Wednesday 22nd October at 20:00 BST
Despair
Warning: this article might upset old people because of negative content
First, I travelled to Hillsborough in April 2025. I was hoping to see Boro winning there and keep the play-off dream alive as the three possible points would have lifted us to sixth position with just two matches to go. And a winnable home match to Norwich coming next. What could have gone wrong?
So, I and my wife arrived in Sheffield in good spirits (?) with the Twelfth Man coach (own luncheon allowed). And the match started well for the Reds – Azaz scored already on the 11th minute, and we got a penalty on the 22nd minute. It was getting exciting. But Conway missed the pen, and we were only 0-1 up when coming in to the half time break.
But as often happened under Carrick, we gave the points away in the second half and were well beaten with two goals from Windass (the junior, in 54th minute) and Musaba in 89th minute. This defeat cost us the play-offs and Carrick his job later in the summer. A huge disappointment as the Owls were not very good and near the bottom.
The second disappointment of the article is, that you – the reader – won’t be entertained with as good English as you got from Clive last time around. His opener was brilliant and funny. My English will be more monotonic and negative. But I hope the result on (versus) Wednesday will be as good as against Ipswich. But bear with me, though.
A club in Shambles
The main negativity here is the state of the club at Hillsborough. They are now at the bottom of the division (league or whatever it is called now). Their archrivals United got their first home win of the season and moved above the Owls for the first time this season. The pair of Sheffield are both on six points – United winning twice and Wednesday once with three draws to their merit.
But the problems at the Hillsborough club do not end there. The club has been in a mess off the field for most of the year 2025.
With 10 days until the start of the new Championship season, the departure of manager Danny Rohl and the closure of the North Stand at Hillsborough were the latest developments in a chaotic summer for Sheffield Wednesday.
Wages have gone unpaid; the local MP described the club as being "held hostage" by the owner and now some fans are fearing the worst for their club.
Sheffield Wednesday, who are run by owner Dejphon Chansiri, have had cashflow issues for some time. There has been no official explanation by Chansiri on what has led to the problem, but things have escalated this summer.
New manager
Henrik Pedersen took over at a time when the club is in utter turmoil. Pedersen was Rohl's assistant so is this a sensible appointment, and can he turn around a club in turmoil?
For the third month in a row players and non-footballing staff haven't been paid on time. People are struggling to pay the bills and are worrying about what will happen every time payday comes around.
It seems the players have had enough. Some could hand their notice in and we've already seen Josh Windass and Michael Smith have their contracts ended.
Finally, Dejphon Chansiri had paid the August wages, which is a relief for all those staff both on and off the field who have had months of late payments and other problems.
Despite the troubles, Pedersen had produced a side that has shown grit, battle and determination in all of their first four Championship games, while a much-changed team of youngsters beat Bolton and Premier League Leeds United in the Carabao Cup.
In September, Sheffield Wednesday fans staged a demonstration outside the Thai embassy in London in protest at owner Dejphon Chansiri. Supporters were calling for the Thai businessman to sell the club amid a host of ongoing financial issues at the Championship side.
Alan Burgess from The London Owls accused Mr Chansiri of "gross mismanagement" and said the protest was his group's "small contribution to what we hope will be a much bigger and wider-scale series of events that will eventually get him out of our club".
First and only League win of the season
Sheffield Wednesday ended their winless run in style by claiming a deserved first Championship victory of the season at Portsmouth on 19 September.
Owls captain Barry Bannan struck early with a superb 20-yard free-kick that wrong-footed Pompey keeper Ben Killip.
George Brown then doubled the lead five minutes after half-time, pouncing on Conor Shaughnessy's slip and injury to net his first senior career goal.
But this win was short joy for the players as on 29th September it was informed their players they will not be paid on time this month with Tuesday's pay day for September's wages set to be missed. But again, there was no strike from the players.
Early this month, the match against Coventry was briefly delayed after a small group of home fans ran onto the pitch to protest against the club's owner Dejphon Chansiri.
In the 10th minute Owls supporters joined together to chant against the Thai businessman, days after wages were not paid on time for the fifth time in seven months.
Apart from the protests, Coventry put five past Sheff Wed to go top of table. Again, more misery at Hillsborough.
It won’t be easy for the Owls fans against Boro
Last week it was reported that Wednesday will "imminently" be served with a winding-up petition over money owed to HMRC.
After an investigation conducted by BBC Radio Sheffield alongside the Sheffield Star, it is understood the Championship club owes £1m. A winding-up petition would increase the pressure on the club's owner Dejphon Chansiri to sell.
The Sheffield Wednesday Supporters' Trust are now trying to organize a boycott of the game against Boro, which will be shown live on Sky. The Trust say the Boro game is a "prime opportunity to communicate to Chansiri via national media that we will not continue to fund our own decline".
The Sheffield Star reports that the Trust's hope is the plan will result in the lowest attendance of the Chansiri era for a league game at Hillsborough.
Only time will tell how many Sheffield Wednesday fans will attend the game against Boro, but the away side are coming in numbers.
Not far off 4,000 Boro supporters will make the trip over to Hillsborough this week as they look to pick up another win on the road this season, and there’s a chance that it might even outweigh the home support given the planned boycott of the fixture by all Wednesdayites - even those with season tickets.
So, the atmosphere could be strange for a Boro away match.
Based on recent news and current roster, key players include Barry Bannan, who signed a new contract, and the current first-team members listed on rosters like Liam Palmer and Di'Shon Bernard. Other players who performed well in previous seasons will likely be important contributors as well.
Current key players
Barry Bannan: The club captain signed a new contract in August 2025, extending his commitment to the club.
Liam Palmer: A defender, he is listed as part of the current first-team squad.
Di'Shon Bernard: Another defender listed on the current first-team roster.
I have difficulties to tell much about the current players available at Hillsborough, other that many players have left the club in turmoil. I think most Boro supporters will think this is the easiest match of the season so far. But as we all know, there are no easy matches in the Championship. The Owls team will have resilience and team spirit. Like the Bore team showed in 1986.
@jarkko. A brilliant starter from our Finnish correspondent. Your command of our language puts many of us to shame and once again you’ve produced a thoroughly entertaining and insightful post - well done you.
@martin-bellamy thanks, Martin. I try my best.
Just read from the Gazette (or whatever it is called now), that the Hillsborough club now has no senior goalkeeper for the game. Ethan Horvath was sent off in Saturday’s 2-1 defeat to Charlton Athletic, and with no appeal likely, he’ll be suspended on Wednesday.
The USA international was himself an emergency loan signing after an injury to Pierce Charles came to light, and that means boss Henrik Pedersen is likely to have to give Logan Stretch a senior debut. The 18-year-old may be a Wales youth international, but it’s hardly ideal for the Owls.
I feel really sorry for the Owls fans. I hope it gets better for them - but only after Wednesday (the weekday).
Up the Boro!
@jarkko Great opener Jarrko.
As you correctly remind us all there are no easy games in the championship, quite simply if we turn up at Hillsborough with the wrong mentality we come home with no points.
It is games like this where promotion aspiring clubs show their ruthless nature, Coventry have proven theirs, can we put out a similar statement, saying that I would still take a scrappy 1-0 win right now.
Any team that has Barry Bannan in their side will never be short of being up for it, I really rate Bannan, though he is advancing in years now, he has committed himself to Sheff Wed through times when he could have walked away and earned himself some extra pennies, he, for one, will always be up for it.
Many congratulations, Jarkko, on all of the skill and hard work that went into producing such a detailed and interesting opener.
You show how and why this will be one of the strangest games that we have ever witnessed as Boro supporters.
The call from Wednesday fans for a show of solidarity which I am sure will be taken up by Boro supporter, could be a rare demonstration for rival fans to show that what unites them is more significant than even their partisanship. Though of course that partisanship which will be properly resumed as soon as the game kicks off.
The result, important for both sides, will, I'm afraid, count for nothing should Wednesday go into administration, an outcome that seems increasingly possible.
@lenmasterman Thank you, Sir. Appreciated.
Boro could come up against their former goalkeeper Joe Lumley on Wednesday after Sheffield Wednesday turned to the Bristol City deputy as they look to deal with their crisis between the posts.
Up the Boro!
Browne v Morris situation is an interesting one, with Morris without doubt 100% commitment, with Browne 7/10 every game experienced with maybe a little more flexible ability, either one is fine, some games both could play in a 433 , Wednesday could be a chance, although I would play same team as Saturday. COB
Many thanks Jarkko a tour de force !
Well researched and very thoughtful like all your posts.
greatly appreciated Jo the Boro
OFB
Jarkko a lovely opener, well researched, informative and if we didn’t know where you live it could have been written by a local. Thank you.
You are quite right to remind us that no games are easy in this league and we will need to play as well as we did on Friday if we are to take all three points; any complacency could see us come unstuck.
Barry Bannon generally plays well against us if we let him, if we restrict his time on the ball then this should stop the owls from playing; I have suggested in the past that perhaps Morris should be asked to man mark him, assuming he gets the nod ahead of Brown.
Anything other than a win will be a bit of a let down given our aspirations.😎
Many thanks Jarkko for an expertly written preview that highlights the lows of being a football supporter and your experience in April only demonstrates that you can never take points for granted.
I'm still puzzled how the FA haven't stepped in with regard to the Sheff Wed owner situation given nothing appears to have changed. He has surely proved he's not a fit and proper person to run a football club - especially one of that size and history.
It reminds me of when I worked for company run by what you could only be described as a chancer, he rubbed shoulders with famous actresses and conservative government ministers and advisors, dining out at London's gentlemen's clubs but never paid the wages remotely on time with an endlessly list of non-credible excuses. It got to the point where we were 2 months in arrears and enough was enough and I basically had to 'stitch him up' so none of the office computers would work until he transferred my money to my bank as my overdraft limit was reached. Wish I'd done it sooner but it's hard to leave when you'd be throwing away much needed wages.
Basically, Boro need to ignore the off-field problems of our opponents and approach the game in the right manner. These are 3 valuable points that if Boro perfom will take back to Teesside and continue a winning run with Wrexham at home at the weekend it could give us some daylight to third place.
Adding my thanks and congratulations to Jarkko on a fabulous opener. Informative at the same time being empathetic at the current plight of a famous old club. It is extremely sad to see Wednesday lurching from day to day and like most of us, Wednesday on Wednesday night excepted, hope for the best for their staff, their players and their supporters.
A belated thanks to Exmil for having organised the first ten challenge and now publishing the results. I raise my glass to Martin Bellamy who along with me had been the most optimistic for us. It is amazing to think that even our 18 from 10 prediction underestimated the reality!
I am currently writing this from the French Alps as Mrs. Powmill and me are doing a wee tour of old haunts and old friends in and around Geneva, before heading to the Btittany Coast to visit family. When I am back in Scotland I will pull together the state of play in the COTS challenge and write a few notes on that. (But not before I will have to compose something for the upcoming Birmingham fixture).
I will miss seeing the game on Wednesday, but being a typical Boro fan I am of course quite anxious that typically speaking, this is just the most typical fixture where typical boro will put in appearance... A statement victory is required to underline our credentials and possibly to return us the top, Pompey willing.
So CoB. Be ruthless.
@powmillnaemore I’m still astonished that my foam handed prediction of 18 points was inadequate - what a start to the season. 2 wins from the next two games would do nicely.
Enjoy your trip - we’re in Split, Croatia, where the sun has just disappeared behind the clouds and I’m not sure it has plans to return before Saturday!
@martin-bellamy thank you. I hope you will still be able to enjoy Split without the sun. It is a similar story here. Rained all day yesterday. Sun putting in a cameo appearance just now, but due to exit stage right any time soon and not expected to show its face again till we head off west at the weekend.
Agreed re next two games. Both on paper are very winnable, but...
At the end of the day I suppose that is one of the joys of the Championship, that there really is no such thing as an easy game.
Interesting set of fixtures tonight that I am sure we will all be keeping our eye on.
Who knows, we may end up being third and/or we may end up being a victory away from reclaiming top spot tomorrow night.
Portsmouths home form last season was excellent, beat us last time, can they follow it up against Coventry.
Given our starts and position in league we should win, but our recent performances against teams bottom of league is somewhat patchy I give you Plymouth and Rotherham as exhibits for the prosecution.
I will keep my fingers crossed and watch through my fingers
What are the odds lumley plays an absolute blinder against us on his 7 day emergency loan
@Jarkko - I had no doubts! You were always going to come up with the goods for a quality Sheffield Wednesday Match Preview. Let's hope that the Boro team can do the same on the pitch tomorrow.
I have sympathy for the Wednesday supporters. They have been badly let down by the club's owner and the football authorities. But Boro can have no sympathy for the 90+ minutes of tomorrow's game. A Boro win is needed to cement the league position and continue the dream.
The awkwardness about it all is that this game being played on Wednesday evening. I will have to download a Match Preview for the Wrexham game (kick off at 3pm on Saturday) with little to no time for Blog members to comment on/celebrate/commiserate/complain/boast about the result and implications of the Hillsborough performance. No time to breathe on this Blog!
And LUMLEY!!!
So no favour from Pompey tonight but some results fell our way, win tomorrow and we go 4pts clear in the promotion places.
Charlton, wow, always had a lot of time for Nathan Jones as a manager, another ex Luton manager doing well.
@jarkko That was a great piece of well researched writing, that I admire given it is your second tongue. Possibly your best Headliner to date.
So which Boro will turn tomorrow night under the glare of the SKY lights. Will it be the Portsmouth team and performance banana skin, or will it be a continuation of Friday night.
A little luck at times, given Ipswich could have score first, twice, and also the benefit of the doubt given for the handball, although it did hit Jones arm.
We will need the same determination and effort given in those first 25 minutes of the second half. This is must win game to hold on to the shirt tails of the train that looks to be steaming ahead.
A sell out Boro crowd of nearly four thousand. Please don’t disappoint them.
@pedro Thanks for all the kind comments. Everyone. Been a bit busy at work since Sunday, when I downloaded the piece in here.
Let's hope for a win, but it won't be easy. The Owls will fight for their survival - like Boro did in 1986.
Up the Boro
Pretty good results last night for Boro - I’m not so bother about Coventry as always good to have a club to chase but most important is the gap to 3rd place and if we can win tonight then 4 point’s would be very nice with a home game against Wrexham at the weekend to come.
Still, let’s not get ahead of ourselves as that’s as Jarkko reminded us in his preview was what we were hoping back in April!
Off to the Slaughtered Goat tonight for the Boro match. There might be some "issues" because Wednesday v BORO is the main event match on Sky TV but Champions League is on TNT Sports at the same time, with the landlord being a Liverpool.supporter, and one of my "group" being a long-suffering Spurs supporter. There's a host of other games, too, with Bayern and the usual group of European giants on TV... We will see!
#UTB.
Congratulations, Jarkko! That’s a brilliant opener, and even more astonishing that you can write so well in a foreign language.
There were some strange results in the Championship last night, proving that in this league anybody can beat anybody else on the day, but as others have pointed out, most results did us favours. Tonight’s game is a must-win: anything less would be a huge disappointment. But if ever there were a banana skin, then this is it. No messing, Boro. Let’s get the job done.
Team news from the Echo:
MIDDLESBROUGH: Brynn, Brittain, Fry, Jones, Targett; Browne, Hackney; Burgzorg, Strelec, Whittaker, Conway
SUBSTITUTES: Ayling, Bangura, Nypan, Hansen, McGree, McLaughlin, Morris, Silvera, Sène
We’ve been out early into town tonight for a glass of wine and to purchase snacks so I can watch the game on my phone in our hotel room. Don’t let me down boys!
Well Edwards going with the same team as started against Ipswich - I'm always wary of that approach as while it was good result, I don't think it worked that well for the first 30 minutes. It will be interesting to see if they start with the same intensity but I'm still not convinced Whittaker is a better option that Nypan on the right. Though Browne deserves to keep his place but Burgzorg has to show he can consistently produce a performance at the required level. Hope it works but a bit of a gamble for me.
Post from the Beeb's live text commentary:
Edwards prepares Boro for 'different' Hillsborough
When your opponents are rock bottom on and off the field you could be forgiven for counting the three points already. That is unless you're Middlesbrough head coach Rob Edwards, who has been preparing his players for a difficult atmosphere at Hillsborough in the wake of ongoing unrest among Owls fans over the ownership of their club.
"A lot of the lads who are here or know the league maybe know a little bit of what is going on at Sheffield Wednesday," Edwards told BBC Radio Tees. "We're expecting a little bit of a different atmosphere. We just have to look after ourselves and what we do. That's all we can do and the boys know that."
Boro need the win to close the gap on the leaders Coventry back to one point while for Wednesday they will almost certainly take anything on offer in these times of crisis.
Such are the issues besetting boss Henrik Pedersen he had to ask for an emergency loan of a goalkeeper this week with no fit senior 'keeper on the books following Ethan Horvath's dismissal at the weekend.
Bristol City's Joe Lumley is the lucky man stepping in behind the Championship's worst defence.
Comment by Ross Wallace, the ex-Owls winger, to BBC Radio Sheffield quoted in the Beeb's live match commentary:
Nobody likes the current situation, the stadium is empty. The players need all the help they can get. When this stadium is rocking and it is bouncing, I've played in it myself, it gives you so much of an edge and it gives you that extra yard and momentum.
When you have a shot on goal, the crowd's up, it is brilliant. This is a massive football club and when this stadium is full it is an unbelievable place to play, if you are a Sheffield Wednesday player.
It has been disgusting the way in which this club has been treated, it is not right!
I told you it was a gamble with Burgzorg and Whittaker's selection... 😉
0-1 CoB Always said Morgan Whittaker was a good buy! 😉😎