Just came through that Sheffield Wednesday have sacked Pulis after just ten games. Coach taking over for the moment.
This opens up the perennial question about new manager bounce and whether it counts with an internal stopgap replacement.
This has to be a great opportunity as long as ‘typical Boro’ don’t re-surface.
It also makes it hard to analyse how the game will play out. Do we assume that the coach will play the way that they have been playing or will he try and change stuff round at twelve hours notice. Seems unlikely.
Things are never simple, are they?
UTB
I think it’s a strange decision for Sheffield Wednesday to sack Tony Pulis so soon, especially as they’ve taken 4 points from their last 2 matches and that the season has yet to reach the half way stage. Apparently though behind-the-scenes activity had also something to do about the decision. I wonder if TP’s complimentary comments about Steve Gibson and his remarks about Boro being a ‘wonderful’ club may have also contributed to that decision.
@ken. Yes I too thought SW were beginning to get their act together of late and by all accounts unlucky not to win at Blackburn so I was starting to have reservations about our game.
As Selwnoz has said it now looks to be even trickier and will we be subjected to the replacement bounce, will "typical Boro" turn up or will we take full advantage of a club in turmoil.
I would take a point now but who know after three wins on the bounce what might happen. I hope we can make it four but who knows. CoB 😎
So my forecast for tonight’s game is....(drumroll)
Eyeballs in the Sky
⚽️⚽️
OFB
That is a shock. Something must have broken down catastrophically behind the scenes. I suspect that having lost 2 managers in 10 games the players will be all over the place. We might get unlucky but probably this is good news from our point of view.
The history of Sheffield Wednesday is quite interesting. Like many football clubs they started out as a cricket club looking for ways to keep fit in the winter. The cricket club was known as ‘The Wednesday Cricket Club’ who played their fixtures on Wednesdays as that was a day off for most of its founding members. They were located at Darnall (a suburb of Sheffield) and sometimes referred to as ‘Darnall Wednesday CC’ but as a football club were known as simply ‘The Wednesday’ and played their matches at Hyde Park whilst one of six Sheffield clubs contributing to the cost of building Bramall Lane which eventually became a joint location for Yorkshire CCC and Sheffield United until 1973. However there has always been a strong rivalry between these two Sheffield clubs, especially from Wednesday as it is rumoured that their supporters took objection to red and white stripes and even refused to eat bacon for breakfast. I know that Yorkshire folk can be stubborn, but I would tend to dismiss such a rumour.
Anyway The Wednesday were champions of the inaugural Football Alliance in 1899 after moving to Hillsborough gaining promotion 3 years later to the Second Division of the Football League, whereas United were competing along with Boro in the Northern League. However a third club Sheffield FC founded in 1857 are not only the oldest club in Yorkshire, but the oldest club in England who now play in the Northern Premier League Division One South East in the Derbyshire town of Dronfield. As for ‘The Wednesday’ they moved at first to Owlerton, hence the nickname of the Owls which was prominently displayed in the club badge from 1867. Having changed their name to Sheffield Wednesday in 1929 they can arguably be classed as sleeping giants having won the FA Cup three times in 1896, 1907 and 1935, also Division One Champions four times as The Wednesday in 1903 and 1904, and as Sheffield Wednesday in 1929 and 1930.
After the Second World War they became known as a yo-yo club with several promotions and relegations often in successive seasons even though producing England international players such as goalkeeper Ron Springett with 33 caps, Jackie Sewell who commanded a record transfer fee in the 1950s, and Albert Quixall. They also produced Derek Dooley who scored 46 goals in his first season and had reached 64 goals in 63 matches before a collision with Preston goalkeeper George Thompson on Valentine’s Day in 1953 not only ended his career with a broken leg, but at the age of only 23 resulted in his leg having to be amputated as gangrene set in. I well remember this unfortunate accident as a schoolboy at the time.
However in reviewing Boro‘s record at Hillsborough doesn’t make happy reading with only 14 wins and 5 draws in 52 League matches, their best win being 5-1 as far back as 1909 although their biggest defeat was 0-5 on New Years Eve in 1904. Recently though Boro have won their last four matches away to Sheffield Wednesday, so that may give some hope for tonight’s fixture, although the downside is that with the sacking of Tony Pulis, Neil Warnock has had no time to guage how the Owls will set up. Methinks a draw might be the outcome; over to you OFB!
So let’s have everyone’s predictions please.
I wonder if everyone is Ok? Not seen any posts from GHW for a while???
Sheffield Wednesday used to a kind of favourite second team for me after Big Jack went there from Boro. And they used to play on the third tier usualy back then. Hillsborough was one of the rare visits I paid to away grounds in the 1980's as it was close to Gt Ayton where I used to stay while in Teesside.
Of course I stopped following their results since the Charlton days ended at Sheffield. Also they started to play on the same level as our Boro so they become rivals.
I will go for a very fortunate 0-1 win for the Boro. An own-goal after 78 min. Up the Boro!
Up the Boro!
After Monk and Pulis, surely Wednesday's next logical choice of gaffer has to be Woodgate to complete their hat-trick of employing failed ex-Boro bosses.
The top priority tonight has to be for us to be fast out of the traps, and getting onto the front foot from the off.
Consider the evidence: this will be Wednesday's third game in a week with their next match being played on Friday. We have a young squad fully rested after not having played for ten days. They are without a manager and likely to be disorganised with their heads dropping if they go behind early.
Logic suggests we should hit them hard and quickly. If we can go a couple of goals up in the first half-hour they are likely to be in disarray.
Start slowly, giving the opposition maximum respect as we did at both Birmingham and Preston, and they can only grow in confidence.
That's my team talk, alongside instructions to man-mark Barry Bannan and keep the ball away from Reachie's left foot.
Given all that it's 3-0 to us.
Without it (as with Brexit) I'm taking no responsibility for what might happen.
Following on from Ken's typically excellent Wednesday history, one of the highlight's of my youth was the pleasure of seeing the young Derek Dooley at Ayresome Park. One of the greatest goalscoring centre-forwards in the history of the game in spite of only playing for a season and a half. He was big, he was fast, he was unstoppable, like a young bull casting off defenders from all sides as he rampaged towards goal. An unforgettable sight.
It was New Year's Day in 1953, a crisp frosty surface, a bumper 30,000 holiday crowd, and as thrilling a 2-2 draw as you could ever wish to see, with Lindy Delapenha, the man with the hardest shot of any Boro player, scoring with a 30 yard thunderbolt and Wednesday coming back in the second half and the Boro desperately trying to keep Dooley out by foul means or fair. We couldn't do it, but from the age of 14 that game has remained in my memory with a clarity sharpened by Dooley's tragic amputation less than two months later.
What a player! What a man!
Yes, amidst the rivalry and the banter one thing remains, the humanity in our game. The entire football World was stung by the brutal finality (one could use the word instant). A routine clash, and the very real dream of fame and fortune for one young man, who could be said to be 'one of us' was expunged for all time, no appeal, no reprieve, and certainly no compensation could ever replace what he had lost.
I'm going to ignore martin's conspiracy theories and get to the prediction. I don't think that it will be an OFB 'Eyes in the Sky' this evening. I reckon Mr W will have them chomping at the bit and shaking the bars to get at them so for me it's 1-3 with Adam Reach scoring for the Owls, because he always seems to against us.
I've got a soft spot for Wednesday, a friend and I used to go to see them in the days of 'Bronco" Lane and Co before the match fixing blew up. Was the other player Kaye? I think a couple were involved.
Anyway, stay safe everyone.
UTB,
John
After Monk and Pulis, surely Wednesday's next logical choice of gaffer has to be Woodgate to complete their hat-trick of employing failed ex-Boro bosses.
The former Barnsley manager, José Morais, is the favourite to take over from Pulis, according to the Gazette:
@lenmasterman. Hope NW and his team have picked up as you have on Barry Bannon.
We need to stop him playing and dictating the game as he has done often in the past. Stop the supply to him and make sure he does not have time on the ball if we do not want to suffer the consequences.
A match for our man to man marking to be employed perhaps. CoB another three point post Christmas present please. 😎
Am I right Len in thinking it was a similar challenge as Brian Clough received for Sunderland several years later against Bury’s goalkeeper Chris Harker? As you say, Dooley was a fine and dangerous player probably more in the mould of Mickey Fenton than Brian Clough, and who also served Sheffield United in the capacity of chief executives or chairman.
I believe that Neil Warnock read a eulogy at Derek Dooley's Funeral.
It wi be interesting to see if the Owls come out with a sense of liberation and playing to prove something, or whether they will be a little chaotic without the rigid tactics of TP.
I'm opting for the latter of those and Boro will be far too organised for them to compete against. 3-0 to us.
It’s Wednesday on a Tuesday as Boro recommence their Championship season this evening after the Covid postponement of Rotherham at the Riverside. What was an eagerly anticipated fixture pitching NW against former Boro Manager Tony Pulis has perhaps lost some of its gloss as news late last night broke about Pulis being removed from his post by an increasingly desperate Dejphon Chansiri. The appointment of interim Owls Manager, Neil Thompson does however bring about a reunion of sorts with his former Scarborough Manager Neil Warnock when they won promotion to the Football League in 1987.
The Owls are hoping to follow up on their recent win against Coventry and draw against Blackburn, while Boro are looking to make it four wins in a row to end 2020 on a high. Tonight we face a Wednesday side that haven’t scored more than one goal at home since December 2019 having won just three Home games all calendar year. What can possibly go wrong?
Dooley's injury was similar to Clough's in that they both involved collisions with the keeper, but I'm not sure about the precise details of their respective injuries. As you said, Dooley's amputation came about as a result of a subsequent infection rather than because of the injury itself.
By contrast Clough did play again after his injury. I went up to Roker Park to see his comeback in the early 60s an evening game against West Brom. He did all right, but was never really the same player as before, and he retired as a player soon after.
It was George Hardwick who gave him a lifeline, rescuing from the dole by putting him in charge of the Sunderland youth team. I remember seeing him being interviewed on Tyne-Tees TV in that modest role and he was cheeky and outspoken even then, but also, in everything he said Absolutely Right. You could see through his dynamism, humour and charisma that he had a future in the game even that far back.
This evening's starting XI:
This evening's starting XI:
Vic's assessment:
Bite-sized team news: With a contract dangling in front of him, Watmore comes in for Tav. Wing keeps his place. Marcus Browne back on the bench.
Do not understand Tav's dropping. But a strong bench if and when we need it.
Interesting: Adam Reach nowhere in sight in the Owls' squad; Jordan Rhodes on the bench...
Poor defending from us and got napping a few times. Hence 0-2 down at HT.
Not the best game for Paddy McNair so far.
Up the Boro!
2-0 at half-time (Callum Paterson in the 30th minute & Liam Shaw, assisted by that man Bannan, in the 40th). Yellows for Saville & Morsy (not to mention Bannan). NW will surely put a rocket up them during the break.
Poor defending and failure to produce any quality in the final third sees us 2-0 down against a very average SW side.
On the first half performance I can't see us turning this one around.
Missing Tav's pace and energy. So much for them being raring to go as NW was intimating! 😎
Vic's assessment:
HT: 0-2. Sluggish start but clawed into it & created a couple of decent chances from although final ball lacking - then Owls twice caught Boro cold, defence ball watching. A flurry of yellows (including Warnock) after whistle went. Frustrations. But not over.
And a reply to his tweet:
Not over, but won’t get owt defending like that. 5 times the ball went over the top on a diagonal and they scored twice. Also, Morsy getting needless bookings. I can only imagine he’s going to try and get Bannan dismissed.