Sheffield Wednesday have been relegated from the Championship – setting an unwanted EFL record in the process.
The Owls have suffered the earliest relegation in Football League history, going into Sunday knowing they had to beat their bitter rivals Sheffield United to stay in the Championship. However, they slipped to a 2-1 defeat.
It was an uphill battle from the start after former Leeds United striker Patrick Bamford opened the scoring with less than two minutes on the clock. And the Blades soon doubled their advantage through Harrison Burrows.
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Wednesday looked down and out at half-time, but a small glimmer of hope emerged when Kalvin Phillips, who is on loan from Manchester City, was dismissed for a horror challenge on Svante Ingelsson before Charlie McNeill found the bottom corner.
However, it was too little too late and Wednesday’s torrid campaign has resulted in relegation to England’s third tier. It has been a tough 12 months away from the pitch for Wednesday.
With Much-maligned former owner Dejphon Chansiri leading the club into financial disarray and players and staff not being paid on time on multiple occasions.
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As a result, Wednesday placed under a number of transfer embargoes and fans attempted to remove the Chansiri from Hillsborough with various protests. Danny Rohl also left shortly before the start of the season to be replaced by his assistant, Henrik Pedersen.
And the club were placed into administration in October, which automatically saw them deducted 12 points. Then, a further six points were then deducted in December for Wednesday failing to meet payment obligations.
Club stalwart Barry Bannan also left the club on Transfer Deadline Day earlier this month. The Owls are on -7 points.
And they could become the first ever team to finish on negative points come May.