Source: TheGuardian
Sheffield Wednesday’s family affair and an acapella Bon Jovi rendition
With the Football League playoff semi-finals having proved themselves – yet again – over the past few weeks to be just about the best set of fixtures in the entire football calendar, the finals were somewhat more jittery, stodgy affairs over the bank holiday weekend. Four goals were spread across the first 362 minutes of showpiece action at Wembley, with two 1-1 draws going all the way to penalties … then Josh Windass popped up with one of the more dramatic winners you’ll ever see in the 363rd, sending Sheffield Wednesday up to the Championship at the expense of South Yorkshire neighbours Barnsley.“That was probably the worst standard of game you’ll ever watch,” said Windass in the immediate aftermath, not entirely capturing the mood of the 40-odd thousand in blue and white going spare behind him at Wembley. “The standard from both teams was shocking, to be honest. There was no real quality on show but luckily we got the winning goal.” There was nothing lucky about his header – a bullet from 12 yards – 15 years on from his dad, Dean, scoring his own playoff final Wembley winner for Hull. Windass Sr was rather pleased for his lad.So, Wednesday head up with Plymouth and Ipswich, and with Leeds, Leicester and Southampton joining them there are plenty of what people like to call Big Clubs knocking around in the division next year. Big Clubs, of course, are those with large average attendances. Or ones that won something once. Or were in the top flight at some point in the 1990s. Though the most important aspect of being a Big Club is people being prepared to argue over whether you, a Big Club, are Bigger than them, another Big Club.No such worries for Luton, who are more likely to spend the next 12 months being patronised to within an inch of their lives, having beaten Coventry from the spot. In doing so, they equalled Wimbledon’s record for the fastest rise from the fifth tier to the top flight – nine seasons. At the victory parade on Monday, manager Rob Edwards provided one of the more surreal moments of the long weekend, taking to the stage to sing an acapella rendition of Bon Jovi’s Always for the assembled Hatters, keeping a promise he had made when joining the club in November. It’s really not that bad. Or at least not as bad as suggested by the words, “Luton manager Rob Edwards takes to the stage to sing an acapella rendition of Bon Jovi’s Always”.And on Sunday, with League Two acting as the cheese in the final sandwich, Carlisle had their own singalong – to popular Liverpudlian songsmith Jamie Webster – after they squeezed past Stockport on penalties to seal promotion to League One. “I don’t know what it means, I don’t know who we’re playing,” said dazed United manager Paul Simpson afterwards. “I didn’t want to look until we got there, and we’ve got there.” Roll on next season. Continue reading......read full article
