Football Season Review

After the shipwreck that the 2010/11 season was, Sheffield Wednesday fans entered the 2011/12 season knowing that things could hardly get any worse for their side. The side did show an improvement after Gary Megson took over the season before, and the Owls' faithful were hoping that the former Bolton boss could lead the club to glory. The Owls suffered a slow start to the season, with the low points being a 5-1 defeat at Stevenage in early September, but they responded to it by collecting sixteen points from six games and got themselves firmly into the promotion frame. Gary Madine and Ben Marshall were both absolutely amazing, and the Owls kept going strong until the former got injured - they struggled for a constant source of goals after that and things got worse when Stoke didn't allow Marshall to extend his loan deal midway through the season. Eventually, the Owls lost ground in the direct promotion race and Milan Mandaric opted to fire Megson only days after the Owls beat local rivals Sheffield United in the Steel City derby. New manager Dave Jones wanted the side to keep the ball on the ground more, and giving up on Megson's long ball philosophy proved crucial, as the Owls won 12 of their 14 games under Jones, drawing the other two, and edged out Sheffield United in the race for the second place, despite trailing during the majority of the season. The loan signing of Michail Antonio proved to be a masterstroke by Jones, as the Reading man replaced the flair that was missing since Ben Marhshall left, and also scored a late, late winner against Carlisle in what was the crucial game of the Owls' promotion push. However, the Player of the Season has to be Jose Semedo, due to the simple fact that, unlike Marshall or Antonio, he spent the whole season at the club. The former Charlton man was reliable in midfield, an ever present in the side, and it's hard to remember him having more than a couple of bad games throughout the campaign.

Player of the Season: Jose Semedo