Sheffield Wednesday reporter raffles off ‘lucky’ signed jumper which saw promotion to EFL Championship

Football-mad Sheffield Wednesday supporters have donated more than £2,000 to charity to be in with the chance of winning a ‘lucky’ framed jumper, which has been signed by all the players, the former manager and the chairman of the club.

Back in December, Joe Crann, The Star’s Sheffield Wednesday reporter, put on his Christmassy The Simpsons jumper, and for months he found that each time he wore it to League matches, Wednesday won.

The jumper, which has an image of Homer Simpson in the Mr. Plow episode on it, became a lucky charm for many after fans and players began to notice the correlation.

Joe, aged 33, said: “We do post-match videos, so there's always a video of me and Alex [Miller] after games, and I think people started to notice on that and it just became a whole thing.

“It got to the point where people were saying ‘you better be wearing that jumper’.”

“I spoke about it on our Radio Sheffield podcast, and we've had different celebrities talking about it, like Jon McClure and Joe Carnall, and we’ve had players bringing it up,” he added.

“I get a bit weirdly superstitious about things anyway. Because it was a positive and Wednesday were doing so well for so long, it just became a bit of a running joke,” said Joe.

However, the jumper did see itself put back in the wardrobe after Wednesday lost to Barnsley in March, and again after the Burton Albion away game in April.

Joe, from Meersbrook, said: "When Wednesday lost 4-0 against Peterborough in the first leg of the play-offs semi, I had a load of messages from fans saying ‘we need all the help that we can get, can you please put that jumper back on for the game’, so I did.”

By popular demand, Mr. Plow returned for the second leg against Peterborough United at home, where Wednesday blew fans away as they booked their place in the League One play-off final at Wembley.

Mr. Plow then witnessed first-hand as Josh Windass scored the winning goal in the 120th minute, securing Wednesday’s promotion to the Championship.

Joe said: “On Wembley Way, people were stopping me saying ‘can I have a picture’, and I’m there sweating because it's 20 degrees and I’m stood there in a horrible polyester jumper.

“I don't think I'd have been able to do any of this if they hadn't actually got promoted on the back of it, it was very much reliant on that. I’m glad that they got the job done.”

The jumper has now been kindly framed by Sheffield’s Matrix Frames and Joe will be giving all proceeds to Bluebell Wood Children’s Hospice.

Each £5 guarantees one entry in the raffle to win Mr. Plow, and so far, Joe has helped to raise £2,225 for the charity.

The winner will be drawn at random on June 29 - exactly one month after that Josh Windass winner. To support Joe’s fundraiser, and be in for the chance of winning Mr. Plow, please click here.