Relegated in February? Why Sheff Wed are on brink of history

Barring a highly unlikely series of results, administration-hit Sheffield Wednesday will become the first team in English Football League history to be relegated in February at some point in the next week.

The foundations for this relegation were set last summer when former owner Dejphon Chansiri’s chaotic tenure came to a head with numerous missed wage payments.

A large number of the senior squad and manager Danny Rohl left in the summer before the Owls were eventually placed into administration in October.

Two separate points deductions – totalling 18 points – followed, and it has always been a case of when, not if they went down from the Championship this season.

A preferred bidder for the club was selected in December but the Owls remain in administration and are operating under tight restrictions, leaving them with a threadbare squad ill-equipped to compete at this level.

If Sheffield Wednesday win all of their remaining 14 games of the season, they will finish the campaign on 35 points.

Despite that, the Owls will be relegated before Sunday’s derby if Blackburn Rovers avoid defeat against Preston North End on Friday and West Bromwich Albion beat Coventry City on Saturday.

However, if Blackburn are beaten, then a draw for Leicester at Stoke on Saturday, coupled with a West Brom win, will send the Owls down by virtue of the fact that Rovers and the Foxes meet on the final day of the season, guaranteeing that one of them will finish on at least 36 points.

Should things fall into place for the Owls, who are still on -7 points, they must then win at Bramall Lane to stop the ‘R’ from being placed next to their name this weekend.

“We will do everything to bring a top, top performance to compete with them,” Pederson told BBC Radio Sheffield. .

“Of course, we know it will happen some day.

“Nobody understands what this group has been through in the past many months.

“I have a group with a big belief and big motivation, and a group of senior players who are ready to do everything for our fans and stand up and perform.

“They know that 95% will not be enough.”

The 18 points Sheffield Wednesday have been deducted are the third highest in a single Football League season.

With 14 games to go, Wednesday are also in danger of setting several more unwanted EFL records, including:

Sheffield United boss Chris Wilder has said the prospect of relegating their cross-city rivals is “not in his thought process at all”.

The Blades fan, who is unbeaten in his seven games against the Owls, said he disagreed with the notion that his side, who are 15th in the table, should cruise to a win.

“We’ll have done more preparation on this game than we have on any game this season and all the games other than the play-off final last season,” he told BBC Radio Sheffield.

“I’ve got complete respect for Henrik and a group of players… there’s talk of it being a mismatch or a gimme, whether it’s bookies’ odds or the narrative in the city… football just doesn’t work like that.

“The players have to play with a discipline and a control to win a game of football, to win a local derby.”

Wilder added: “We put a slide up about Macclesfield v Crystal Palace and Bodo/Glimt v Manchester City. There are all sorts of examples recently, let alone [in] the 100 years plus of football, the game isn’t decided on team sheets.