Sheffield United hold on in derby as Sheffield Wednesday face February relegation
sheffield united beat Sheffield Wednesday 2-1 at Bramall Lane, a Steel City derby result that condemned the Owls to relegation from the Championship. The timing matters: Wednesday become the first EFL side to go down in February, and the defeat intensifies immediate questions about the club’s short- and long-term future.
Sheffield United win the match as Bamford and Burrows put Blades ahead
The derby was decided early and by small margins. Bamford slotted the Blades into a second-minute lead and Burrows fired in a superb second for Sheffield United, the pair of goals creating a buffer even after McNeill pulled one back for Sheffield Wednesday with a low strike. The match also saw Blades midfielder Phillips sent off for a high challenge. Manager Chris Wilder noted there is nearly a third of the season to go, underlining that the game’s result mattered for local pride as well as the table.
Bramall Lane staging a historic and bitter outcome for the Owls
The inevitable, critics say, came to pass at Bramall Lane — what was described as the worst possible venue for it. The defeat means Sheffield Wednesday will be playing League One football in August, and the club have become the first EFL side ever to be relegated in February. The coverage of the table on 22 February shows Sheffield Wednesday, on minus seven points, are relegated.
Henrik Pedersen’s reaction and a run of poor results
Sheffield Wednesday boss Henrik Pedersen spoke after the game and said: "It's so sad that it's happened here (at Bramall Lane). But the bigger picture, it's so sad that a club like Sheffield Wednesday has been relegated in February. " He added: "We have to keep on working. We have to set high standards again tomorrow and the next day. It doesn't matter if we are relegated, we want to give the fans as many good games as possible and get on plus. " On the future he said: "We are all looking forward so everyone can get an idea of what will happen with club in the future. " The match completed a miserable run: Wednesday’s first goal in 11 games had come only in a 2-1 defeat at Millwall the previous Saturday, that outing marked their 10th consecutive defeat, and their last Championship point had been a goalless draw at Blackburn on 29 December; their sole league victory had been a 2-0 win at Portsmouth in September.
Points deductions, former ownership and fans’ anger
The club’s plight has been driven as much by off-pitch events as results. Wednesday were docked 12 points for entering administration after former owner Dejphon Chansiri agreed to end his near 11 years at the helm and sell up in October, and a further six points were deducted in December for repeated late payment of wages. Those penalties left the club bottom of the Championship on minus seven points. Steve Chu, secretary of the Sheffield Wednesday Supporters' Trust, said: "From a symbolic viewpoint, it [relegation] happening at Bramall Lane is not something we want, but most fans have been expecting relegation for some time now. " He added: "One hundred per cent of the blame [for this] lies at Mr Chansiri's door. There's been massive underinvestment in core infrastructure and we're living with the consequences. " A neutral assessment in the coverage suggested that no one currently at the club is responsible for the mess the previous owner caused, and that the team still gave their rivals a proper game given the circumstances.
Takeover uncertainty, a stalled buyout and supporters’ perspective
Chansiri’s decision to sell triggered a two-month auction run by Begbies Traynor, which announced recommended preferred bidders on Christmas Eve. A three-man consortium made up of James Bord, Felix Roemer and Alsharif Faisal Bin Jamil is understood to have paid a multimillion pound deposit and agreed a fee in excess of £30m to take control at Hillsborough, but the proposed takeover has still to be ratified by the EFL and the consortium’s assessment under the Owners' and Directors' Test is believed to be at an early stage. A source involved in the due diligence process has said the proposed buyout is in danger of "unravelling. " Supporters have been left focused less on derby bragging rights than on the club’s long-term future: Dan Fudge, host of the Wednesday Week podcast, told Nick Wylie from the Sheffield United Way in a recent broadcast, "If you win it'll be like kicking a cat, " adding, "We've got bigger things to worry about than bragging rights. "
Website message and an unclear final note on EFL comments
One club page displayed the message: "Sorry, it looks like the page you are looking for isn't available right now. " The provided context on the EFL's final remarks was cut off mid-sentence and is unclear in the provided context.
