Bygones – Chris Turner saves best until last for Sheffield Wednesday at Wembley

On April 21, 1991, Second Division Wednesday won the League Cup by beating Manchester United at Wembley. Boyhood Manchester City fan John Sheridan scored the only goal and lifelong Owl Turner made a stunning save to tip Brian McClair’s header over.

“It was one of them saves you train for but to do it in a game like that, at Wembley against the biggest club in the world, was special,” says Turner, now chairman of Northern Premier League Wakefield. “It was a very, very important save because we were winning 1-0 with 15 or 20 minutes to go. If that goes in, who knows what might have happened?

“I had to keep my concentration because many times you see a goalkeeper make a save like that and concede from the corner.

“You don’t really think about it (the save) as the game goes on but nearly 30 years later, people talk about it. As you get older it’s really nice to have memories like that.”

It was one of the few saves Turner had to make against opponents who days later closed out their semi-final against Legia Warsaw en route to winning the European Cup Winners’ Cup.

The Owls, without the suspended Carlton Palmer at Wembley, won promotion that season.

“We had a gameplan and we carried it out brilliantly,” recalls Turner. “Lee Sharpe was ripping it up at that time but we dealt with him really well. Roland Nilsson was an exceptional right-back, a tremendous player, athlete and professional. John Harkes played down that side as well and a massive threat was curtailed.”

It was a breakthrough season for Sharpe, particularly in the League Cup, scoring a hat-trick against Arsenal, and against Liverpool and in both legs of the semi-final games against Leeds United. Weeks earlier the PFA’s new young player of the year made his England debut.

Centre-back and captain Nigel Pearson, the Owls’ goalscoring talisman on the road to Wembley, was man of the match.

“We defended very well as a team that day,” says Turner.

“Nigel Pearson was inspirational off the pitch. He was never afraid to put his head in where it hurt and got injured many times. He was a leader who galvanised players. He took nothing off anybody and dealt it out. He was a great character and a lovely lad.

“I can understand why Watford have picked him up (as manager) and why they were doing so well.”

For Turner and manager Ron Atkinson, victory was extra special because of their time at Old Trafford in the 1980s.

“As a professional footballer your aim is to try to win a major trophy,” he says. “I’d been there in 1985 with Sunderland (also in the League Cup) and lost but I was lucky enough to go back six years later.

“It was an unbelievable game for me, in front of nearly 80,000 people playing for the club I support with my school-mates in the stands, winning a major trophy against Manchester United when we were expected to lose by a lot of people. It was one of the best days of my life, without doubt.

“I’d had three-and-a-half years at Manchester United when Sir Alex (Ferguson) was manager and I knew most of the team. At the final whistle, Sir Alex came straight over to congratulate me.”

Wednesday led through Sheridan, smashing a 37th-minute shot Les Sealey could only help in off the post.

“John was an exceptional footballer,” says Turner. “Big Ron could spot talent and bring teams together. He signed players other managers didn’t fancy and knew John could make passes and pick players out in tight situations.”

McClair’s header apart, the Owls’ only real scare was when Mark Hughes bundled Turner and the ball over the line.

“Years before that would have been deemed a fair challenge,” says Turner. “In life you need a bit of luck but we deserved it. You couldn’t have picked a more assured performance from a team.”

Turner is in no doubt who Wednesday’s real hero was.

“The manager has got to take massive glory here with his big-game experience,” he insists. “He got the players in the most relaxed state of mind possible and confident we would win.

“I can still picture Middlewood at the start of that season. We’d been relegated the season before, all the professionals were sat on the ground and Big Ron said, ‘I want promotion and to do well in a cup, I want the reserves and the youth team to do well.’ The first team won a trophy and promotion, the reserves won the Pontin’s League and we got to the final of the FA Youth Cup.

“Big Ron left at the end of the season but the success was carried on by Trevor Francis. Two years after that final they went to two more and I went as a fan.

“But it all started with Ron.

“It’s a rarity where you can stand on the touchline and know you’re going to win the game or have a great season. I was lucky enough to have that at Hartlepool and Ron had it then.”

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