Come To See The Wednesday!

...You've only come to see the Wednesday! At least that's what the majority of the 28,600 crowd did at Hillsborough on Monday as the Owls notched up the fourth biggest gate in England!

It may not have been the perfect start to 2007 as Wednesday fell to a 2-1 defeat to lowly Hull City in probably their worst performance since Brian Laws took charge - but the bumper crowd of 28,600 shows the expectancy of his rejuvinated Owls side who are now looking towards promotion rather than relegation.

Just three attendances in the Premiership - at Newcastle's match with Manchester United, Liverpool's clash with Bolton Wanderers and Everton's trip to Manchester City - beat the Owls' New Years Day attendance, which was the biggest in the Championship by over 6,000.

The renewed hope in the Owls' came after Wednesday showed their promotion credentials with a superb 2-1 victory at Stoke City before nearly 8,000 Wednesday fans made the short trip to Oakwell to see the Owls sweep aside Barnsley 3-0 in the South Yorkshire derby.

And Brian Laws and his men will be hoping the Hillsborough faithful continue to support the team in numbers and vocally, as his side face a dream FA Cup tie with Premiership club Manchester City at Hillsborough next Sunday (kick-off 3pm) before travelling to Derby and facing a further bumper crowd at home to Sunderland later this month - with an influx of Mackems expected in S6!

Despite the less than impressive start under Paul Sturrock, the Owls still hold the fourth best average attendance in the Championship - with figures expecting to rise in the coming weeks - with an average attendance of 23,606 so far this season.

Roy Keane's Sunderland currently hold the top spot with the Mackems sticking by their team despite a similarly poor start to the season - with over 29,000 averaging at the Stadium of Light this term, capped off with the highest gate of the season with 40,116 attending the Boxing Day clash with Leeds United.

Norwich City have the next best average - who the Owls pipped to the best supported team last season - with 24,682 cramming into Carrow Road on average this term, with Derby County's impressive season seeing the fans flock to Pride Park to give an average of 24,619.

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