Sheffield Wednesday players found out points deduction news during warm-up before West Brom win
The Owls will not start next season with a points deduction after a shock announcement
Liam Palmer revealed that he found out about Sheffield Wednesday’s points deduction for next season being completely wiped out during the warm-up before the final day 2-1 win against West Brom.
In what was an incredible moment, new owner David Storch took the microphone and said he had a ‘gift’ for supporters. A video was played on the big screen inside Hillsborough which counted the points deduction down from 15 to zero. Fans had been told to arrive early and they jumped out of their seats in jubilant scenes.
It was a major surprise to the supporters and also to Palmer and his team-mates, who only found out themselves minutes before.
“During the warm-up,” he replied when asked by The Star when he found out the news. “Henrik whispered in my ear ‘zero points next season’ and my reaction was ‘let’s f****** go, then!”
It means that Wednesday will start next season in League One on equal terms with their rivals when they feared they could be in a relegation scrap right from the beginning. Looking forward, Palmer thinks that will change the picture of the whole summer leading into next term.
He continued: “I think it is massive in terms of the whole feel. Obviously I have played under a points deduction before. It was 12 points last time in the Championship and it does not seem a lot but we stayed on minus for a while. To have that as a psychological boost for next season in terms of recruitment and the type of player the club will want to bring in, I think t is huge.”
The news led to a feelgood and electric atmosphere, with Palmer scoring Wednesday’s second goal to double the advantage after Nathaniel Chalobah gave them the lead. Although they conceded with eight minutes remaining they hung on to claim a first home win in more than a year and just a second victory in the whole season which meant they finished on zero points.
On his goal, Palmer added: “To get on the scoresheet, from a personal view, but just to give us that buffer in the in the game, was nice. We probably could have had a few more with a few nice breakaways from the boys but we managed to see it through. “