2015–16 Sheffield Wednesday F.C. season

Sheffield Wednesday

2015–16 season
Owner	Dejphon Chansiri
Head Coach	Carlos Carvalhal
Stadium	Hillsborough
Championship	5th
FA Cup	4th round (eliminated by Shrewsbury)
League Cup	5th round (eliminated by Stoke City)
Top goalscorer	League: Fernando Forestieri (12) All: Fernando Forestieri (12)
Highest home attendance	35,065 (vs Arsenal; League Cup)
Lowest home attendance	11,799 (vs Oxford United; League Cup)
Average home league attendance	21,499
Home colours Away colours Third colours
← 2014–15 2016–17 →

The 2015–16 season is Sheffield Wednesday's fourth consecutive season in the Championship.^[1] Along with competing in the Championship, the club will also participate in the FA Cup and League Cup.

The season covers the period from 1 July 2015 to 30 June 2016.

Overview

Pre-season

Prior to the start of the pre-season schedule the club announced that eleven players had been released after reaching the end of their contracts.^[2] Also in June head coach Stuart Gray was sacked after eighteen months in charge.^[3] Carlos Carvalhal was announced as Gray's replacement on June 30, 2015.^[4]

August

Sheffield Wednesday got their 2015-16 season underway at Hillsborough to Bristol City - a match that The Owls won 2-0 thanks to second half goals from Tom Lees and Lewis McGugan who signed a permanent deal with the club after spending last season on loan at the club. This was followed by a victory in the Capital One Cup - which was also at Hillsborough - with a 4–1 victory over League Two side Mansfield Town. The second league match of the season was a 2-1 away loss to Ipswich Town. This was followed by two consecutive 1–1 draws which were at home to Reading and away to Leeds United respectively. In the next game The Owls progressed into the third round of the Capital One Cup with a 1-0 over Oxford United. This was followed by the first home defeat of the season with a 3-1 loss to Middlesbrough.

September

The Owls lost their first game of September in a 3-1 defeat to Burnley at Turf Moor. This was followed by a goalless draw at the Macron Stadium against lowly Bolton Wanderers and The Owls' second league victory of the season - a 3-2 win against Fulham at Hillsborough, in which star signing Fernando Forestieri scored his first goal since moving from Watford, a simple close range finish on 5 minutes. A few days later Sheffield Wednesday progressed into the fourth round of the Capital One Cup with a 1-0 win against Newcastle United with Lewis McGugan scoring the game's only goal in a shock result. The Owls' last game of September was a 2–1 away win at Brentford thanks to an Atdhe Nuhiu penalty and a late winner from Lucas João.

October

The Owls got October off to a winning start with a 3–1 win against Preston North End at Hillsborough. This was followed by two consecutive draws - 1–1 against Hull City at Hillsborough and 0–0 away to Queens Park Rangers. The following game saw Sheffield Wednesday win 2–1 against local rivals Rotherham United at the New York Stadium thanks to a goal each from Fernando Forestieri and Lucas João respectively. The Owls' next game was a 3–0 victory over Premier League side Arsenal in the Capital One Cup at Hillsborough. To end the month The Owls won 1–0 at home against Nottingham Forest - thus completing the month unbeaten.

November

Wednesday started the month with a goalless draw with unbeaten in the league Brighton followed by a surprise 3–1 defeat against Charlton. After an international break Wednesday beat local rivals Huddersfield Town 3–1 with Kieran Lee scoring along with a Lucas João brace after Sean Scannell's opener for the Terriers. This result was followed by a 2–2 draw away at Blackburn - with Modou Sougou and Lucas João scoring for The Owls.

December

Two successive draws followed for The Wednesday - the first being 0–0 at home to Derby County. This was followed by a 2–2 draw away to Cardiff City - with a Fernando Forestieri goal and Barry Bannan's first goal for the club rescuing a point for The Owls. A 2–1 loss away at Milton Keynes Dons, in which Gary Hoopers consolation was his first for the club, was followed by a 4–1 thrashing of Wolverhampton Wanderers at Hillsborough - with a Fernando Forestieri brace and a goal each from Daniel Pudil and Gary Hooper earning all three points for The Owls. Sheffield Wednesday's last home match of 2015 saw them win 3–0 against Birmingham City - with another Fernando Forestieri brace and a goal from Kieran Lee securing the win. A 1–0 loss away to Middlesbrough was Sheffield Wednesday's last game of 2015 - ending the year in 7th place in the league table. A rotated side conceded after just 44 seconds to Christian Stuani, in a poor performance.

January

A Ross Wallace goal was enough for The Owls to get off to a winning start in 2016 with a 1–0 win at Craven Cottage against Fulham. They played the Londoners again the week after, winning again (2-1) making three wins over Fulham this campaign. Atdhe Nuhiu and Barry Bannan scored. Two successive wins followed against Bolton Wanderers (3–2) and Leeds United (2–0) - both at Hillsborough. Gary Hooper made his move to Hillsborough permanant in mid January from Norwich for a rumoured £3,000,000. Joe Bennett also joined on loan. Following those matches a 1–1 draw away to Reading saw The Owls end January unbeaten in the Championship. A 3–2 defeat away to Shrewsbury Town saw Sheffield Wednesday exit the FA Cup in the 4th Round. Rhoys Wiggins and Sergiu Bus departed on deadline day to Bournemouth (£200,000) and US Salernitana (loan) respectively. Irish midfielder Aiden McGeady joined on loan from Everton.

February

February's first league match saw The Owls maintain their unbeaten run in the Championship with a 1–1 draw at home to Burnley - with Kieran Lee getting the equalising goal to earn a point for Sheffield Wednesday. The second match of the month was away at Birmingham, in which The Owls won 2-1, courtesy of two late Gary Hooper goals. This left them in the play-off positions.

Players

Transfers in

Date from	Position	Nationality	Name	From	Fee	Ref.
1 July 2015	CB		Darryl Lachman	Twente	Undisclosed	[5]
2 July 2015	CB		Brad Beatson	Academy	Trainee	[6]
8 July 2015	RW		Marco Matias	Nacional	Undisclosed	[7]
9 July 2015	GK		Lewis Price	Free agent [lower-alpha 1]	Free transfer	[8]
10 July 2015	LM		Ross Wallace	Free agent [lower-alpha 2]	Free transfer	[9]
16 July 2015	AM		Lewis McGugan	Watford	Undisclosed	[10]
31 July 2015	ST		Lucas João	Nacional	Undisclosed	[11]
3 August 2015	RB		Jonatas Centeno	Free agent [lower-alpha 3]	Free transfer	[12]
5 August 2015	LB		Rhoys Wiggins	Charlton Athletic	Undisclosed	[13]
5 August 2015	RW		Modou Sougou	Free agent [lower-alpha 4]	Free transfer	[14]
29 August 2015	FW		Fernando Forestieri	Watford	Undisclosed	[15]
31 August 2015	CM		Barry Bannan	Crystal Palace	Free transfer	[16]
13 January 2016	RB		Jack Hunt	Crystal Palace	Undisclosed	[17]
22 January 2016	FW		Gary Hooper	Norwich City	Undisclosed	[18]

Transfers out

Date from	Position	Nationality	Name	To	Fee	Ref.
1 July 2015	RB		Lewis Buxton	Rotherham United [lower-alpha 1]	Free transfer	[20]
1 July 2015	CM		Giles Coke	Ipswich Town [lower-alpha 2]	Released	[20]
1 July 2015	CM		Paul Corry	Northampton Town [lower-alpha 3]	Free transfer	[20]
1 July 2015	CB		Rafael Floro	Belenenses [lower-alpha 4]	Free transfer	[20]
1 July 2015	CB		Dejan Kelhar	Olimpija Ljubljana [lower-alpha 5]	Free transfer	[20]
1 July 2015	CF		Gary Madine	Bolton Wanderers [lower-alpha 6]	Free transfer	[20]
1 July 2015	AM		Jacques Maghoma	Birmingham City [lower-alpha 7]	Free transfer	[20]
1 July 2015	LB		Joe Mattock	Rotherham United [lower-alpha 8]	Free transfer	[20]
1 July 2015	CM		Rhys McCabe	Dunfermline Athletic [lower-alpha 9]	Free transfer	[20]
1 July 2015	RB		Matt Young	Dover Athletic [lower-alpha 10]	Free transfer	[20]
1 July 2015	CB		Kamil Zayatte	Al-Raed [lower-alpha 11]	Free transfer	[20]
2 July 2015	GK		Chris Kirkland	Preston North End [lower-alpha 12]	Free transfer	[32]
2 July 2015	CF		Chris Maguire	Rotherham United [lower-alpha 13]	Free transfer	[34]
1 September 2015	CF		Stevie May	Preston North End	Undisclosed	[35]
1 February 2016	LB		Rhoys Wiggins	Bournemouth	£200,000	[36]

Loans in

Date from	Position	Nationality	Name	From	Date until	Ref.
1 July 2015	MF		Vincent Sasso	Braga	End of season	[37]
3 July 2015	DF		Jack Hunt	Crystal Palace	13 January 2016 [38]	[39]
10 July 2015	MF		Álex López	Celta de Vigo	End of season	[40]
27 August 2015	DF		Michael Turner	Norwich City	End of season	[41]
29 August 2015	DF		Daniel Pudil	Watford	End of season	[42]
27 October 2015	FW		Gary Hooper	Norwich City	17 January 2016	[43]
18 January 2016	DF		Joe Bennett	Aston Villa	End of season	[44]
1 February 2016	MF		Aiden McGeady	Everton	End of Season	[45]

Loans out

Date from	Position	Nationality	Name	To	Date until	Ref.
6 August 2015	RB		Marnick Vermijl	Preston North End	End of Season	[46]
12 October 2015	FW		Caolan Lavery	Portsmouth	12 January 2016	[47]
7 January 2016	CB		Darryl Lachman	SC Cambuur	End of Season	[48]
2 February 2016	FW		Sergiu Buș	Salernitana	End of Season	[49]

New contracts

Date from	Position	Nationality	Name	Length	Expiry	Ref.
4 June 2015	CM		Kieran Lee	2 years	June 2017	[50]
23 June 2015	DM		José Semedo	1 year	June 2016	[51]
30 June 2015	CB		Glenn Loovens	1 year	June 2016	[52]
31 July 2015	CB		Tom Lees	4 years	June 2019	[53]
28 August 2015	GK		Cameron Dawson	2 years	June 2017	[54]
28 August 2015	GK		Joe Wildsmith	2 years	June 2017	[54]
2 September 2015	GK		Keiren Westwood	3 years	June 2018	[55]
14 January 2016	MF		Barry Bannan	3½ years	June 2019	[56]
14 January 2016	FW		Atdhe Nuhiu	2½ years	June 2018	[57]
15 January 2016	DF		Glenn Loovens	2½ years	June 2018	[58]
15 January 2016	MF		Sam Hutchinson	2½ years	June 2018	[59]

International call ups

No	Pos	Name	Team	Competition	Opposition	Date	Caps	Goals	Ref
18	FW !FW	Lucas João	Portugal	Friendly	Russia, Luxembourg	14–17 November 2015	2	0	[60]

Pre-season friendlies

On 18 June 2015, Sheffield Wednesday announced their pre-season schedule.^[61]

Competitions

Championship

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Promotion, qualification or relegation
3	Burnley	31	15	11	5	48	26	+22	56	Qualification for Championship play-offs[lower-alpha 1]
4	Brighton & Hove Albion	30	15	11	4	40	30	+10	56
5	Sheffield Wednesday	31	14	11	6	49	33	+16	53
6	Derby County	31	13	12	6	40	27	+13	51
7	Birmingham City	31	13	9	9	38	30	+8	48

Results Summary

Overall								Home						Away
Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD
31	14	11	6	49	33	+16	53	10	5	1	32	13	+19	4	6	5	17	20	−3

Last updated: February 13, 2016.
Source: Championship

Results by Round

Round	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30	31	32	33	34	35	36	37	38	39	40	41	42	43	44	45	46
Ground	H	A	H	A	H	A	A	H	A	H	H	A	A	H	H	A	H	A	H	A	A	H	H	A	A	H	H	A	H	A	H	A	H	A	H	A	A	H	A	H	A	H	H	A	H	A
Result	W	L	D	D	L	L	D	W	W	W	D	D	W	W	D	L	W	D	D	D	L	W	W	L	W	W	W	D	D	W	W
Position	4	10	11	8	15	19	18	14	11	10	9	9	9	8	7	9	8	8	7	8	9	7	7	7	7	7	6	6	7	6	5

Last updated: February 13, 2016.
Source: BBC Sport
Ground: A = Away; H = Home. Result: D = Draw; L = Loss; W = Win; P = Postponed.

Matches

On 17 June 2015, the fixtures for the forthcoming season were announced.^[62]

League Cup

On 16 June 2015, the first round draw was made, Sheffield Wednesday were drawn at home against Mansfield Town.^[63] Following this The Owls were later drawn at home against Oxford United,^[64] away against Newcastle United,^[65] home against Arsenal ^[66] and away against Stoke City.^[67]

FA Cup

Sheffield Wednesday will play in the FA Cup from the third round.

Squad statistics

Appearances

As of February 13, 2016

No.	Pos	Nat	Player	Total		Championship		FA Cup		League Cup
				Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
1	GK		Keiren Westwood	21	0	21	0	0	0	0	0
2	DF		Liam Palmer	14	0	8+2	0	2	0	2	0
3	DF		Michael Turner	8	1	7	1	1	0	0	0
4	MF		Sam Hutchinson	25	1	22	0	0	0	2+1	1
5	DF		Glenn Loovens	26	0	22	0	1	0	3	0
6	MF		José Semedo	14	1	6+3	0	1+1	0	2+1	1
7	FW		Marco Matias	12	2	7+1	2	1	0	1+2	0
8	MF		Filipe Melo	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
9	FW		Atdhe Nuhiu	33	4	17+10	2	0+2	1	1+3	1
10	MF		Lewis McGugan	14	5	4+6	2	1	2	1+2	1
12	DF		Joe Bennett	1	0	0	0	1	0	0	0
13	FW		Caolan Lavery	2	0	0	0	0	0	2	0
14	FW		Gary Hooper	18	10	10+6	10	1	0	1	0
15	DF		Tom Lees	25	2	20	2	0	0	5	0
17	MF		Jérémy Hélan	22	0	5+12	0	0+1	0	3+1	0
18	FW		Lucas João	34	8	10+18	6	2	0	4	2
20	MF		Kieran Lee	35	6	26+3	5	1+1	0	4	1
21	MF		Álex López	15	0	7+5	0	1	0	2	0
23	DF		Vincent Sasso	14	0	8+2	0	2	0	2	0
24	MF		Modou Sougou	15	3	5+4	2	2	0	3+1	1
26	DF		Claude Dielna	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
28	GK		Joe Wildsmith	12	0	6+1	0	1	0	4	0
32	DF		Jack Hunt	27	0	23+1	0	0	0	3	0
33	MF		Ross Wallace	33	3	25+3	2	2	0	3	1
34	GK		Lewis Price	7	0	4+1	0	1	0	1	0
36	DF		Daniel Pudil	28	2	24+1	2	1	0	1+1	0
37	MF		Aiden McGeady	3	0	1+2	0	0	0	0	0
41	MF		Barry Bannan	26	2	23	1	1	1	1+1	0
45	FW		Fernando Forestieri	25	12	24+1	12	0	0	0	0
Out on loan
11	FW		Sergiu Buș	3	0	0+2	0	0	0	0+1	0
19	DF		Marnick Vermijl	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
22	DF		Darryl Lachman	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Players no longer at the club
16	DF		Rhoys Wiggins	9	0	5+1	0	0	0	3	0

Goalscorers

Includes all competitive matches.

As of February 13, 2016

Rank	Pos.	Nationality	No.	Player	Championship	FA Cup	League Cup	Total
1	FW		45	Fernando Forestieri	12	0	0	12
2	FW		14	Gary Hooper	10	0	0	10
3	FW		18	Lucas João	6	0	2	8
4	MF		20	Kieran Lee	4	0	1	5
	MF		10	Lewis McGugan	2	2	1	5
5	FW		9	Atdhe Nuhiu	2	1	1	4
6	MF		24	Modou Sougou	2	0	1	3
	MF		33	Ross Wallace	2	0	1	3
7	MF		41	Barry Bannan	1	1	0	2
	DF		15	Tom Lees	2	0	0	2
	FW		7	Marco Matias	2	0	0	2
	DF		36	Daniel Pudil	2	0	0	2
8	MF		4	Sam Hutchinson	0	0	1	1
	MF		6	José Semedo	0	0	1	1
	DF		3	Michael Turner	1	0	0	1
Own Goals					0	0	0	0

Disciplinary record

As of February 08, 2016

No.	Pos.	Name	Championship		FA Cup		League Cup		Total
17	MF	Jérémy Hélan	4	1	0	0	0	0	4	1
4	MF	Sam Hutchinson	9	0	0	0	2	0	11	0
41	MF	Barry Bannan	7	0	0	0	0	0	7	0
32	DF	Jack Hunt	6	0	0	0	0	0	6	0
45	MF	Fernando Forestieri	5	0	0	0	0	0	5	0
20	MF	Kieran Lee	4	0	0	0	1	0	5	0
21	MF	Álex López	5	0	0	0	0	0	5	0
36	DF	Daniel Pudil	5	0	0	0	0	0	5	0
24	MF	Modou Sougou	2	0	0	0	2	0	4	0
5	DF	Glenn Loovens	2	0	0	0	1	0	3	0
7	FW	Marco Matias	2	0	0	0	1	0	3	0
33	MF	Ross Wallace	2	0	0	0	1	0	3	0
18	FW	Lucas João	1	0	1	0	0	0	2	0
10	MF	Lewis McGugan	1	0	0	0	1	0	2	0
2	DF	Liam Palmer	1	0	0	0	1	0	2	0
15	DF	Tom Lees	0	0	0	0	1	0	1	0
9	FW	Atdhe Nuhiu	0	0	1	0	0	0	1	0

Awards

Player of the Month

Month	First	%	Second	%	Third	%	Ref
August	Marco Matias	30%	Kieran Lee	15%	Sam Hutchinson Jack Hunt	11%	[68]
September	Kieran Lee	28%	Atdhe Nuhiu	24%	Ross Wallace	15%	[69]
October	Barry Bannan	31%	Fernando Forestieri	16%	Sam Hutchinson	13%	[70]
November	Lucas João	69%	Fernando Forestieri	17%	Kieran Lee	7%	[71]
December	Fernando Forestieri	84%	N/A	–	N/A	–	[72]
January	Gary Hooper	62%	Barry Bannan	17%	Fernando Forestieri	10%	[73]

References

Sheffield Wednesday F.C. seasons 1867–68 1880–81 1881–82 1882–83 1883–84 1884–85 1885–86 1886–87 1887–88 1888–89 1889–90 1890–91 1891–92 1892–93 1893–94 1894–95 1895–96 1896–97 1897–98 1898–99 99–1900 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 99–2000 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

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