When Atkinson had to run the gauntlet of furious Owls fans

THE chant in the famous old stadium was unmistakable, deafening and most definitely unflattering.
Ron Atkinson pictured at the press conference where he declared he had decided to stay at Sheffield Wednesday.Ron Atkinson pictured at the press conference where he declared he had decided to stay at Sheffield Wednesday.
Ron Atkinson pictured at the press conference where he declared he had decided to stay at Sheffield Wednesday.

“Judas, Judas what’s the score?”

It was almost 25 years ago that Ron Atkinson ran the gauntlet of all manner of acrimony and recrimination in what amounted to the hottest ticket in town at a packed and mostly seething Hillsborough on August 17, 1991.

After being castigated for walking out on Sheffield Wednesday after leading them to a famous promotion and League Cup double to join Aston Villa, a fiendish quirk of the fixture computer had handed Atkinson an opening-day trip to the Owls.

The phrase you are looking for is schadenfreude.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

All was set fair for the overwhelming majority of the 36,749 crowd when irresistible Wednesday, in Trevor Francis’s first outing in charge as player-manager, stormed into a 2-0 first-half lead – prompting the aforementioned chant in the direction of Atkinson.

But another chapter was still to be penned, with Villa turning the tables to score three unanswered goals in the most dramatic of 3-2 victories to leave Wednesdayites aghast and bewildered.

For full context to the game, it is necessary to go back to May 31, 1991, when national reports broke suggesting that Atkinson was being lined up for the Villa job to replace Jozef Venglos – just hours before he was due in Sheffield for an open-top bus parade of the city following the Owls’ outstanding 1990-91 season.

Thousands of Wednesdayites promptly chanted Atkinson’s name as he stood on Sheffield Town Hall’s balcony later that day and made their feelings known in no uncertain terms about their desire for him to stay.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

It was then that Atkinson fatally erred and triggered a summer of discontent.

In front of his adoring hordes, he pledged he would be staying at Wednesday, stating that he must have been ‘barmy’ to think of leaving, even accounting for the lure of Villa; despite being born in his mother’s home city of Liverpool, Atkinson moved to Birmingham after just two days.

But a volte-face promptly ensued, with Atkinson admitting he had made a grave mistake in saying he wanted to stay on and a messy chain of events ended in him eventually resigning his position on June 5 ahead of being appointed at Villa Park.

Atkinson’s attempts to justify the move by referencing his regular 200-mile commute to Yorkshire from his family home in Worcester cut no ice with the incredulous Owls hordes.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Neither did his protestations that moving to Villa represented the hardest decision that he ever had to make, with vengeful Wednesdayites busily counting down the days when the top-flight fixtures handed their former manager a first-day outing at Hillsborough.

So the scene was set, with the withering hostility beginning from the moment that Atkinson stepped off the visitors’ coach on that sweltering August afternoon.

The home welcoming committee continued the ‘warm’ reception ahead of kick-off, with taunts and jeers in the direction of Atkinson, serenaded by the Villa contingent who packed the revamped West Stand.

A banner which read ‘Trevor’s Army will show them’ declared Wednesday’s support for their new man in charge and, just three minutes in, the home faithful rose as one with a sultry day suddenly getting a touch more oppressive for a hot-under-the-collar Atkinson.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Fresh from scoring 32 goals in an outstanding 1990-91 campaign and making his senior England debut, David Hirst struck with a goal from the gods.

After Carlton Palmer, a player that Atkinson brought to Hillsborough from former club West Brom, won a tackle in midfield, the ball found its way to Hirst, patrolling near the right flank. He cut inside before unleashing a magnificent and unstoppable swerving long-range strike that left goalkeeper Nigel Spink rooted to the spot in front of the Kop.

Paul Williams almost made it two before dominant Wednesday did double their lead on 36 minutes to crown a near-perfect first half.

Hirst was again at the centre of the action with a typically rampaging run ending in an inviting pull-back that found Danny Wilson right on cue, and he coolly steered the ball low past Spink.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

It was the prelude to the ‘Judas’ cries in the direction of Atkinson and things almost got worse for the perma-tanned manager, only for Palmer to spurn a great chance to make it 3-0.

It proved a big moment with Owls goalkeeper Chris Woods, on his debut, helping to provide Villa with a path back shortly before the break.

The England international flapped at a corner from Gordon Cowans and veteran striker Cyrille Regis, 33, reduced the arrears with a close-range header.

It proved all the incentive that Villa needed with their new boys belatedly coming to the party on the restart with the wind taken out of Wednesday’s sails.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Regis turned provider on 51 minutes with a lovely defence-splitting pass finding Villa debutant Paul Mortimer – and despite the onrushing Woods blocking his effort, ex-Owls forward Dalian Atkinson bundled in the rebound to make it 2-2.

The entrance into the fray of the boss, in the shape of Francis, failed to inspire Wednesday and the Midlanders’ comeback was complete on 87 minutes.

Stranded with numbers caught upfield following a corner, the hosts were picked off on the break by Villa, Dwight Yorke supplying Atkinson, who hared away before pulling the ball back for Steve Staunton, with the £1.1m full-back firing high past Woods to seal a remarkable win.

Atkinson, flanked by his assistant, Andy Gray, left the celebrations to others in the dug-out.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

But when back in his Midlands home, at some point on that crazy Saturday he might just have allowed himself a glass of something appropriate.

Speaking after the dust had died down following the final whistle, a clearly emotional Atkinson said: “With all the things that have gone around the game and the reasons about why I left and this, that and the other, let’s not lose sight of the fact that when all is said and done, I look at their team and they are a good side and I helped create that.”

Never a truer word was spoken with the Owls finishing in third spot in 1991-92, four places ahead of Villa with a spot of pay-back afforded by way of a 1-0 victory in the reverse fixture at Villa Park thanks to a goal from Nigel Jemson.

Atkinson did return for a second spell as Owls chief, but it proved short-lived, with his contract not renewed despite saving the club from relegation in 1997-98 after replacing David Pleat in November, 1997.