Steel City derby: David Prutton recalls how Sheffield Wednesday upset the odds

For Sheffield Wednesday, not only was manager Gary Megson under huge pressure but form was poor with their previous eight league outings having yielded just a point per game.

United, in contrast, had won six times over the corresponding period and, with Charlton Athletic already looking unassailable in top spot, were strong favourites to pip the Owls to runners-up spot thanks to a five-point cushion that came with the added bonus of two games in hand.

“United were having much the better of it when the game came around,” recalls David Prutton, the former Wednesday midfielder, about a 2012 Hillsborough meeting that ultimately changed the course of the season. “We were on a awful run and we were behind them in the league.

“Gary Megson was under massive pressure. A week earlier, we had lost at Chesterfield and there was an inquest afterwards. Players spoke, people at the club spoke and then there was loads in the press about Milan (Mandaric, then the Owls chairman) being unhappy.

“Gary wasn’t the sort of bloke who would be shy in speaking his mind. There had been the list of disagreements (between Megson and Mandaric) and, Gary being Gary, he wasn’t going to kowtow to anyone.”

Considering all that was going on in S6, the Blades were probably the last team Wednesday wanted to face on the final Sunday of February, 2012. Early on, those fears seemed justified as Danny Wilson’s side twice went close through Richard Cresswell and Stephen Quinn, the latter striking the crossbar with a free-kick, before having two penalty appeals turned down.

Changes were needed. Megson, realising Wednesday had to win to retain any hope of reeling in their rivals before the season’s end, sent on top scorer Gary Madine and wideman Mike Jones either side of the hour-mark. The breakthrough came not long afterwards, Chris O’Grady guiding Lewis Buxton’s cross past Steve Simonsen to net what proved to be the winner.

By then, Prutton had made way for Jones so was able to watch his manager at close quarters. He said: “I was sitting right behind Gary, listening to him taking a bit of stick. He just puffed his chest out and banged the badge on his chest. Say what you like about him, but seeing that made me think, ‘He is mental, but I absolutely love being part of this.’

“Gary had a unique style of man-management, but did we enjoy playing under him? Too right we did. I remember us going to Stevenage early in that same season and losing 5-1. They had Graham Westley as manager and the first 45 minutes was like 24 rounds of boxing.

“We were punch-drunk at half-time, sitting around thinking, ‘What the hell is going on?’ Me and Rob Jones were good friends, but we had a proper argument, telling each other we were s***. Megson just walked in and said, ‘It doesn’t matter either way because you have both been rubbish and you are coming off’. That was him – he said it as he saw it.”

Megson’s standing among the Wednesday players was illustrated by O’Grady running half the length of the pitch to celebrate his derby winner with the manager. At the final whistle, the Owls’ chief was held aloft again, this time by jubilant captain Jones. Three days later, however, Megson was sacked.

Prutton added: “I can’t say it was a surprise, but, on the back of winning the derby, it was a bit weird. As players, you have the usual trepidation – who is coming in, will he like me, will I play?

“But what’s strange is that after winning the derby it all got very straight-forward. Dave Jones came in, we put a good run together and we got to the last day against Wycombe when Dave, basically, said, ‘There is a packed house here – I am not being funny, lads, just go out and get it done’. And we did, pipping United in the process.

“As for the derby itself, I played for Forest against Derby and Southampton against Portsmouth, and the feeling you got was that they hated each other. I am not saying there is a big love-in between Wednesday and United, you get the ‘Piggies’ talk and all that.

“But maybe because they share a city and sit alongside each other day after day, it feels a bit more like they push each other on. One does well, so the other wants to do better.”