Travelling to Sheffield

With average home crowds last season of almost 23,000 (2nd only to Sunderland in League 1 last season) Hillsborough, with its 39,732 seats, is the ground with the 12th largest capacity in England.  Quite an awayday for Rovers!  Hillsborough is a historic and traditional football stadium rated as one of the best ‘awaydays’ in the league.

There are new away coach travel arrangements this season.  Supporters Club members now get substantial discounts on all away travel.  Coach and away tickets can be bought online through the club’s website fgr tickets.  You can find out all about the new travel arrangements at away travel guide.  Coaches will leave The New Lawn at 09.30, Sainsburys at 09.45 and Stonehouse at 10.00.  Prices are Adult SC member £24, Other Adult £32, Aged 16 or under £15.

Visiting Supporters are normally in the Leppings Lane Stand, Upper Tier but, if away support is expected to be small, then away fans are restricted to the open corner between the Leppings Lane and North Stand.  If there is a large away following tickets may also made available for the Lower Tier of this Stand. There are 9 wheelchair bays available for away fans in the Leppings Lane Lower Tier.

Like many grounds, Hillsborough is a cashless stadium.

The ticket prices are below.

Adult £24
Senior 65+ £14
Young Adult (16-20) £14
Junior (11-16) £14
Junior (5-10) £10
Junior (4 & Under) £5

Rail travel will work to get to Sheffield (keep a watch out for any strike action!), though you are best to travel from Cheltenham as the last train back to Stroud is at about 18.00.  Sheffield Railway Station is over three miles from Hillsborough, so quite a walk.  A taxi will cost around £10 or you can take the Supertram to the stadium.

The blue tram from the railway station to Hillsborough involves a 10 minute walk at the end.  The Leppings Lane stop is much closer to the stadium – to get there you can take the blue line to Hillsborough and change there for the yellow line, or take a short walk to Commercial Street to get on the ‘Fitzalan Square – Ponds Forge’ tram.  If you jump on the Supertram here, it will take you around 30 minutes to get to Leppings Lane. The cost is £3.90 return for adults and £2 return for kids (you should buy an all-day ticket).

The number 53 bus to Ecclesfield also connects the station to the ground.  Trams and buses run every 10 minutes.

The postcode for satnavs is S6 1SW.  There is no official parking available at the ground for away fans.  There is some street parking to be had if you arrive early, although some roads near to Hillsborough are permit only.  You may find it easier to park at Meadowhall Railway Station, near the well-known Shopping Centre, just by Junction 34 of the M1, where you can park for free and then take a yellow tram to Leppings lane, which takes about 35 minutes.

Wednesday manager Darren Moore

The Manager

Wednesday’s manager is Darren Moore.  Moore, who has previously managed West Brom and Doncaster Rovers, took charge of the Owls in March 2021.

Moore persisted with his favourite formation 4-2-3-1 last season until results began to falter.  A change to 3-5-2 reinvigorated Wednesday’s season – they carried a greater attacking threat after switching to two up front and the formation tweak seemed to bring the best out of last season’s key men Bannan and Lee Gregory.  After coming so close to achieving promotion, does Moore stick with 3-5-2 or revert to his favoured 4-2-3-1?  Having finished fourth and just five points shy of second-placed Rotherham United, many observers argue the Owls are already on the right lines.

How are they doing?

Wednesday started the season with a 3-3 home draw against Portsmouth.  They followed this with 1-0 wins against MK Dons away and Charlton at home.  Their 4th game saw them lose 2-0 away at Peterborough (after on-loan defender Reece James was red carded in the 34th minute).  Their last outing saw them comfortable 2-0 winners away at Bolton, leaving them 4th in the table.  This will be a test for Ian Burchnall’s men!

Wednesday have indeed started the season playing the 3-5-2 formation that worked well for them last season, though their manager has been changing the team around a bit in these early games.  6 of Wednesday’s 7 goals so far have come from midfield (5 different midfield scorers ) with just 1 penalty scored by their front men.

Barry Bannan makes very interesting Celtic admission

Barry Bannan was Wednesday’s player of the season last year.  The 33 year old Scot has been with Wednesday since 2015.

The Club

Formed in 1867 as an offshoot of the Wednesday Cricket Club (itself formed in 1820), they were known as The Wednesday Football Club until 1929.  The founding members had a half day off on Wednesdays to play sport!  They are one of the oldest football clubs in the world of any code, and the second-oldest professional association football club in England.

They have won four top flight league titles, 3 FA Cups, 1 League Cup & 1 Community Shield.  They have competed in European competitions in 4 seasons.  A 1-0 victory over Manchester United in the 1991 League Cup Final remains the last time a team from outside the top flight has won one of English football’s major trophies.

The club play in the Sheffield suburb of Owlerton, which is where their nickname of The Owls comes from.

Inevitably, their biggest rivalry is with Sheffield United.  Their meetings are known as Steel City derbies!

Ozzie Owl – Wednesday’s main mascot

The Ground

Hillsborough

Hillsborough was a risky move when the club moved to the stadium in 1899, as the new ground was a few miles away from the city centre.  But the stadium has since hosted World Cup football (1966), the European Championships (1996) and 27 FA Cup semi finals.  When the Kop at Hillsborough was re-opened in 1986 by the Queen, it was then the largest covered stand of any football stadium in Europe.

On 15 April 1989, at an FA Cup semi-final between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest 97 Liverpool fans were crushed to death after the terraces at the Leppings Lane end of the ground became overcrowded, in what became known as the Hillsborough disaster.  A subsequent report concluded that the root cause of the disaster was the failure of local police to adequately manage the crowds.  A memorial to the victims of the disaster stands outside Hillsborough’s South Stand, near the main entrance on Parkside Road.