Title-chasing Owls never got credit they deserved, says Hillsborough legend Francis

The sacking of Trevor Francis on FA Cup final day may not have been in the vulgar class of Derek Dooley’s Christmas Eve departure but for Sheffield Wednesday it was the beginning of the end.

Picking up the pieces after Ron Atkinson’s acrimonious departure to Aston Villa, Francis turned promoted Wednesday into a Premier League heavyweight.

Finishing third in his first full season in charge – the Owls were in the title hunt until the penultimate weekend of the season – Francis then finished seventh in successive seasons with a side packed with England internationals like Des Walker, Chris Woods, Chris Waddle and Andy Sinton.

It was not just in the league where the Owls were flying. After being an unused substitute in Wednesday’s 1991 League Cup triumph against Manchester United, Francis returned to Wembley four times in the 1993 season – even if all they won was the pride of Sheffield after beating city rivals United in the FA Cup semi-final in front of over 70,000 Steel City fans.

While Arsenal were their nemesis in both the League Cup and FA Cup finals, the stature of the Owls was on a steep incline.

Perhaps it was those inflated expectations which finally cost Francis his job, a 13th-place finish in his final term in office bringing an abrupt end to his Wednesday career.

From being just 180 minutes away from being crowned champions of England, the Owls would go on to endure two decades of decline.

“Whenever we talk now about that season we have many people in the game who never realised that we finished third, but we came so close to winning the league,” recalled 58-year-old Francis. “We were never ever given a mention. We went to Selhurst Park to play Crystal Palace.

“We were in third position behind Manchester United and Leeds. We actually drew the game at Crystal Palace and the following day Leeds won at Bramall Lane.

“You could never have imagined then, how far the club would fall. When I was there, we had four good seasons and when you look back now they look more than just good. They were exceptional.

“The first season we finished third then we had a seventh place, another seventh, and then we were 13th in my final season when I felt that one or two players were needed to change the squad slightly and I started to make one or two changes.

“As a result of that, our performance level wasn’t quite as high as it should have been. Whilst it was no surprise at the end of the season when I left, it was still a huge disappointment that I wasn’t backed by the directors to give me the opportunity to change things.

“I think I had proved over the three years that I had made some good signings and kept us in a good position but I think that probably the directors of the football club felt the players I was looking to change were probably good enough to continue for a little longer.

“I think my decision was proved to be right because the following year David Pleat came in and I remember David ringing me asking my thoughts and picking my brain on what I had left him and he continued with the same lot of players more or less.

“He brought in one or two of his own, obviously, but most of them were my players, it was a very poor season.

“In my last season, John Sheridan wasn’t a regular. Chris Waddle on one or two occasions was left out as was Mark Bright and I think you will find all those players were finding it hard to perform consistently at the level which was expected at Sheffield Wednesday.”

Pleat was not the only one who struggled to meet the high expectations at Hillsborough, 15 managers having followed since Francis was sacked on May 20, 1995.

Francis recalls his sacking as the “worst-kept secret in football”, but it still hurt that then-Owls chairman Dave Richards waited for the morning of the FA Cup final – two years to the day since Francis had led the Owls to Wembley – to deliver the axe.

“It wasn’t a shock at all when I left Wednesday,” said Francis. “It was the worst-kept secret in football. With almost three months of the season remaining, most people seemed to think I would be moving on, I was going to be sacked at the end of the season. But I had to act with as much dignity as I possibly could, having enjoyed my time there so much as a player and as manager and my own personal satisfaction. It was important that I made the team finish the season in a reasonably healthy position.”

Despite the bitter split, Francis is proud of what he achieved at Hillsborough.

Promoted from Division Two, in that 1991-92 season the Owls rocked the establishment, beating Chelsea home and away 3-0, seeing off Manchester United 3-2 at Hillsborough while winning away at the likes of Everton and Manchester City.

“Can you imagine a team doing that now? Coming straight up into the Premiership and finishing third?,” asked Francis, who had brought in Chris Woods, Paul Warhurst and Nigel Jemson over the summer.

“We talk this year about Norwich and Swansea having incredibly good seasons, which they are, but to do what we did never quite got the recognition that it merited.

“We had a good shape to us, we were nice and solid, a terrific work ethos and a very useful side. We proved it was no fluke too. Many probably put it down to the momentum of getting promotion which took us through that season but momentum doesn’t normally last quite as long as that.

“It was more than momentum because we proved in the second season it was no flash in the pan because we finished seventh and got into the two cup finals.”

The kick-off to the 1991-92 season could not have been scripted. Atkinson returned to Hillsborough after walking out on them over the summer to take charge at Aston Villa.

On a highly-charged and emotional day, Wednesday raced into a 2-0 lead only to lose 3-2.

Despite a season of mostly success, there were a couple of stunning setbacks, losing 6-1 at home to eventual champions Leeds United and the 7-1 defeat at Arsenal.

Wednesday were actually the better team at Highbury for 70 minutes, and with the game locked at 1-1, Francis sensed an upset.

“Most of my time as a manager I was in the dug out, but this game I was in the directors’ box at Highbury and it was 1-1. I was making my way downstairs because 65 minutes had gone on the clock and I was coming down to make a substitution. I felt that this was a game, at 1-1 despite the fact we were the away side, we could win. As I was coming down we lost a goal so at 2-1 down I just held firm and didn’t do anything and what happened after that was quite extraordinary.”

Francis – who now works as a commentator for Sky Sports – went on to manage his home-town club Birmingham City and Crystal Palace, but regards his Hillsborough days as his best time in management.

“It was undoubtedly my most enjoyable period in management,” he recalled. “That’s not to say I didn’t have enjoyable times at Birmingham. I look back on my management career as a period where I won very little.

“Obviously I won a lot of football games but there are fine margins between winning and not winning. I look back not with any great regrets because what’s the point because I have had a wonderful career as a player and a manager.

“I was very, very close to success at Sheffield Wednesday and Birmingham on numerous occasions. At Birmingham, we were in a League Cup final against Liverpool, lost on penalties against a Liverpool side that did the treble that year in terms of League Cup, FA Cup and UEFA Cup.

“We were only a Championship team and then there were three play-off disappointments.

“You’re a success when you get to the end of the season in the play-offs and then a week later you are a failure.

“That’s the life of a football manager. Everything is judged on what you actually win.”