Football League World
·27 August 2023
Football League World
·27 August 2023
This article is part of Football League World's 'Terrace Talk' series, which provides personal opinions from our FLW Fan Pundits regarding the latest breaking news, teams, players, managers, potential signings and more…
Sheffield Wednesday have had fluctuating fortunes since 2010, with spells in League One sandwiching a long stint back in the Championship that saw them ultimately fall short of promotion to the Premier League on two occasions.
Wednesday fans look back at the period between 2015 and 2017 under Portuguese head coach Carlos Carvalhal with great fondness, and as our FLW Fan Pundit for the Owls, Callum Maxted, picks his best XI from the past 13 years, almost every player featured during that time.
Westwood joined the Owls in the summer of 2014 after being released by then Premier League side Sunderland.
After finishing 13th in his first season, Westwood's Wednesday career took off in the following two. In 2015/16, the Irish international was pivotal in the Owls' journey to the play-off final, as he made the Championship Team of the Season with 14 clean sheets in 34 league outings. He would keep another 15 in 43 appearances the following season, before Wednesday's semi-final defeat on penalties to Huddersfield.
The experienced goalkeeper is only one of three players to win the Owls' Player of the Year award more than once, doing so in 2014/15 and 2016/17. He would leave Hillsborough in 2021 after his contract expired.
Current full-back and academy graduate Liam Palmer has been at Hillsborough since the age of seven and has been a mainstay since breaking into the side back in the 2010/11 season.
Palmer then featured 14 times as Wednesday secured promotion back to the Championship, before becoming an established first-teamer before Carvalhal's arrival, with the Portuguese preferring Jack Hunt.
However, since the beginning of 2018/19, Palmer has reclaimed the right-back spot, making 212 appearances in the last five years
Loovens joined Wednesday in the winter of 2013, before deciding to extend his stay until the end of the campaign. The following summer, the Dutchman rejected offers from elsewhere and was subsequently made captain by then-boss Stuart Gray.
The following season he featured 38 times, including the Wembley defeat to Hull City, before a further 35 appearances in Wednesday's second successive experience of play-off heartbreak. The following season would be his last in South Yorkshire, as his contract expired at the end of the 2017/18 campaign. His final experience of English football would be an 11-game stint with Sunderland.
He is partnered by Lees, who spent seven years at Hillsborough after moving from Yorkshire rivals Leeds in 2014. Loovens and Lees formed one of the Championship's best centre-back pairings across Wednesday's promotion attempts, as he featured 80 times across the two seasons. Lees continued to be a mainstay in Wednesday's defence until his departure in 2021, weeks after a ligament injury in a game against Middlesbrough.
The Czech Republic international joined Wednesday after helping Watford achieve promotion to the Premier League in 2015/16. In his first season, Pudil featured 35 times, scoring twice in his initial loan deal which led to his second experience of defeat in a play-off final.
During that summer he would sign permanently for £1.5m, and he would score twice again in 2016/17. The following season would be his last, featuring only 21 times before being released.
The Scottish winger features on this list next, after again endearing himself to the Wednesdayites for a number of memorable moments in Carvalhal's tenure.
Initially signing a one-year deal in the summer of 2015, Wallace was the provider of some pivotal moments across multiple seasons. None more so than his stunning goal and subsequent assist for Lucas Joao in a 3-0 League Cup fourth round win against Arsenal, as well as scoring twice over the two legs of the play-off semi-final against Brighton, with his equaliser at the AMEX enough to send Wednesday to Wembley.
He would feature 45 times the following season, with a further five goals. However, in his final season, Wallace was dealt a huge blow, suffering an injury away to Millwall in February 2018, which turned out to be his final appearance for the club, and his contract would not be renewed.
The second player still plying their trade at Hillsborough on this list follows in the form of Bannan.
Despite initially signing a one-year contract at Hillsborough in 2015, the Scot has remained loyal to the club throughout its fall back into the third tier and subsequent rise back to the Championship.
Bannan is the only player left from the starting eleven in Wednesday's play-off final defeat to Hull, having racked up 361 appearances and a total of 20 goals.
One of his finest moments in an Owls shirt was the 2021/22 EFL Goal of the Season - an outstanding long-range strike away to MK Dons. The 33-year-old has also been named in the Championship Team of The Year and League One Team of the Season twice, as well as being just one of three players to be named Wednesday Player of the Year award on more than one occasion.
His experience, knowledge, and reading of the game remain evident, and he will be pivotal in Xisco Munoz' aims to re-establish Wednesday in the Championship this season after featuring 48 times last season as Wednesday defeated fellow South Yorkshire outfit Barnsley in dramatic fashion at Wembley.
Lee partners him in midfield, having done so in real life for a number of seasons. In their first season together, Lee accumulated his best campaign in a Wednesday shirt, scoring seven times in 52 appearances in all competitions, including a crucial second in their home tie of the play-off semi-finals against Brighton.
After joining from Oldham in 2012, the central midfielder made 216 appearances for Wednesday with 20 goals, before joining Bolton Wanderers.
One of the Championship's ultimate 'streets won't forget' players rounds off the midfield in the shape of Italian Fernando Forestieri.
After joining from Watford in 2015 for £3,000,000, Forestieri made an instant impact in Wednesday's eventual rise from 13th to 6th, scoring 15 times in 39 league appearances and winning the club's Player of the Year award.
The following season he extended his contract by a further year and hit the net another 12 times, but saw his season end in heartbreak, as he saw the crucial penalty in Wednesday's semi-final shootout defeat to Huddersfield saved by Danny Ward.
A knee problem saw him miss a huge proportion of the 2017/18 season but was back the following season where he won the club's goal of the season with a 35-yard pile driver away to champions-elect Norwich City. He would depart Hillsborough the following season, with 40 goals from 134 appearances.
Two well-known EFL forwards round off the team, with Steven Fletcher and Gary Hooper racking up 69 goals across their respective spells at Hillsborough.
Hooper first joined Wednesday in October 2015, initially on loan after a move in the summer window collapsed. He would score five goals in this initial period, with four coming against Bolton and Leeds before the deal expired. Wednesday would then complete a permanent move of £6m for his services in January, and Hooper fired in a further eight times, aiding Wednesday's play-off bid, including two in as many minutes in a dramatic victory against Birmingham City.
He would only score six times the following season, before a return to double figures in 2017/18 with eleven goals. In his final season, Hooper only featured six times before being released in May 2019.
As for Fletcher, he continued his career as a dependable goalscorer in England's top two divisions in S6 following his free transfer after being released by Sunderland.
The Scot scored his first goal on 10th September 2016 in a 2-1 success over Wigan, before firing in a further 10 across the season as Wednesday finished in fourth. The following season saw a dip in his and the team's form, he only scored three as Wednesday finished 15th. However, this would be the only season in South Yorkshire where Fletcher didn't hit double figures, scoring 11 and 13 in his final two seasons before being released in 2020.
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