May 16 2006

The Football League

For the definitive review of every Championship team during the season, read the Saint's verdict.

Sheffield Wednesday

Final Placing: 19th

Last Season: 2nd (League 1)

Manager: Paul Sturrock

One to watch: Chris Eagles

My Prediction: 15th

How will we do? : 6/6

How did we do? : 4/6

What I said: “Whether Wednesday can make a push for promotion is anyone’s guess. But I don’t believe that they will this season; simply because their players are not accustomed to this level and with the overhaul of the club over the last couple of years, Wednesday will have to re-adjust back to life in the 2nd tier”

Sheffield Wednesday did not have the greatest season, but Paul Sturrock did enough for them to be in the Championship next season and it was, as predicted, a season of consolidation.

Wednesday did not have Chris Eagles in the end, he joined Watford on loan and top scorer in the past, Steve McLean was out for a lot of the season due to injury. The fact that he played 4 games and scored twice says that he would have been a major asset for them this season, had he been fit. Their final position is a 5-season high for Wednesday, which should incredible in itself that such a big club can be in such a bad way, so where did they go wrong this season?

A slow start to the season cannot have helped, as they didn’t win a league match in August and with only 1 win in the 1st 10 games, the outlook was not the best. Sturrock found his charges to be in the lower part of the bottom half and they did not look like getting out of it.

Yet a win against Leeds (that one victory in September) in the Yorkshire derby must have given them hope as they did not lose a match in October but, as so many teams found out, Reading broke their good run and with only a couple more wins until Christmas, the going looks tough for Wednesday.

Sturrock attempted to add players to his squad and got Leon Best on loan from Southampton, Scott Carson from Liverpool and Marcus Tudgay from Derby. With his knowledge of the transfer market, Sturrock was pinning his hopes on his imports to rescue their season.

Which with Wednesday surviving, you could say that they did as in March and April, only 2 games were lost, a run that made sure that with 3 weeks to go, safety was confirmed and now Sturrock can look to next season and begin establishing Wednesday as a Championship side.

It was a season of transition and this can be seen in the squad, as 37 players were used, with 4 of them being in goal. But the one positive aspect is that the players Sturrock brought into the side did well. Frank Simek, Graham Coughlan, John Hills and Burton O’Brien all played in the majority of games and the impact that Carson and Tudgay made cannot be underestimated. Tudgay scored 5 times and Carsons’ performances coincided with the upswing in Wednesdays fortunes in the last two months and led to the Liverpool loanee being added to the standby list for the England squad.

Wednesdays’ main problem was scoring goals and with only 39 in 46 games, the main task in the summer will be to find someone who can score regularly. McLean cannot do it alone and if it wasn’t for the fact that Wednesday had one of the better defences in the bottom half of the table, relegation could have been a reality. Wednesday lost 10 matches by just one goal, so if they can be turned into draws, it would be a top 10 finish, rather than a bottom 10 one. They did not find the net against us either, we won 2-0 at Selhurst and it was a 0-0 draw away.

Sturrock can be happy that at least the Blues did not go down this season. Yet, 5 seasons ago Wednesday had a similar record and the following season, relegation to League One followed. Sturrock has started the rebuilding process and if he can do the same again this summer, as he did last, Wednesday will be looking at more teams below them, than above.

Derby County

Final Placing: 20th

Last Season: 4th – Playoff semifinalists

Manager: Phil Brown/Terry Westley

One to watch: Inigo Idiakez/Gregorz Rasiak

My Prediction: 5th

How will we do? : 3/6

How did we do? : 3/6

What I said: “Brown will need to make a big impression this season, if Derby are going to make the playoffs. He seems so far to be a canny manager and in persuading both his stars to stay, could have an outstanding first season. But it will be a learning curve and no doubt, mistakes will be made.”

Derbys’ season could be described as “doom, gloom and burst balloons” as too much went on off the field around the club that hampered any chance of a repeat of last season. After George Burley was “moved on”, Derby turned to Phil Brown in order to get them back into the top flight. Brown was a worthy assistant to Sam Allardyce at Bolton, so he was given his chance to make his mark being the boss.

With more players leaving than arriving, Derby fans could be forgiven for the doom to continue, but with Rasiak and Idiakez starting the season, hopes could still point to a successful season. All of Derbys’ close season signings were defensive, Kevin Poole between the sticks was a keeper of experience, Marc Edworthy more than capable at performing at this level and Andrew Davies came on loan from Middlesborough to gain experience.

Derby started fairly well. August saw only one defeat but the biggest loss was that of Rasiak, who moved onto Tottenham before the transfer window closed. The Rams continued to perform quite well, 3 draws in September meant that from the first 9 games, there was only one defeat.

But with only 1 win in the next 10, Derby started to fall down the table and with only 2 more wins in 2005, Derby hovered in lower mid-table and Brown had his work cut out in stopping the decline. They had not been thrashed all season, except by Wolves when they lost 0-3 at home, but other than this, Derby had competed well and were just beaten by the odd goal. Despite this, there was more embarrassment as Lee Camps’ father criticised his son on BBC Radio Derby, while adding comments about the club and the state it was in. Negativity was enveloping Pride Park as Christmas and New Year came and went with little to cheer.

2006 started as poorly as 2005 finished with a defeat to Millwall but they did manage to win in the 3rd round of the FA Cup. Derby then managed their best result of the season as they beat Crewe 5-1 at home. However, the following week saw a 6-1 reverse at Coventry and this saw the end of Phil Brown. Colchester beat them in the FA Cup the following week and Terry Westley and Paul Peschisolido took the reigns on a temporary basis, to arrest the slide. The loan signing of Micheal McIndoe from Doncaster and the return of Seth Johnson were postive strides in trying to pep up the squad.

February brought a few draws, but only one win as Derby now flirted with the real threat of relegation, although they had enough points to keep them from falling into the relegation spots. In March there was a glimmer of hope that there were better things to come as they went on a run that saw just one defeat and they managed to beat us at home 2-1 with Idiakez starring. While on the field things were getting better, off it there was more drama as coach Murdo Mcleod was told to leave and the Chairman John Sleightholme fell on his sword due to rumours of financial irregularities within the club.

Reading thumped them 5-0 as they wrapped up promotion on April 1st and Derby season was all but over. 5 points out of the next 9 meant that while Championship football was assured, the season could not end soon enough and 2 defeats in the last 2 games had Rams fans celebrating that the season was over.

With good players such as Lee Camp, Inigo Idiakez and the reborn and revitalised Seth Johnson, the summer might bring more dark clouds and with clubs already circling for Idiakez signature, 2005-06 was a season which Derby and its fans, will want to forget.