which is odd as I seem to recall just about every game from those times but virtually none when we were actually decent.... I think probably the lowest moment for me, however, was Boxing Day 1977. Big Jack had been manager for about two months to huge expectation but the first thing he'd said was that things might get worse before they got better. How right he was. That day we lost away to Tranmere (I seem to recall Tommy Tynan's cousin getting a hat trick for them), our fifth successive defeat including Northern Premier League Wigan away the previous week and we were already adrift at the foot of Division 3. I remember the brief chants of "Charlton Out" from the terraces as we'd got walloped at Cambridge (Big Ron was their manager) and we just seemed doomed. If Charlton couldn't save us then who the f00k could? Yet from that moment we literally turned the corner. He brought Bob Bolder in for the next game; whilst he was always a bit accident prone I always thought Bolder was a far better keeper than Chris Turner. We were fortunate to have two successive home games against fellow strugglers Rotherham and Hereford to follow which we won 1-0 and the acorns were planted! Carlisle next was a typical last minute disaster (f00kin Porterfield!!!!) but all of a sudden we became stronger defensively. And the hope had returned. Amazing to think that just six years after that game we were in the middle of a fantastic season that was going to take us back to the Big Time. All about having the right guy in charge at the right time....which is why I'm so hopeful at the moment. And if you haven't got hope.... It was in the last few minutes of the game and we were kicking towards the open end (the school end). Most of the couple of hundred Wednesday fans were under the cover of the shed on the side but a few hardy souls (self included, maybe a couple of dozen in total) stood behind the goal on that end and duly got soaked. I remember I was stood next to Geordie and a couple of other well known characters from the time when we got the penalty and we all thought "this is it!" only for the taker (think it might of been Potts but not sure) to miss (IIRC he blasted it over the bar) and we went absolutely nuts calling them complete throwers and much worse! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fredmciverslovechild Posted May 1, 2019 Share Posted May 1, 2019 25 minutes ago, Utah Owl said: It was in the last few minutes of the game and we were kicking towards the open end (the school end). Most of the couple of hundred Wednesday fans were under the cover of the shed on the side but a few hardy souls (self included, maybe a couple of dozen in total) stood behind the goal on that end and duly got soaked. I remember I was stood next to Geordie and a couple of other well known characters from the time when we got the penalty and we all thought "this is it!" only for the taker (think it might of been Potts but not sure) to miss (IIRC he blasted it over the bar) and we went absolutely nuts calling them complete throwers and much worse! No, can't remember that at all! I was one of those under the cover at the side.... I see, incidentally, that the school went the way of the bulldozer as well and the whole area is now apartments. Was at Reading for that 1-0 win; our first away win in 22 months. Stood under the big cover which went down one touchline. Can still vividly picture Jeff Johnson wheeling away with his arms in the air after smashing it in. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bearwood Owl1 Posted May 1, 2019 Author Share Posted May 1, 2019 I'm loving these stories! Currently neatly 30,000 words into writing up the project. I'm doing the easy stuff first - games, management, key players etc. Over the summer I'm going to write up the fans' experiences and I think away days will have a chapter all to themselves :) 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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