Newcastle nightmare spelt the beginning of the end

Last updated : 24 August 2009 By C. Morris

Sheffield Wednesday travel to St James' Park tonight looking for their first league win of the season following two draws.

It is 10 years since the Owls last visit to the toon and although the current Owls squad will have little or no memory of the last visit it the trip to the north-east is likely to bring back painful reminders for many of the fans.

Both Wednesday and Newcastle had made difficult starts to the 1999/2000 season and found themselves languishing in the bottom three ahead of their September meeting in front of the Sky TV cameras.
Newcastle had take action to stop the rot by parting company with manager Ruud Gullit and the Owls match was the homecoming for new boss, the great Bobby Robson.

The appointment of Robson appeared to have an immediate effect as Wednesday were blown away by a rampant toon. Having started well the Owls fell behind just after the 10 minutes mark and by the end of the game had been hit for 8 without reply including 5 for Alan Shearer, who had been demoted to the bench for a time earlier in the season under Gullit.

Newcastle improved to a mid-table finished that season whilst Wednesday laboured under Danny Wilson, who survived far longer than many fans would have liked, eventually losing his job before the end of a season in which the Owls were relegated from the Premier League and they have not got close to getting back there since.

Other trips to the toon in that Premier League spell include a 4-2 defeat also on Sky in 1993 and a memorable win in 1996 that took the Owls to the top of the table thanks to goals from Atherton and Whittingham.

Team news for tonight's game could see Francis Jeffers returning to the squad after sitting out at Peterborough but other than that Brian Laws will have the same players to choose from as he has done so far this campaign with Leon Clarke and Akpo Sodje still on the sidelines.