Matchday Memories: On This Day 2000 – See Sky Blues Send Owls Down Howling On Oggy’s Adieu
Gordon the Gaffer
On this day (May 6th) in the Millennium year of 2000, the Sky Blues under Gordon Strachan played their penultimate game of a so-so Premier League season but produced a fine 4-1 win over Sheffield Wednesday at Highfield Road to send the Owls down. The Hillsborough side were under the caretaker managership of Peter Shreeves (replacing Danny Wilson who had left the club in March).
Sky Blues captain Gary McAllister was the architect of the Owls’ destruction leading his team (in their new strip) to the win. He grabbed a couple of goals himself, one in each half, as well as hitting the bar allowing City’s Peruvian striker Ysrael Zuniga to head in for the Sky Blues second on 67 minutes.
Gary in the Sky Blue
Zuniga in the Sky Blue
Gary struck first seven minutes before the break to give the home team a 1-0 half-time lead. Then came Ysrael’s goal followed three minutes later by the Scottish international getting his second. City’s Moroccan international star Moustapha Hadji, who was in dazzling form with five good efforts on goal in the first half alone, finally got himself on the scoresheet ten minutes from time to make it a 4-0 humiliation of the Owls. The South Yorkshire team grabbed a tiny consolation in their despair, however, on 81 minutes with their Gilles De Bilde netting past Sky Blue goalie Steve Ogrizovic.
Steve in 1987
Hadji in Action
This game was Oggy’s farewell game for the Sky Blues after a record 601 first team games for the club (plus one goal) between June 1984 and May 2000. Oggy did a double lap of honour round the Highfield Road pitch and brought the house down with tremendous applause from the 19,920 crowd! He had been awarded the No.1 shirt one last time in farewell tribute after sharing the shirt earlier in the season with (now fellow CCFPA member) Swedish international Magnus Hedman who resumed the goalkeeping slot for City’s final game (a 1-0 defeat at Watford).
A contemporary match report from BBC Sport can be accessed here. Thanks to our former committee member Dean Nelson you can watch Oggy’s first farewell by clicking on the image below:-
Oggy claps the fans in return
Of, course in May 2019 CCFPA member Oggy announced his full retirement from the game (and Coventry City) after a further nineteen years fulfilling various backroom roles for the club (35 years service in total) and got another tremendous send-off from the Ricoh crowd in the last home game of the 2018-19 season!
Gordon Strachan‘s Sky Blues in that last home game of 1999-2000 lined up (CCFPA members underlined):-
Steve Ogrizovic, Gary Breen, Paul Telfer, Youssef Chippo (sub. John Eustace -88), Paul Williams, Richard Shaw, Moustapha Hadji, Gary McAllister, Ysrael Zuniga, Robbie Keane and Noel Whelan
Unused subs: Runar Normann, John Eustace, Stephen McPhee, Craig Pead and Magnus Hedman (gk),
Sheffield Wednesday put out the following team:-
Kevin Pressman, Ian Nolan, Andy Hinchcliffe, Wim Jonk, Peter Atherton, Des Walker (sub. Steve Haslam -53), Niclas Alexanderson (sub. Gerald Sibon -61), Barry Horne (sub. Danny Sonner -67), Andy Booth, Gilles De Bilde and Alan Quinn Unused subs: Richard Cresswell and Pavel Srnicek (gk) Referee:- S.Bennett
There were a couple of Sky Blue connections with this Owls’ side. Their ‘keeper Kevin Pressman briefly joined the Sky Blues as goalkeeping cover in 2005 and (now CCFPA member) Peter Atherton had played well over a hundred CCFC games (1991-4) before joining the Owls. Additionally their England International Des Walker is the father of recently registered Sky Blues’ forward Tyler Walker!
CCFC 1999-2000
The Sky Blues finished the season safe enough in fourteenth spot whilst the Wednesday went down in nineteenth with eighteenth placed Wimbledon and bottom club Watford (who had actually defeated City on the last day)!
Manchester United took the title a massive eighteen points ahead of runners up Arsenal.
Thanks to CCFPA’s Mike Young (& Dean Nelson) for sourcing the images.
