Sheffield Wednesday’s three-year stay in the Championship was ended in a cruel final twist of fate by their city rivals Sheffield United after a derby defeat at Bramall Lane.
It takes some doing to be relegated while the snowdrops are still out but for a red hand to operate the trap door only added insult to injury as Wednesday’s miserable mathematical fate was confirmed.
Excluding Bury, who were expelled from League One in 2019-20 without playing a game, this is the earliest a team have been relegated in EFL history. There was little by way of sympathy from the United fans, who serenaded their visitors in added time with chants of “Wednesday’s going down”.
United won a feisty contest despite a 49th‑minute red card for Kalvin Phillips for a dangerous tackle on Svante Ingelsson, in a result that added further impetus to their long‑distance promotion playoff push. Wednesday also had a player sent off in the 90th minute – Gabriel Otegbayo, for a second yellow card after pulling back Tyrese Campbell – and had five other players booked.
It was wholly in keeping with the temperature of the occasion that it ended in a mini-melee after Wednesday’s players took exception to Sydie Peck’s exuberant celebrations. When the fires of battle had died away, disappointment and emptiness took over.
Wednesday’s fate was sealed almost as soon as they went into administration in October. The 12‑point deduction that triggered was increased by a further six in December for multiple breaches of payment regulations. There proved to be no way back.
“It’s painful that a club like Sheffield Wednesday is relegated in February but the boys we have in the squad and coaches have done everything we could. We weren’t relegated today,” their manager, Henrik Pedersen, said. “There have been many low points. It has been a tough, tough season and how we have all stayed together is amazing.”
The situation is the grim legacy of the club’s former owner Dejphon Chansiri, who has been banned from owning an EFL club for three years. Who replaces him has still to be signed off. The process is in limbo while the consortium given preferred bidder status, which is funded by the professional poker player James Bord and crypto-gambling casino owner Felix Roemer, is scrutinised by the EFL to ensure the bidders pass the owners’ and directors’ test.
Wednesday’s defeat was their 10th in a row, matching the Championship record set by Rotherham in 2016‑17. With the team on -7 points, it looks touch and go whether they will get to zero by the season’s end. That is now their primary aim, Pedersen said.
It took United all of 75 seconds to take the lead. Joel Ndala made a hash of a clearance, presenting it to Gustavo Hamer, and the midfielder fed the ball to Patrick Bamford, who finished calmly. Harrison Burrows crashed the ball home with the outside of his left foot after being released by Peck to double the lead in the 19th minute.
The dismissal of Phillips, in only his third league game since joining on loan from Manchester City, interrupted United’s flow and Charlie McNeill pulled one back with a left-footed strike in the 53rd minute. But United regrouped and kept their rivals at arm’s length to wave them off to League One.
“I don’t take any delight in it [relegation] because I have experienced it but it is a ruthless business and we were glad to get the job done,” the United manager, Chris Wilder, said. “Wednesday didn’t get relegated today. They lost all their players at the start of the season and they are left with young kids in a division they really shouldn’t be exposed in. My sympathy is with those players because they have been hung out to dry.”
United have taken 35 points in their past 18 games – the best record in the Championship over that period. Their run has taken them from 22nd in the table to 14th, six points off the playoff places.
