EFL's earliest-ever relegation - how Sheff Wed's sorry season unfolded

Sheff Wed relegated after Steel City derby defeat

A summer of unpaid wages and off-pitch upheaveal

Protests against Thai businessman Chansiri’s ownership had increased last season, a campaign which marked 10 years since he took over at Hillsborough.

Players and staff had their wages for March delayed and then went unpaid again in May.

It proved to be the start of the end for Chansiri and for Wednesday’s Championship hopes.

As the initial delay in paying wages wore on, and with no comment from the owner, the club were hit with registration embargoes and the Professional Footballers’ Association called the situation “shocking”.

Popular boss Danny Rohl initially refused to return to the club when pre-season began before briefly returning.

In the meantime, players Josh Windass and Michael Smith both left on free transfers with their contracts ended by mutual consent.

Rohl quit at the end of July on the same day Sheffield Council unveiled it had not given the ground’s North Stand a safety certificate for the forthcoming campaign.

Henrik Pedersen, Rohl’s assistant, was appointed boss and captain Barry Bannan signed a new one-year deal, but the club’s chaotic summer lurched onwards as the players refused to play a training match at Burnley.

That was their final planned pre-season game and so they went into the new campaign having not played a single friendly in front of a crowd.

Protests, administration and end of an era

Fans protested before their first game of the season at Leicester City, a game where Bannan was sent off as the Owls eventually fell to a battling 2-1 defeat.

The North Stand received its safety certificate in time for the first home game of the season against Stoke City the following week. Supporter protests continued, with some holding a mock funeral for the club in nearby Hillsborough park before the match, which the Owls lost 3-0.

The home EFL Cup ties against Leeds United and Grimsby Town were both boycotted by the vast majority of fans as they tried to stop any additional money going into the club as part of the protests to get Chansiri out. The penalty shootout success, after a 1-1 draw, over Premier League side Leeds in the second round provided a rare moment of joy.

September then brought the high point of the league season as they claimed a deserved 2-0 win at Portsmouth but the club moved no closer to a takeover.

Chansiri’s reign was brought to an end on 24 October when the club was placed into administration and docked 12 points by the EFL.

Fans who had been boycotting matches and the club shop returned in droves for the following day’s 2-1 home defeat by Oxford United, and the club celebrated the end of Chansiri’s spell with a video on the big screen pre-match, while seats spelling out his name in the briefly condemned North Stand were removed.

The influx of cash meant the club’s administrators Begbies Traynor were able to pay October’s wages early, and by 10 November, proof of funds to buy the club had been provided by 10 interested parties.

The club were given a six-point deduction on 1 December for the late payment of wages under Chansiri and payments owed to His Majesty’s Revenue and Customs.

This left the Owls 27 points adrift of safety but it did at least mean the club should start next season in League One without the threat of further deductions.

The administrators unveiled they had selected a preferred bidder on 24 December, with BBC Sport reporting former professional poker player James Bord had been chosen.

The team last avoided defeat on 29 December when they played out a goalless draw with fellow strugglers Blackburn Rovers.

Bannan’s 10-year spell with the club came to an end in January when he left for Millwall, while young striker Bailey Cadamarteri was sold to Wrexham.

The administrators unveiled at the start of this month the club had enough money to operate through to the end of the season.

With relegation now validated, fans will be hoping positive news about the takeover will follow soon.