Sheffield Wednesday F.C.
Sheffield Wednesday are a football club in the English Football League.
Sheffield Wednesday currently play in Football League One. Their current manager is Paul Sturrock, whose appointment was announced at a press conference at 11am on Thursday 23 September 2004
History
The club was formed in Sheffield on Wednesday September 4, 1867. The club was initially a cricket team, with the football being established for the winter months to keep the team together.
However, football was quickly to eclipse the cricketing side of the club. In the summer of 1882 the two teams split permanently, and by the end of 1925 the cricket team had disbanded. The football club turned professional on April 22, 1887 following a threat by key players to walk out. The initial wages were five shillings for home fixtures, and seven shillings and sixpence for away games.
In 1889, when their first application to join the Football League was rejected, the club became founder members of the Football Alliance of which they were the first champions. Wednesday were eventually elected to the Football League in 1892.
Names
The Wednesday Football Club was known to fans simply as The Wednesday until 1929, when the club was officially renamed Sheffield Wednesday under the stewardship of manager Bob Brown.
Wednesday's original nickname was "the Blades" - now the nickname of their long-term rivals, Sheffield United - until the start of the 20th century when a player presented them with an owl mascot to honour
their stadium at Owlerton. Since then, the club has simply been known as "the Owls".
They are the only English League club with a day of the week in their name. The club derives its name from its predecessor, The Wednesday Cricket Club, whose meetings were held on Wednesday afternoons. Wednesday was traditionally the day that the local craftsmen who formed the club took their half-day off to play sports.
Colours
Since its founding the club has played its home games in blue and white shirts, traditionally in vertical stripes.
The current home strip consists of blue and white vertical stripes with black shorts and blue socks. The change strip (used for away or cup fixtures where there is a clash of colours) is silver incorporating a design where part of the shirt changes colour depending on the temperature,
silver shorts and silver socks.
Grounds
Sheffield Wednesday's first permanent home ground was at Olive Grove, a site on Queen's Road originally leased from the Duke of Norfolk. Extensions to the adjacent railway forced the club to move in 1899, when work began on the famous Hillsborough Stadium at Owlerton, to the northwest of the city.
Honours
Managers and Players
Managers
Players
Famous former Sheffield Wednesday players include
- Paolo Di Canio,
- David Hirst,
- Carlton Palmer,
- Chris Waddle,
- Chris Woods,
- Benito Carbone and
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