1990–91 Sheffield Wednesday F.C. season

Sheffield Wednesday
1990–91 season
Chairman	Dave Richards
Manager	Ron Atkinson
Stadium	Hillsborough
Second Division	3rd
FA Cup	Fifth round
Rumbelows Cup	Winners
ZDS Cup	Second round
Top goalscorer	League: David Hirst (24); All: David Hirst (32)
Highest home attendance	34,845 v Oldham Athletic, Second Division, 3 November 1990
Lowest home attendance	5942 v Barnsley, ZDS Cup, 18 December 1990
Average home league attendance	26,605
	← 1989–90 1991–92 →

Last updated December 30, 2024

During the 1990–91 English football season, Sheffield Wednesday F.C. competed in the Football League Second Division, following relegation from the First Division the previous season. They finished third to make an immediate return to the top flight and also won the League Cup (then known as the Rumbelows Cup for sponsorship reasons).

Season summary

Wednesday began the season strongly with four straight wins and remained unbeaten until their 13th league match. Although they never dropped below fourth in the table, a run of three straight defeats in March and April threatened to derail their progress, but they recovered to clinch promotion with a 3–1 win over Bristol City at Hillsborough in the penultimate match of the season.

A 4–0 humbling at Cambridge United put paid to Wednesday's FA Cup hopes in the fifth round, but their Rumbelows Cup campaign proved considerably more successful. Having already disposed of three First Division sides (Derby County, Coventry City and Chelsea) en route to the final, they beat Manchester United by a John Sheridan goal to claim their first major trophy since winning the FA Cup in 1935.

Squad

Players who made one appearance or more for Sheffield Wednesday F.C. during the 1990-91 season

Pos.	Name	League		Rumbelows Cup		ZDS Cup		FA Cup		Total
Pos.	Name	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
GK	Kevin Pressman	23	0	6	0	1	0	0	0	30	0
GK	Chris Turner	23	0	4	0	0	0	4	0	31	0
DF	Viv Anderson	21(1)	2	0	0	0	0	3	1	24(1)	3
DF	Phil King	43	0	9	0	0	0	4	0	56	0
DF	Lawrie Madden	1(4)	0	2(2)	0	0	0	0	0	3(6)	0
DF	Jon Newsome	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0
DF	Roland Nilsson	22	0	2	0	0	0	0	0	24	0
DF	Nigel Pearson	39	6	9	5	1	0	4	1	53	12
DF	Peter Shirtliff	39	2	10	1	1	0	4	1	54	4
MF	John Harkes	22(1)	2	7	1	1	0	3(1)	0	33(2)	3
MF	Steve McCall	13(6)	2	2(3)	0	0(1)	0	1	0	15(10)	2
MF	Steve MacKenzie	5(7)	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	5(7)	2
MF	Carlton Palmer	45	2	9	0	1	0	4	1	59	3
MF	John Sheridan	45(1)	10	9	1	1	0	4	1	59(1)	12
MF	Danny Wilson	35(1)	6	10	1	1	0	2	0	48(1)	7
MF	Nigel Worthington	31(2)	1	10	0	1	0	3	0	45(2)	1
FW	Trevor Francis	18(20)	4	5(1)	1	1	0	2(1)	1	26(22)	6
FW	David Hirst	39(2)	24	9	3	1	3	4	2	53(2)	32
FW	Gordon Watson	1(4)	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1(4)	0
FW	Steve Whitton	0(1)	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0(1)	0
FW	Paul Williams	40(6)	15	7(3)	2	1	0	2(2)	0	50(11)	17

^[1]

Final league table

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Oldham Athletic (C, P)	46	25	13	8	83	53	+30	88	Promotion to the First Division
2	West Ham United (P)	46	24	15	7	60	34	+26	87
3	Sheffield Wednesday (P)	46	22	16	8	80	51	+29	82
4	Notts County (O, P)	46	23	11	12	76	55	+21	80	Qualification for the Second Division play-offs
5	Millwall	46	20	13	13	70	51	+19	73	Qualification for the Second Division play-offs

Source: ^{[ citation needed ]}
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Goal difference; 3) Goals scored
(C) Champions; (O) Play-off winners; (P) Promoted

Results

Second Division

Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Scorers	Attendance
25 August 1990	Ipswich Town	A	2–0	Williams, Shirtliff	17,284
1 September 1990	Hull City	H	5–1	Hirst (4), Williams	23,673
8 September 1990	Charlton Athletic	A	1–0	Sheridan	7407
15 September 1990	Watford	H	2–0	Pearson, Worthington	22,061
18 September 1990	Newcastle United	H	2–2	Hirst, McCall	30,628
22 September 1990	Leicester City	A	4–2	Hirst (2), Wilson, Williams	16,156
29 September 1990	West Ham United	H	1–1	Hirst	28,786
3 October 1990	Brighton & Hove Albion	A	4–0	Wilson, Sheridan, Williams, Pearson	10,379
6 October 1990	Bristol Rovers	A	1–0	Francis	6413
13 October 1990	Plymouth Argyle	H	3–0	Wilson, Sheridan (2)	23,489
20 October 1990	Port Vale	H	1–1	Williams	24,527
23 October 1990	Barnsley	A	1–1	Palmer	23,079
27 October 1990	Millwall	A	2–4	Hirst (2)	12,863
3 November 1990	Oldham Athletic	H	2–2	Sheridan (2 pens.)	34,845
10 November 1990	Blackburn Rovers	A	0–1		13,437
17 November 1990	Swindon Town	H	2–1	Williams, Pearson	22,715
24 November 1990	West Bromwich Albion	A	2–1	Francis, Shirtliff	16,546
1 December 1990	Notts County	H	2–2	Sheridan (pen.), Hirst	23,474
8 December 1990	Bristol City	A	1–1	Wilson	11,254
15 December 1990	Ipswich Town	H	2–2	Francis, Pearson	19,333
22 December 1990	Oxford United	A	2–2	Hirst, Wilson	6061
26 December 1990	Wolverhampton Wanderers	H	2–2	McCall, Palmer	29,686
29 December 1990	Portsmouth	H	2–1	Hirst (2)	22,885
1 January 1991	Middlesbrough	A	2–0	Hirst, Williams	22,869
12 January 1991	Hull City	A	1–0	Williams	10,907
19 January 1991	Charlton Athletic	H	0–0		22,318
2 February 1991	Watford	A	2–2	Harkes, Williams	10,338
19 February 1991	Swindon Town	A	1–2	Hirst	8274
2 March 1991	Notts County	A	2–0	Williams, Thomas (o.g.)	15,546
9 March 1991	West Bromwich Albion	H	1–0	Sheridan (pen.)	26,934
13 March 1991	Brighton & Hove Albion	H	1–1	Anderson	23,969
16 March 1991	West Ham United	A	3–1	Hirst, Williams (2)	26,182
19 March 1991	Plymouth Argyle	A	1–1	MacKenzie	7806
23 March 1991	Bristol Rovers	H	2–1	Clark (o.g.), Williams	25,074
30 March 1991	Wolverhampton Wanderers	A	2–3	Pearson (2)	18,011
1 April 1991	Oxford United	H	0–2		28,682
6 April 1991	Portsmouth	A	0–2		10,390
10 April 1991	Blackburn Rovers	H	3–1	Anderson, Sheridan (2; 1 pen.)	23,139
13 April 1991	Middlesbrough	H	2–0	Williams (2)	30,598
17 April 1991	Newcastle United	A	0–1		18,330
24 April 1991	Leicester City	H	0–0		31,308
27 April 1991	Barnsley	H	3–1	Hirst, Harkes, MacKenzie	30,693
4 May 1991	Millwall	H	2–1	Hirst (2)	30,278
6 May 1991	Port Vale	A	1–1	Hirst	13,317
8 May 1991	Bristol City	H	3–1	Hirst (2), Francis	31,706
11 May 1991	Oldham Athletic	A	2–3	Hirst, Wilson	18,809

^[2]

Rumbelows Cup


Round	Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Goalscorers	Attendance
2(1L)	26 September 1990	Brentford	H	2–1	Hirst, Pearson	11,207
2(2L)	9 October 1990	Brentford	A	2–1	Francis, Pearson	8227
3	31 October 1990	Swindon Town	H	0–0		13,900
3(R)	6 November 1990	Swindon Town	A	1–0	Pearson	9043
4	28 November 1990	Derby County	H	1–1	Hirst	25,649
4(R)	12 December 1990	Derby County	A	2–1	Harkes, Williams	17,050
5	23 January 1991	Coventry City	A	1–0	Pearson	20,712
SF(1L)	24 February 1991	Chelsea	A	2–0	Shirtliff, Hirst	34,074
SF(2L)	27 February 1991	Chelsea	H	3–1	Pearson, Wilson, Williams	34,669
F	21 April 1991	Manchester United	N	1–0	Sheridan	80,000

^[3]

ZDS Cup


Round	Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Goalscorers	Attendance
2	18 December 1990	Barnsley	H	3–3 (AET - 2–4 pens.)	Hirst (3)	5942

^[4]

FA Cup


Round	Date	Opponent	Venue	Result	Goalscorers	Attendance
3	5 January 1991	Mansfield Town	A	2–0	Shirtliff, Sheridan (pen.)	9076
4	26 January 1991	Millwall	A	4–4	Hirst, Francis, Pearson, Palmer	13,663
4(R)	30 January 1991	Millwall	H	2–0	Anderson, Hirst	25,140
5	16 February 1991	Cambridge United	A	0–4		9624

^[5]

Related Research Articles

Christopher Roland Waddle is an English former professional football player and manager. He had a spell as Burnley manager during the 1997–98 season, but has not returned to coaching since. Largely since retiring he has worked in the media for BBC Radio 5 Live as part of their Premier League and Champions League team. He currently works as a commentator.

Nigel Worthington is a Northern Irish former professional footballer who was most recently the manager of York City.

David Lloyd "Danny" Wallace is an English former professional footballer who played as a striker and winger. During his career, he played for Southampton, Manchester United, Millwall, Birmingham City and Wycombe Wanderers. He won one full cap for England. His football career was ended prematurely by the effects of multiple sclerosis.

Lee Roy Chapman is an English former professional footballer who played as a striker from 1978 until 1996, in which he scored over 200 first team goals.

David Eric Hirst is an English football coach and former professional footballer.

The 1990–91 season was the 111th season of competitive football in England. In the Football League First Division, Arsenal emerged victorious as champions.

The 1984–85 season was the 105th season of competitive football in England.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Adrian Heath</span> English professional footballer and manager

Adrian Paul Heath is an English football manager and former player. He most recently served as head coach of Major League Soccer club Minnesota United FC until October 2023. As a player, he is best known for his six seasons at Everton, where he won two First Division titles and an FA Cup. As a manager, Heath initially worked in his native England before moving abroad to Orlando City, an expansion side in the American second division. Orlando City had the best start of any newly founded team in the history of American soccer, winning multiple honours before joining MLS in 2015.

Imre Varadi is an English former professional footballer, known as a journeyman forward who appeared for 16 clubs at all levels of professional football in England.

James McCalliog is a Scottish former football player and coach. He played in the Football League for Chelsea, Sheffield Wednesday, Wolverhampton Wanderers, Manchester United, Southampton and Lincoln City, as well as in the United States with Chicago Sting and in Norway with Lyn.

Simon Allan Stainrod is an English former professional footballer who played as a striker for Sheffield United, Oldham Athletic, Queens Park Rangers, Sheffield Wednesday, Aston Villa and Stoke City. He also played in France for RC Strasbourg and FC Rouen and in Scotland for Falkirk, Dundee and Ayr United.

Paul Stephen Musselwhite is an English former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper and is the goalkeeping coach at National League North club Scunthorpe United. He made 692 appearances in the league and 815 appearances in all competitions.

Ian Helliwell is an English former professional footballer who played as a striker. He played in the Football League for York City, Scunthorpe United, Rotherham United, Stockport County, Burnley, Mansfield Town, Chester City and Doncaster Rovers.

The 1991 Football League Cup Final was a football match played on 21 April 1991 between Manchester United and Sheffield Wednesday. It was the first of two years that the Football League Cup competition in English football was sponsored by Rumbelows.

The 1969–70 season was the 71st completed season of The Football League.

The 1975–76 season was the 77th completed season of The Football League.

The 1990–91 Football League Cup was the 31st season of the Football League Cup, a knockout competition for England's top 92 association football clubs.

The 1990–91 season was Coventry City's 24th consecutive campaign in the Football League First Division, following their promotion from the Second Division in 1967. The club started the season with John Sillett in charge, three years after he and George Curtis had managed the club to victory in the 1986–87 FA Cup. Sillett left the club in November after a run of poor results, and was replaced by Terry Butcher who arrived as a player-manager from Rangers.

References

↑ Rothmans 1991-92 , p. 463
↑ Rothmans 1991-92 , p. 462
↑ Rothmans 1991-92 , pp. 620–625
↑ Rothmans 1991-92 , p. 629
↑ Rothmans 1991-92 , pp. 649–653

Bibliography

Rothmans Football Yearbook 1991-92 (Editor: Jack Rollin). Queen Anne Press. ISBN 0356-20164-3.

Notes

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.

[9091squad-1] Rothmans 1991-92 , p. 463

[9091leagueresults-2] Rothmans 1991-92 , p. 462

[9091leaguecupresults-3] Rothmans 1991-92 , pp. 620–625

[9091zdscupresults-4] Rothmans 1991-92 , p. 629

[9091facupresults-5] Rothmans 1991-92 , pp. 649–653

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

v t e Sheffield Wednesday F.C. seasons
1867–68
1887–88 1888–89 1889–90
1890–91 1891–92 1892–93 1893–94 1894–95 1895–96 1896–97 1897–98 1898–99 1899–1900
1900–01 1901–02 1902–03 1903–04 1904–05 1905–06 1906–07 1907–08 1908–09 1909–10
1910–11 1911–12 1912–13 1913–14 1914–15 1915–16 1916–17 1917–18 1918–19 1919–20
1920–21 1921–22 1922–23 1923–24 1924–25 1925–26 1926–27 1927–28 1928–29 1929–30
1930–31 1931–32 1932–33 1933–34 1934–35 1935–36 1936–37 1937–38 1938–39 1939–40
1940–41 1941–42 1942–43 1943–44 1944–45 1945–46 1946–47 1947–48 1948–49 1949–50
1950–51 1951–52 1952–53 1953–54 1954–55 1955–56 1956–57 1957–58 1958–59 1959–60
1960–61 1961–62 1962–63 1963–64 1964–65 1965–66 1966–67 1967–68 1968–69 1969–70
1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80
1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90
1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–2000
2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10
2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20
2020–21 2021–22 2022–23 2023–24 2024–25