Smiles turn to tears as Owls suffer relegation nightmare

A campaign of disappointment on the pitch, which has often been overshadowed by the financial problems off it, finally came to a climax yesterday.

The 2-2 draw against fellow strugglers Crystal Palace saw the Owls relegated from the Championship in front of a packed 37,000 fans at Hillsborough.

Click here to read Ian Appleyard's match report from Hillsborough >>

Click here to read Alan Irvine's reaction to relegation >>

Not even a 2-3-5 formation at the end could deliver that one goal which would have resuscitated their dying season.

But for most Owls followers, this was simply not meant to be. Ever since Paul Sturrock dragged the club out of League One in 2005 – getting the club up through the play-offs with a side built by Chris Turner – Wednesday have been treading water in the Championship.

Trying to survive each Championship season on a League One budget, and doing a fine job on limited resources. When local businessman Lee Strafford – born just a stone's throw from Hillsborough on the neighbouring Parson Cross – took on the chairman's role it seemed a match made in heaven. Here was a self-made millionaire, a fan at heart, to rescue a club who had more factions than a party political meeting at the BBC.

Along with chief executive Nick Parker, the pair have worked tirelessly behind the scenes to bring much-needed new investment into Hillsborough and tackle the 25m debts which have stopped Wednesday from challenging for an assault on the Premier League.

That looks likely to come to fruition this summer. It is just a shame that it has come too late as far as their Championship fate is concerned.

Over the course of 46 games, the Owls have been the third- worst team in the Championship when it comes to results – Palace's 10-point penalty being the only reason why relegation had not been confirmed a week earlier when Watford beat Reading.

It's not the first time Wednesday have flirted with relegation. Two seasons ago they had to beat Norwich City on the final day to avoid relegation. A

4-1 win helped to send Leicester City down instead of the Owls.

When they finished a respectable 12th last year under Brian Laws, it allowed some rare optimism back through the Hillsborough turnstiles. Wednesday fans should have known better.

So what has gone wrong at Hillsborough this season? What caused the 12-month downturn in fortunes which culminated in yesterday's climax?

Personally, I trace it back to last summer and decisions made in the transfer market.

Then-manager Brian Laws brought in Darren Purse and Tommy Miller to strengthen the defence and midfield, when it seemed what the Owls really needed was more strikepower.

Wednesday already had the best home defence in the Championship, with the least amount of goals conceded last season – only 14 against in 23 matches – but a strikeforce of Marcus Tudgay, Leon Clarke, Akpo Sodje and Francis Jeffers had failed to deliver consistently in front of goal. Wednesday only scored 51 goals all season from 46 games.

Those front-line fears were realised this season when injury-hit Sodje was allowed to leave for Charlton and then Jeffers was frozen out of the first-team after a silly red card at Port Vale which saw the Owls crash out of the League Cup.

In total Wednesday have scored two less goals this term, Tudgay netting 10 times, Clarke has six, while on-loan Luke Varney has bagged nine goals.

Not a bad comparison, but with goals being leaked at the other end, it's meant Wednesday have needed to score more just to get similar results. Yesterday was their season encapsulated.

Slack defending at one end, spurned chances at the other. None more so than substitute Francis Jeffers late on, failing to head home Johnson's cross, or Varney before him. The striker battled beyond two defenders but hammered his shot straight at goalkeeper Julian Speroni.

Former Ipswich midfielder Miller has missed most of the season through injury, while Purse struggled for form in the first half of the season.

His arrival saw Richard Wood stripped of the captaincy and with the Wednesday Academy product coming to the end of his contract, it was hardly a deal sweetener to convince him the Owls were desperate to keep him.

Wood's departure for Coventry was expected, and Wednesday have missed his cultured left foot more than they will probably admit.

Purse came with a big reputation and that probably cost him in the eyes of Owls fans as individual errors were constantly highlighted. A six-week spell on the sidelines after a terrible night at Watford, as the Owls were cut to shreds in a 4-1 defeat, gave Purse the kick up the backside he needed, but his return could not come quick enough to save his manager as Laws was sacked soon after on December 13.

A run of nine Championship games without a win cost Laws his job, Alan Irvine replacing him.

With little room for manoeuvre in the transfer market, Irvine's job was to get more out of the squad of players he inherited. That meant shore up a leaky defence, with the former Preston manager drilling his players into keeping their shape, often two banks of four in defence and midfield, to make the Owls hard to break down.

And it worked. Three successive wins at Barnsley, Blackpool and Peterborough relieved some of the pressure, but the lack of goals was costly, highlighted with seven draws from their 11 games. An extra goal here or there in that run and Wednesday would have been saved.

Unfortunately, injury robbed Irvine of the mercurial talents of Jermaine Johnson for much of the run-in.

With a compact midfield, Johnson was the pacy outlet who could swiftly turn defence into attack. Without him, it was a struggle.

But not even the Jamaican could rescue Wednesday at the death yesterday, as the smiles turned to tears at Hillsborough as this once proud club will once again be gracing the third tier of English football next season.