21-year wait, flashbacks and a new ground - what Sheffield Wednesday fans can expect from 2026/27 League One season
Sheffield Wednesday’s 2026/27 League One campaign will see them face a new opponent, renew a Yorkshire rivalry and make one of the longest trips English football has to offer.
“Where even is Bromley?”
It is a question a number of Sheffield Wednesday supporters started asking as the Ravens closed in on a historic promotion to League One last month.
The Owls have never faced the London-based outfit, meaning Hayes Lane, which has been Bromley’s home since 1938, will be a new ground for Wednesdayites to tick off next season.
Just a decade on from their first season in the National League, Bromley, who won the League Two title this season, are now preparing for their very first season in England’s third tier. Clashes with the likes of Wednesday and Leicester City, who are two clubs who have dropped into League One because of mismanagement off the pitch, will mark historic occasions for Andy Woodman’s side.
With a capacity of just over 6,000, the trip to Hayes Lane, which is currently known as the Copperjax Community Stadium for sponsorship reasons, will be a far cry from what Wednesday and Leicester have been used to. Nevertheless, you can guarantee Wednesdayites will pack out the away end as they explore unfamiliar territory for the first time.
MK Dons and Cambridge United joined Bromley in clinching automatic promotion to League One from League Two this season, meaning two more Southerly trips have been added to the Owls’ fixture list. However, trips to Stadium MK, which has the capacity to accommodate a huge away following, and the Abbey Stadium were venues Wednesday visited in their last League One campaign in 2022/23.
But following Notts County’s 3-0 win over Salford City in Monday’s League Two play-off final in scorching temperatures at Wembley, Wednesday will visit a stadium they have not played at in 14 years. Ryan Lowe and Gary Madine were on the scoresheet on the Owls’ last visit to Meadow Lane in March 2012, helping them seal a 2-1 win to help Dave Jones maintain his 100 per cent record as manager after succeeding Gary Megson a few weeks earlier.
Other grounds on the League One circuit next season that Wednesday have not visited in many a year include Stockport County’s Edgeley Park (2005), Leyton Orient’s Brisbane Road (2012) and Stevenage’s Broadhall Way (2011).
The trip to Broadhall Way will trigger flashbacks of the 5-1 humiliation Wednesday suffered at the hands of Stevenage in September 2011 in what was the very first meeting between the two clubs. Stevenage also prevailed at Hillsborough in the 2011/12 campaign, winning the reverse fixture 1-0 via a Scott Laird winner to complete a famous double.
And while on the subject of flashbacks, Wednesday’s trip to the Weston Homes Stadium to face Peterborough United will trigger mixed memories for Owls supporters. It was at Peterborough, of course, where the Owls’ world collapsed in May 2023, losing the first leg of their League One play-off semi-final 4-0, before they producerd an unprecedented comeback at Hillsborough six nights later.
As far as the local scene is concerned, Wednesday will compete in four Yorkshire derbies next season, taking on South Yorkshire counterparts Barnsley and Doncaster Rovers plus West Yorkshire duo Bradford City and Huddersfield Town.
Although Wednesday made the trip to Valley Parade for an EFL Trophy clash in August 2023, they have not played Bradford for 21 years, last meeting in the 2004/05 campaign. The Bantams did the double over the Owls that season, winning 3-1 at Valley Parade in October before winning 2-1 at Hillsborough in February.
You have to go back to October 2002 for the last time Wednesday beat Bradford, winning a First Division clash 2-1 at Hillsborough via a Gerald Sibon double.
Although they fall outside the Yorkshire bubble, trips to Stockport, Wigan Athletic and Blackpool will see Wednesdayites travel over the Pennines in the knowledge they have not got all that far to go. The Calisen North Stand at Wigan’s Brick Community Stadium, which houses the away supporters behind one of the goals, has been packed out by Owls fans before, with more than 4,500 making the trip on the opening day of the 2018/19 season, and there is a high probability they will do the same again.
The trip to Mansfield Town, who the Owls have not faced in the league since 1979/80, is also not that long a journey. Wednesday last visited the One Call Stadium in October 2021 for an EFL Trophy clash, winning 2-1 via a late winner from former loanee Florian Kamberi.
The longest trip of the season, of course, will see Wednesdayites make the 590-mile round trip to Plymouth Argyle. Fortunately, the Owls won’t have to make two trips to that neck of the woods following Exeter City’s relegation to League Two.
With Wednesday, next term, desperate to get back into the habit of winning games after a season unlike any other this time around, their latest League One tour promises to produce very different challenges to the ones produced in the Championship.
With respect, going up against Wednesday is widely going to be considered as one of the biggest games of the season for many clubs, meaning the Owls must have their wits about them. However, they have been here before and know it is far from easy.