Long-serving Sheffield Wednesday captain Barry Bannan (left) joined Millwall in January, ending a decade-long tenure with the club.
Barring an extraordinary sequence of results, Sheffield Wednesday, currently facing administration issues, are poised to become the first team in English Football League history to be relegated as early as February, potentially within the next week.
The groundwork for this relegation was laid last summer during the turbulent period under former owner Dejphon Chansiri, marked by multiple missed wage payments.
Numerous senior players and manager Danny Rohl departed during the summer, and the club was placed into administration in October.
Following this, two separate points deductions totaling 18 points were imposed, making relegation from the Championship this season a matter of when, not if.
A preferred bidder was chosen in December; however, the club remains in administration and operates under strict constraints, resulting in a depleted squad ill-prepared for Championship competition.
Few anticipated relegation could be confirmed as early as this, and it may be officially confirmed at the upcoming derby against cross-city rivals Sheffield United on Sunday.
How can Owls delay inevitable?
How the bottom of the Championship table looks before Blackburn face Preston on Friday
If Sheffield Wednesday win all their remaining 14 games, they would finish the season with 35 points.
Despite this, relegation will be confirmed before Sunday's derby if Blackburn Rovers avoid defeat against Preston North End on Friday and West Bromwich Albion defeat Coventry City on Saturday.
If Blackburn lose, then a draw for Leicester City at Stoke City on Saturday, combined with a West Brom victory, will also confirm Wednesday's relegation. This is because Blackburn and Leicester face each other on the final day, ensuring one finishes with at least 36 points.
Should circumstances favor the Owls, who currently stand at minus seven points, they must secure a win at Bramall Lane to avoid relegation being confirmed this weekend.
Winning an away derby is challenging under any circumstances, but considering Wednesday's only victory this season was at Portsmouth in September, their nine consecutive Championship losses, and a six-match scoreless streak in Steel City derbies, the task is formidable for Henrik Pedersen's team.
"We will do everything to bring a top, top performance to compete with them," Pedersen 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-point deduction for Sheffield Wednesday is the third highest in a single Football League season.
Derby County were deducted 21 points in the 2021-22 season but fought to avoid relegation until April, while Luton Town received a 30-point penalty in 2008-09, finishing with 26 points as they dropped out of League Two but also won the Football League Trophy.
Henrik Pedersen on the Steel City Derby
Looking to avoid the history books
With 14 games remaining, Wednesday risk setting several unwanted EFL records, including:
- No team has ever ended a season with negative points. The Owls have earned 11 points from 32 games and need seven points from the remaining 14 matches to avoid this.
- The fewest points ever recorded in a Football League season is nine by Loughborough in 1899-1900. More recently, Derby County were relegated from the Premier League with 11 points in 2007-08. The lowest total for a 46-game season is 20 points by Doncaster Rovers in 1997-98.
- The record for most defeats in a 46-game season is 34, held by Doncaster Rovers in 1997-98. Wednesday have lost 23 of their first 32 games; 12 more defeats in the remaining 14 matches would break this record.
- The longest losing streak in a season was 18 by Darwen in 1898-99. Since the Championship's rebranding, the record is 10 consecutive losses by Rotherham in 2016-17. Wednesday have lost their last nine games.
- The fewest wins in a 46-game season is two, by Rochdale in 1973-74. Wednesday's sole win this season was away, putting them six games away from becoming the first Football League team to go an entire season without a home victory.
- The largest points gap from safety is 33, set by Stoke City in 1984-85 in the top tier. Currently, Wednesday trail 21st-placed West Bromwich Albion by 41 points.
- Wednesday have scored 19 goals in 32 games. The fewest goals scored in a 46-game season is 27 by Stockport County in 1969-70.
'The game isn't decided on team sheets'
Sheffield United manager Chris Wilder stated that the prospect of relegating their city rivals is "not in his thought process at all." The Blades supporter, unbeaten in seven matches against Wednesday, disagreed with the view that his team, currently 15th in the table, should easily 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.
"We understand it's basically their season on the line, we're not daft. But we've got our fight, and ours has to be bigger than theirs."
'There is a lot on the line for us as well'
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