Owls hoping to take Liberty

Wednesday head to South Wales still deep in a relegation dog fight after their 1-0 loss at West Brom on Tuesday, the Owls deserved more from the game but a wonder strike from Robert Koren earned the hosts all three points. 

Owls News

Alan Irvine will welcome Marcus Tudgay back into the squad for the trip to South Wales, the forward missed the defeat at West Brom with an illness but looks set for an instant recall in place of Luke Varney who looked ineffective against the Baggies.

Darren Purse will return to South Wales for the first time since his move to S6 and is sure of a hot reception from the Swans fans who won’t forget his allegiances with their hated rivals Cardiff City, the Wednesday skipper has been a welcome addition in the last couple of months and will be hoping for a first clean sheet on the road in three months.

Tommy Miller and Jermaine Johnson will be hoping to be fully refreshed from their midweek excursions and be ready to face the Swans, the two have performed very well in the last two games and offer a threat going forward which is vital in the run in.

Leon Clarke looks set to lead the line again, the burly forward has looked up for it in the last two games and his physical presence could be a useful attribute between now and the end of the season, Francis Jeffers made his first appearance under Alan Irvine on Tuesday and the former England man will again be in contention from the bench.

Wednesday could also take youngster Liam Palmer with them, the academy product has just been called up for Scotland U19's after his impressive performances for the Owls reserves and juniors.


Team News

Team (possible): Grant, Nolan, Beevers, Purse, Spurr; Miller, Potter, O’Connor, Johnson Clarke, Tudgay.

(subs from) O’Donnell, Simek, Boden, McAllister, Hinds, Esajas, Clarke, Soares, Gray, Varney, Palmer.

Swansea News

The Swans currently sit in 4th place in the league after Tuesdays 1-0 win at struggling Watford, the result puts them 9 points clear of seventh placed Blackpool and the Swans look certs to be in the promotion shake up come May.

Swansea City Heroes

Roger Freestone appeared nearly 700 appearances for the Swans in a 15 year spell at the club and holds the club record for number of games played.


He began his career with Newport in the mid 1980’s but made just 13 appearances before being signed by Chelsea who were in the 1st Division, he made 6 League appearances in the 1986/87 season for the club and a further 15 the following season but the club were relegated. In Division two he shared goalkeeping duties and played 21 times as Chelsea won promotion.

At the start of the 1989/90 season he was sent out on loan, first to Hereford and then to Swansea, he appeared 14 times for the Swans before returning to the Bridge, he failed to gain another start for the Pensioners and in September 1991 re-joined the Swans.

Over the next ten years he was an almost ever-present for the Swans, notching up 439 league appearances from a possible 456, he ever took the penalties for a short while, in that spell he gained two promotions and one relegation, winning one 4th tier title medal.

Another season in the 3rd tier and Roger missed just three league games but couldn’t keep the Swans up, another 43 appearances the following season saw Roger pass the 500 League appearances mark before age and injuries took their toll, he played another 67 times for the club in the league from 2002-2004 missing 25 league games, more than he had done in his previous 10 seasons.

In 2004 he was released from his contract shortly after winning the Football League Trophy.

Another legend of “The Vetch” is Ivor Allchurch once the leading scorer for the Welsh side and a City legend, he had two spells with the club starting when he was 18 and ending at the age of 38.


Ivor was spotted playing local football in his home town Swansea by a scout of the club, he was invited to join the then named Swansea Town in 1947 which he accepted but it wouldn’t be until the early 50’s when he made his debut for the first team because of conscription to the British Army.

He was a prolific scorer for the Swans over the next seven seasons scoring 124 goals in 327 games for the club, his exploits earned him his first Wales cap in 1951 where he faced England.

In 1958 Ivor was transferred to Newcastle United on the back of an impressive World Cup which showed off his immeasurable talents, he scored twice in the finals including one in the play off that saw them reach the Quarter finals. He he would spend 4 years, the £28k fee seemed a bargain and Ivor repaid the Geordies by banging in 46 goals in 143 appearances.

South Wales was calling Ivor in 1962 but surprisingly it was Cardiff not Swansea where he headed, his record at Cardiff was very impressive with 39 goals in 103 appearances for the Bluebirds in a three year stint.

At the age of 35 he returned home to Swansea for a final swansong, he had 3 more years at the Vetch where he maintained his impressive strike rate with 40 goals in 118 games, his international career also ended during those three years, he finished with 23 goals from 68 games for Wales.

Ivor passed away aged 67 in 1997 with a career record of 249 goals in nearly 700 appearances.

The Ground


The club is into their 5th season at the Liberty Stadium, another of the soulless stadiums popping up everywhere, the Liberty is like all new bowls, 4 identikit stands each offering an unrestricted view.

The Liberty Stadium holds 20,532 and cost a reputed £27m to build, it is similar to the likes of Cardiff, Reading, Derby, Leicester, Doncaster in style.

The away end is the North Stand and can if required accommodate 3,500 but rarely is the demand there.

Moving to the Liberty ended a 93 year stay at Vetch Field.

The Gaffer


Paolo Sousa replaced Roberto Martinez as gaffer in the summer, the former Portuguese international had just been replaced himself at QPR.

As a player he was a member of the “golden generation” a name given to members of the Portuguese national team of the mid to late 90’s alongside the likes of Manuel Rui Costa, Joao Pinto and Luis Figo. Amongst his former clubs are the Benfica, Sporting Lisbon, Juventus, Borussia Dortmund, Inter Milan, Parma and Espanyol, he was a winner with pretty much every club he played, including twice a Champions League winner, injury forced him to end his illustrious career early.

He was assistant manager to the Portuguese national side when QPR acquired his services in November 2008 but he was to last just 5 months before being sacked for divulging club information, however lets not lie about it, all is not rosy at QPR and it wouldn’t surprise me if Sousa refused to be Briatore’s puppet.

He was appointed Swansea manager in June following Roberto Martinez’s move to Wigan, after a slow start he has suddenly seemed to have made things click and the Swans are well set to push on for the Premier League.

Key Players

David Cotterill


Welsh international David returned “home” in November last year on loan from Sheffield United, the winger had been trimmed from the United wage bill as a cost cutting exercise.

Although born in Cardiff his career began on the other side of the Severn Bridge with Bristol City, he made his debut in October 2004 for the Robins and would make 13 appearances that campaign as they just missed out on the play-offs.

David grabbed his 1st goal for the club in a 7-1 defeat at Swansea in the 2005/06 season, he went to score another 6 times in the 47 games he played that season and was also awarded his first Welsh cap in a World Cup qualifier against Azerbaijan.

After just six games of the 2006/07 season in which David had scored twice he was sold to Wigan for a reputed £2m fee, despite making a solid start for the Latics he would never be a first team regular he made just 9 starts for the club and a further 12 from the bench in his 18 month spell with the club before joining the Blades on loan in February 2008.

He played 16 times for the Blades during that loan spell and impressed enough for the deal to be made permanent the following summer however he struggled to re-discover his form and fell out of favour with the tactical genius known as Kevin Blackwell making just 28 starts in 15 months in all competitions, he was used almost as often as a subsititute, he netted six times for the Blades in that time, mainly from the spot.

After joining the Swans on loan the deal was made permanent in January for a club record £600k, he has scored 4 in 13 for the Swans.

Squad Number 49

Shefki Kuqi


Many Wednesdayites remember old “thre’penny bit head” from his time spent at Hillsborough in the early part of this century.

Although born in Kosovo Shefki is a Finnish international after emigrating there as a youngster, he began his professional with Finish side Mikkelin Palloilijat he then moved on to HJK Helsinki in 1997, he scored 18 goals in 66 games in a two year spell before switching to FC Jokerit where he scored 19 goals in 33 games which alerted Stockport County to his presence.

He joined County in 2001 and scored 6 goals in 18 appearances to help the club survive relegation, he had scored 6 in 20 in the first half of the 2001/02 season as County struggled and was snapped up by the Owls in January 2002.

He scored a late winner at Burnley in only his second game for the Owls and went onto to score a further 5 goals in 15 appearances to help keep Wednesday in the Championship, he scored 8 in 40 the following campaign but it wasn’t enough to stave of the drop.

A successful start to the 2003/04 season saw him grab 5 in 8 which helped secure a move to Ipswich, he netted 32 times for the Tractor Boys in a two year spell before being sold to Blackburn Rovers.

His spell at Rovers wasn’t a great success but he was a free transfer he scored 8 in 42 appearances for Rovers before being sold to Crystal Palace early in the 2006/07 season for a reputed £2.5m fee, he would score 18 in 83 appearances for the Eagles but had a bust up with the Palace fans and Neil Warnock and was loaned out to Fulham and Ipswich.

Shefki joined the Swans in January after a six month spell playing in Germany, he has made 9 appearances so far and netted three times for the club.


Squad Number 42

Darren Pratley


Energetic midfielder Darren has been at the Swans for nearly four years now after making a £100k move from Fulham in 2006.

Darren made just two appearances for the Cottagers after coming through the ranks, both in the 2003/04 season before joining Martin Allen’s Brentford on loan in February 2005, he made 16 appearances for the Bees towards the back end of the campaign including 3 against the Owls, he managed 1 goal in a defeat to Blackpool.

He re-joined the Bees on a season long loan in August 2005 and was instrumental in helping the club into the play-offs for the second season running, he appeared 38 times for the club scoring four times.

Swansea made their move in the summer of 2006 and he played in 32 games in his first season before injury curtailed his campaign in late February, he bounced back from injury to play 50 times in all competitions the following campaign as the Swans, notching six goals as they won the League One title.

Last season he made 34 appearances in all competitions for the club and scored 4 times as they finished 8th in the 2nd tier of English football, he’s made 26 appearances this season and netted on six occasions, including a brace at Hillsborough.


Squad Number 8


Team News

Team (possible): De Vries, Tate, Williams, Rangel, Richards; Dyer, Britton, Pratley, Gower, Van Der Gun; Kuqi.

(subs from) Cotterill, Beattie, Butler, Bessone, Bauza, Idrizaj, Burgin, Cornell, Lucas, Trundle.

Head to Head

A Steve Watson header earned the Owls a point when the two sides last met in South Wales, the veteran midfielder had only been on the pitch a minute when he glanced home a header from around 15 yards to cancel out Ferrie Boddes delicious 30 yarder in the first half for the hosts.

Prior to that you have to go back to the opening day of the 1983/84 for the pervious meeting, a Mick Lyons goal gave Howard Wilkinson the perfect start as Wednesday boss.

The Owls had edged a 5 goal thriller three years earlier, Andy McCulloch, Brian Hornsby and John Pearson goals won it for the Owls against a Swans side who won promotion at the end of that campaign.

The hosts last beat the Owls in Wales in 1978, 10,000 fans were in the Vetch to see the Swans win 4-2, Brian Hornsby and Rodger Wylde netted for the Owls.

The two sides first met way back in 1926 in an entertaining 2-2 draw, Matt Barrass got the Owls goals in front of 17,084 spectators, Wednesday won the 2nd division title that year with Swansea finishing 5th.

Overall at Swansea:

Owls: 5

Draw: 3

Swansea: 4

Visit the Opposition

http://forum.planetswans.co.uk/viewforum. php?f=6

Final thoughts

Another difficult away day for Wednesday against a side that rarely lose at home or concede goals it will be a tough task for the Owls in South Wales but as long as the effort is there we cannot ask for much more.
 

Top