Former Sheffield Wednesday striker Efan Ekoku has opened up on his time at the club, revealing ‘the atmosphere stunk’ on the latest episode of The Wednesday ‘Til I Die podcast.
Ekoku joined the Owls as they were fighting to avoid a second successive relegation in 2000/01, which would have seen them drop into the third tier of English football.
The South Yorkshire side ended up finishing in 17th position in Division One as the Hillsborough outfit managed to stay up in Ekoku’s first season, but their good fortune soon changed.
Relegation followed two years later, prompting the retired Nigeria international to join Brentford, however, he disclosed how he would have thought twice about joining Wednesday had he known the extent of the trouble that the club were in prior to his arrival.
He said: “The atmosphere stunk, one word, and honestly, you know what, I don’t even recall looking at the table when my agent called saying that Wednesday were keen on signing me. I knew that they weren’t doing great, but I don’t think I looked at the table because if I’d known that you were bottom, I probably wouldn’t have joined.
“Because, you know, if I’d taken everything into account, if I’d known more about what was going on, about the state of the finances, about the attitude of lots of players, about the quality of coaching that I was about to join, I probably would have stayed where I was.”
TIF Thoughts on Sheffield Wednesday…
Wednesday spent two seasons in the third tier of English football before winning promotion to the Championship in 2005.
Since then, it’s been a frustrating time for the four-time English champions, having suffered another relegation in 2009/10 and failed to win any silverware since 1991.
So Ekoku’s claim appears to recall a rather grim period for the club, who have occasionally flirted with Premier League promotion since his retirement.
The current side are fighting to beat the drop once again as Darren Moore’s men aim to recover from a six-point deduction at the start of the campaign, but they face an uphill struggle for the remainder of the season.
In other news: ‘Nothing you can do about it’ – Carlton Palmer shares frustration as SWFC dealt blow