MANAGERIAL MERRY-GO- ROUND

1995/96
Former Luton Town manager David Pleat was the man charged with reviving SWFC's fortunes. Ostensibly, the appointment looked to be a sound one: Pleat had a reputation for tactical insights and encouraging the sort of neat, constructive football that Wednesdayites had become accustomed to.

He had succeeded not only on a limited budget at Kenilworth Road but also on a larger scale with Tottenham, who he controlled for a brief but majestic period in the 1980s.

Sadly, the marriage was not destined to last - and indeed, Pleat's installation in 1995 sparked a period of rapid managerial changes in S6. Between June 1995 and September 2004, no fewer than eight different individuals occupied the SWFC manager's office at an average of just over 12 months at the helm each.

Such a whirlwind turnover, and the attendant discontinuity, merely destabilised the side's fortunes and, at the end of that timespan, Wednesday were in the Third Division*.

None of that was known, however, as the 1995/96 campaign got underway: though by the end of that term there seemed a distinct possibility of forfeiting the coveted Premiership status.

Early involvement in the much-maligned Intertoto Cup did not appear to hand the Owls any advantage during the opening weeks of the term - for despite a competent 2-1 defeat of reigning champions Blackburn Rovers in Pleat's inaugural home game, Wednesday were soon fighting to free themselves from the spider's web of mid-table obscurity.

A trio of high-scoring victories across December and January (a 4-3 thriller against Coventry, a 6-2 battering of Leeds and a convincing 4-2 success at home to Bolton) hinted that better was to come, but the side's potential was being glimpsed only in flashes - and a forlorn series of eight defeats from 11 games during the early weeks of spring merely exacerbated an increasingly suggestive flirtation with the drop.

1996/97
When the major capture of the 1996 close season was Huddersfield Town striker Andy Booth - showing promise at 23 but totally untried at the highest level - supporters began to fret that another desperate flight from the drop zone was all that awaited.

Yet part of Wednesday's make-up is the ability to confound expectations, and the side soon held a shock lead at the Premiership summit after Booth and rookie partner Ritchie Humphreys contributed to a four-game winning start.

The bandwagon finally toppled over in September, as defeats by Chelsea and Arsenal began a ten-match winless sequence that also included an embarrassing League Cup hiccup against Oxford United.

Nevertheless, it was clear that Pleat's rejuvenated outfit were more concerned with affairs at the top of the league than the bottom, especially after the October addition of new club record signing, £3m Inter Milan winger Benito Carbone, initiated a rewarding period which comprised one solitary setback in 22 league and cup fixtures.

When that rich seam of form - having yielded particularly impressive successes over high-flying Liverpool and Aston Villa - came to an end in March, the Owls had hauled themselves back into the top six and progressed to the last eight of the FA Cup.

They came unstuck against Wimbledon in the quarter final, but the team consequently redoubled their efforts in the league, where another well-timed unbeaten stretch - concluding with a 3-1 Hillsborough revenge mission against the Dons - made a UEFA Cup berth a distinct possibility.

Frustratingly, though, the deck of cards collapsed as three defeats in the concluding four matches (including the blow of losing 4-1 at Blackburn and 5-1 at West Ham in back-to-back games) meant that whilst a finishing rank of seventh was far higher than anticipated, there was still an air of disappointment at narrowly missing out on something greater.

1997/98
Hotly touted as contenders for a European place as the 1997/98 season got underway, SWFC increased their offensive capabilities with the club record outlay of £4.5m for Celtic's unorthodox former AC Milan and Juventus forward Paolo Di Canio.

In the short term, this critically affected the balance of the previous term's compact, functional unit and a lightweight-looking Wednesday leaked goals (crumbling 7-2 against Blackburn, 5-2 at home to Derby and 6-1 at Old Trafford whilst also capsizing to Grimsby in the League Cup) on their path to the foot of the table by early November.

The impact with rock bottom cost Pleat his job, and things instantly improved as assistant manager Peter Shreeves masterminded a 5-0 rout of Bolton Wanderers, with Booth notching a hat trick.

If that result had come as a welcome surprise, then it was nothing compared to the shock when it was announced that Ron Atkinson had returned to the Hillsborough helm on a contract until the end of the campaign.

Fans feelings on the appointment were decidedly mixed; Atkinson's acrimonious exit six years previously having left a bitter counterpoint to Wednesdayites' sweeter memories of success.

Three straight victories, however, quickly elevated the club out of the relegation zone and all was forgiven, especially when 11th spot had been claimed by the time of January's superb 2-1 away victory at Leeds.

With the ever-adventurous Big Ron coaxing the best out of Di Canio and Carbone, the Owls were entertaining if infuriatingly inconsistent - able to floor the heavyweights at Hillsborough (where Arsenal, Manchester United and Newcastle all hit the canvas), but too often susceptible to the sucker-punch on the road (sustaining away defeats at Bolton, Barnsley and Crystal Palace).

In all, Wednesday lost six of their closing nine, prolonging the wait for confirmation of safety until a fine 3-1 success at Goodison Park with just two games to go.

Both of these were lost, supplying a 16th-placed seal on a season which had markedly failed to live up to expectations.

Still, there was widespread surprise when Atkinson was not - as had been generally expected - offered a longer-term deal. His successor (after an 11th-hour U-turn by ex-Glasgow Rangers chief Walter Smith) was revealed to be Barnsley boss Danny Wilson - who, ironically, had first been introduced to the club as a player by Atkinson.

1998/99
Despite the change of manager, however, the familiar inconsistencies were still evident as the Owls interspersed some handsome victories (Tottenham and Blackburn were both squashed 3-0 in the first four weeks of the season) with some toothless defeats.

Three of the opening four fixtures were lost 1-0, and there was more League Cup humiliation at the hands of lowly Cambridge United, but Wednesday nonetheless sat comfortably in the top ten after September's unforgettable 1-0 home triumph over reigning champions Arsenal.

The match itself was not especially compelling (though the hosts did snatch a sensational last-minute winner); it was instead the altercation between Di Canio and referee Paul Alcock - in which the Italian shoved the official to the ground after being red-carded - which gave the occasion its infamy.

Shorn of their temperamental star turn (indeed, the side failed to score a single goal in the first four games following his suspension), SWFC spiralled into lower mid-table on the back of six games without a win.

November's magnificent 3-1 disposal of Manchester United at Hillsborough halted the slump, and as Carbone's talents began to emerge from the shadow of his countryman (by now departed to West Ham), six further victories in the following dozen attempts returned the side to the top ten in February.

Once again, Wednesday seemed a reasonable outside bet for UEFA qualification but faltered almost immediately with five straight defeats.

A brace of 1-0 wins in the concluding clashes against Liverpool and Charlton Athletic boosted the Owls to a final resting place of 12th.

Perhaps this position flattered the side's capabilities and instilled over-confidence, but something had indisputably gone wrong by the stage that SWFC (with largely the same playing personnel - no major departures but four incoming senior pros in Gilles De Bilde, Gerald Sibon, Simon Donnelly and Phil O'Donnell) kicked off the 1999/2000 campaign.

1999/2000
Wednesday found themselves propping up the Premiership after four games and - in the course of losing the next five without managing to find their opponent's net even once - suffered a shattering 8-0 loss at Newcastle which, for many, had sealed the club's fate by October.

In all, SWFC lost 14 of their 19 league fixtures in the first half of the year, and failed to score in ten of them.

Although there was a fleeting flicker of a revival thanks to three wins plus one draw either side of the Millennium celebrations, the club were left with little option but to terminate Wilson's contract after a 1-0 surrender to bottom-placed Watford in March; a result which left caretaker boss Peter Shreeves facing a daunting task with nine games left to go.

Eventually, the climb proved too steep, but the resilience shown in late-season scalps of Chelsea (1-0) and Leicester (4-0) at least offered some antidote to the prospect of First Division Football*.

2000/01
As Shreeves resumed his assistant manager role, incoming manager Paul Jewell (who had unexpectedly extended Bradford City's tenure in the top division the previous year) faced immediate problems with no fewer than eight senior professionals quitting Hillsborough in the wake of relegation - and there were more difficulties on the field scarcely 13 seconds into the 2000/01 term when goalkeeper Kevin Pressman became the recipient of English football's fastest-ever red card.

Following a reasonably satisfactory first month of the season, matters then took a turn for the worse as injuries cracked the side's wafer-thin veneer of experience and Jewell was forced to pitch the club's younger professionals in at the deep end.

In the space of eight games, no less than seven players received their first exposure to senior football and unfortunately, the lack of wisdom began to tell as SWFC proceeded to lose eight consecutive league matches between September and mid-October, the worst sequence in the club's history.

A much-needed tonic of four wins from six helped the Owls claw their way back out of the drop zone, and the growing 'feelgood factor' increased due to Wednesday's presence in the last eight of the League Cup following previous conquests of arch rivals Sheffield United and Premiership West Ham.

The optimism was soon painfully dispersed, though, as Birmingham supplied a knockout blow in the quarter final and six surrenders in the next nine league games sent the Owls back to the foot of Division One.

Jewell's tenure ended following a cataclysmic 4-1 reverse at Wimbledon in February, but the installation of Shreeves as caretaker manager and resultant 1-0 success in a Hillsborough six-pointer against Tranmere renewed the determination not to suffer a second straight demotion.

The managerial switch worked wonders for a flagging side, and as more worldly senior pros came into the fray - there was an emotional return, albeit on loan, for Carlton Palmer - then results improved drastically.

From looking favourites for the drop, Wednesday signed off in style by winning eight of their final 15 games to not only secure safety but to indicate that further progression might be made in 2001/02 after Shreeves accepted the manager's post on a permanent basis.

2001/02
That pre-season optimism was soon dimmed as a disappointing opening to the term left the Owls languishing near the foot of the table once more.

After an opening day defeat to Burnley, hopes had been raised by a 2-0 triumph at Crewe in which new signing Paul McLaren notched his first goal. But that victory was the exception to the rule as the failure to rediscover the fine form of the previous season's tail end left Wednesday scratching around for goals, points and confidence - even another loan return for Palmer failed to have the catalystic effect of six months previously.

Heavy defeats at the hands of Manchester City (2-6) and Crystal Palace (1-4) compounded the misery and an October home defeat against Preston meant the opening 13 league games had delivered just one win. That stark statistic prompted Shreeves to fall on his own sword leaving the club managerless once more.

Terry Yorath was elevated from assistant manager to take temporary control and the team conjured up an immediate response, winning three of the first four games under the former Wales boss. The upturn in form and fortune earned him the post on a full time basis as Wednesday also began to dream of success in the League Cup amid the trials and tribulations of the league.

Premiership Sunderland were ousted in an early season six-goal thriller and Aston Villa joined the list of top-flight scalps after a Kevin Pressman-inspired penalty shootout win over Palace.

A semi final showdown with Blackburn Rovers was the prize for a 4-0 spanking of Watford, however the challenge of another multi-million pound outfit proved a bridge too far. The Owls put up a fight over the two-legged affair but a 2-1 loss in the Hillsborough first tie left them needing snookers and Rovers ran out comfortable aggregate winners.

Cup exploits over, all attention focussed on battling the dreaded drop after 2001 ended with a Hillsborough horror show - a 5-0 hammering by Norwich City.

The last third of the campaign was an emotional rollercoaster fluctuating between despair at the Owls' continued struggle on home soil and elation at their impressive showings on the road.

It was mainly their away form which eventually staved off the threat of demotion as Wednesday snatched a last-gasp victory at high-flying Burnley and claimed the spoils from trips to Walsall and Bradford, before collecting three precious points from a daunting visit to Millwall.

Four points over the Easter period saw them all but confirm safety, although it took until the final day to confirm First Division status.

2002/03
Following three seasons of struggle, Wednesday were hoping for a marked improvement with Yorath reshuffling his pack in the close season.

The most notable addition to the squad was Brentford's highly rated striker Lloyd Owusu, who missed the start of the term through injury.

But yet again the team found themselves on the back foot in the early weeks of the campaign before recording a memorable victory over Sheffield United, as Owusu sealed a place in derby folklore by coming off the bench to score with his first touch in an Owls shirt.

That win came early in a seven-match unbeaten sequence, but the fact that six of these ended level highlighted the side's lack of cutting edge and left them still hovering close to the drop zone.

Therefore a subsequent run of six defeats in seven left the side in deep trouble and Yorath followed in Shreeves' footsteps of a year earlier by resigning.

Once again the speculation was flying about who would take up the S6 hot seat, with Peter Reid, George Burley, Rotherham boss Ronnie Moore and ex-Blades gaffer Dave Bassett all linked with the post.

However the answer came from much closer to home. Former Owls keeper Chris Turner's success at Hartlepool United had marked him out as one of the country's brightest young managers and the SWFC board concluded that the Sheffielder was the man to take the club forward.

The magnitude of the task Turner faced was made evident as he was forced to wait eight games for his first win, but that Boxing Day defeat of Nottingham Forest proved a shot in the arm.

Wednesday lifted themselves off the bottom spot by avenging a second successive home defeat by Rotherham and overturned a two-goal deficit to take the spoils against Reading.

That dramatic turnaround saw Dutchman Gerald Sibon, an enigma who sparked divided opinions among supporters in his stint, mark his farewell appearance with a goal before joining homeland club Heerenveen.

The team were beginning to grind out results but the poor start had left them with ground to make up - and fast.

A 5-1 battering of Coventry put them within two points of the safety mark but the failure to collect another win for five games left them looking certainties for relegation going into the final month.

A memorable last-gasp win at Champions elect Portsmouth gave the Owls a lifeline but a return of two points from Easter duels with Grimsby and Brighton wasn't enough and, for only the second time in the club's long and illustrious history, Wednesday found themselves suffering the crushing blow of dropping into the third tier.

2003/04
Despite the heartbreak of relegation, hopes were high that the Owls would be able to bounce straight back to Division One at the first attempt and Turner was busy in the transfer market in his attempt to mould a team capable of achieving that goal, bringing five new faces to the club in the pre-season period.

Wednesday were among the front runners in the fledgling stages of the term having collected numerous victories on their travels, but worries over their poor home form were to prove justified once wins on the road dried up.

Consecutive defeats at the south coast homes of Bournemouth and Brighton provoked an angry reaction from Turner, who promised changes, but it was becoming clear that the team did not possess the quality to sustain a challenge for promotion.

The October visit of Plymouth proved a footballing lesson as Paul Sturrock's Pilgrims ran out 3-1 victors and came in the middle of a 12-match winless run in the league which spanned from early-October to the New Year.

A run to the Northern Area final of the LDV Vans Trophy provided a bright spot for a team struggling with confidence, but defeat over two legs to Blackpool saw Wednesday with only their league campaign left to focus on.

The side had been hampered throughout the term by a crippling injury list - it was typical that veteran striker Mark Robins suffered a knee injury soon after arriving at Sheffield 6 - and the influx of loan players to plug the gaps made continuity in team selection almost impossible to achieve.

The Owls languished in mid-table following the turn of the year before a dismal run saw them win just one of their last ten league outings, as they slumped to a desperately disappointing finish of 16th.

Turner knew that drastic action was needed to avoid any danger of a repeat performance and the summer of 2004 saw the squad undergo major surgery.

Thirteen of the playing staff were released, the most high profile departure being Kevin Pressman - SWFC's second highest post-war appearance maker with 478 Owls games.

Also exiting were the likes of Alan Quinn, Leigh Bromby, Derek Geary and Steven Haslam, all of whom had been regulars since Wednesday's drop from the top flight four years earlier.

The overhaul was completed by the introduction of ten new players, including former Southampton midfielder Chris Marsden as captain, Glasgow Rangers striker Steven MacLean and Preston goalkeeper David Lucas - who had been on loan at Hillsborough the previous season.

2004/05
With the new-look side in place, the Wednesday team for the opening day clash with Colchester contained six debutants but a shock 3-0 reverse meant it was an unhappy start.

The Owls went on to win their next three league games but Turner remained under pressure with the previous season's showing still fresh in the mind.

A subsequent return of three points from a possible 12 was far from ideal for a manager feeling the strain and Bournemouth's mid-September victory at S6 was to prove one defeat too many for the board who parted company with Turner shortly after the final whistle.

The man the Hillsborough hierarchy turned to was Paul Sturrock, who had masterminded Plymouth's rise from the bottom division to the Championship as both Second and Third Division winners before a short stint at the Southampton helm.

The Scot came in with Wednesday placed 14th in the table but his influence quickly bore fruit with the 3-0 win at Wrexham in his first game in charge giving signs of what was to follow.

He scooped the Manager of the Month award after SWFC gained a 100 per cent league record in November before the team embarked on a 10-match unbeaten run in which Kenwyne Jones - a loan signing from Southampton - netted seven goals in seven matches.

That spell lifted Wednesday into fourth place and they were to drop out of the play-off spots just once over the rest of the season, as more steel became engrained in their gritty style of play as time went on.

Another pleasing spell of four wins in five games over the late winter period elevated the Owls to third place but injury and suspension problems and a downturn in form left their play-off hopes in doubt during the final run-in.

Top scorer MacLean suffered a stress fracture of the foot which looked to have ended his season while keeper Lucas was sidelined with a knee problem.

The remaining players travelled to already-promoted Hull City for the penultimate fixture having only collected five points from seven games. Yet though results had not gone their way during this spell, the side had still displayed the determination that had helped them climb the table and that willpower was never more in evidence than at the KC Stadium, when a last-gasp winner saw Wednesday seal a play-off place with a game to spare.

In order to have a chance of joining Hull in the Championship, Wednesday had to overcome Brentford in their first ever taste of the play-offs.

An early breakthrough from ever-present winger Jon-Paul McGovern in the Hillsborough first leg gave the Owls a slender advantage to take south and goals from Lee Peacock and Chris Brunt at Griffin Park secured progression to the final by a 3-1 aggregate scoreline.

Hartlepool United stood in the Owls' way at Cardiff's Millennium Stadium and it looked as if Wednesday may stumble at the final hurdle as United recovered from McGovern's opener to lead 2-1 with less than ten minutes to go.

But MacLean - making a surprise early return from injury - bagged his 20th goal of the campaign from the spot to level and extra-time strikes from youngsters Glenn Whelan and Drew Talbot secured promotion and sent 40,000 Wednesdayites wild in the Welsh capital.

*Following the formation of the Premiership in 1992, English football had been restructured to the effect that the second tier - previously the Second Division - became known as the First Division and the third tier became the Second Division. From 2004-05 the second tier became known as the Championship while the third tier took the name of League One.