Bittersweet memories of night Sheffield Wednesday bade farewell to the Premier League

That late Spring night at Arsenal’s former abode on May 9, 2000 still represents the Owls’ last Premier League away fixture.

Their relegation after nine seasons in the top tier was at least confirmed with a semblance of fight by way of a 3-3 draw with the league runners-up, but it was scant consolation following a punishing season.

For youngsters such as Steven Haslam, it conjured many emotions. Gratitude at being handed a cherished platform amid rarefied surroundings, but pain at witnessing the demise of one of the game’s grand old institutions first hand. His club.

Lifelong Wednesdayite Haslam, now academy manager at the club, told The Yorkshire Post: “It was mixed feelings, really. In one sense, I was living the dream playing for my club and playing first-team football at 20 in the Premier League – against some fantastic players.

“But to go alongside that, the club was struggling and suffered some disappointing results, culminating in a huge disappointment for the club.

“Wednesday were my club. I used to go in the North Stand with my family. One of my early memories was Gary Bannister scoring a hat-trick and my dad telling me that I fell asleep. I am not sure how old I was; I must have been two or three.”

The tone was set early on for Danny Wilson’s charges. August was awful and September was similarly abysmal.

Apart from after their opening-day 2-1 loss to Liverpool in front of almost 35,000 at Hillsborough, Wednesday were never out of the bottom three.

They picked up a pitiful one point in their opening nine games, with the nadir reached on September 19, 1999 when the Owls served up their Sunday-worst in an 8-0 capitulation in Bobby Robson’s homecoming at Newcastle United.

Alan Shearer struck five times as Robson was afforded his biggest victory in club management as the Magpies – without a Premier League triumph since April – enjoyed their most emphatic victory since Len Shackleton scored six on his debut in a 13-0 win against Newport County in April, 1946.

It piled the pressure upon Wilson and the smart money was on his dismissal, but Wednesday stuck with him.

Wilson would last until March 21. His Owls side had taken just 21 points from 29 games.

A fleeting glimmer of hope arrived in early October when the Owls thrashed Wimbledon 5-1 at Hillsborough to claim their first three points of 1999-2000 at the 10th time of asking.

It soon faded, despite the odd quirky result – including a shock 2-0 win at Tottenham in January.

The writing was on the wall, with the only crumb of comfort perhaps arriving in the fact that promising young players Haslam and Alan Quinn – absolved from blame in that torrid season – were handed some invaluable experience for the future.

Haslam continued: “The manager went with more senior players at the start of the season and sort of threw me and Alan in.

“You obviously remember Newcastle away...

“That was interesting as I was a sub and I came on at half-time at 5-0 down – good luck with that one. It was obviously a very difficult game.

“But you look back at some points and I remember playing against Manchester United and I think their midfield four was Beckham, Keane, Butt and Giggs and they took Butt off at half-time and brought on Scholes.

“I remember winning away at White Hart Lane and playing against Ginola, a really high-calibre opponent. In that respect, it was an unbelievable experience and I also recall beating West Ham when they had Lampard and Ferdinand.

“We also went to Derby and were 3-1 up going into the last few minutes and gave two goals away, which was a hammer blow.”

Wednesday would also take a thoroughly unlikely 3-1 lead on the night when relegation was confirmed at Arsenal.

An inspired double substitution from acting Owls manager Peter Shreeves saw Gerald Sibon and Gilles De Bilde swing the game in Wednesday’s favour as they clung on to the top-flight status by their fingertips.

Sibon scored with his first touch on 58 minutes to level at 1-1 and a brilliant second from De Bilde soon put the Owls ahead.

The Belgian gestured angrily to the bench and punched the air furiously as his team-mates tried to congratulate him.

Amazingly, Quinn put the Owls 3-1 up after springing the offside trap, but the sting arrived when quickfire wonder strikes from Silvinho and Thierry Henry applied the last rites for the visitors – who would go on to beat Leicester City 4-0 in their final home match of the season in another unfathomable result.

But the final outcome in that campaign was ultimately a thoroughly predictable one.

Haslam recalled: “I remember the Arsenal game. They had the Henrys, Petits and Vieiras.

“There were great memories of playing against super-stars at great grounds against great clubs, but ultimately it was one of huge disappointment as well. Having grown up supporting the club, you only want success for the club.

“I remember in the Leicester game and the fans were fantastic. At least, we finished on a high by winning 4-0.”

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