Laws can't wait to end water torture

13 April 2012
It is one of the most keenly contested relegation battles for decades.

Fearing for their Championship lives, some of English football's most romantic names are on the brink of dropping into the third tier. With just two games remaining, three points separate Coventry, Norwich, Barnsley, Leicester and Southampton.

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Turmoil: Laws' season has turned into a nightmare

All are cup winners in their time with gates pushing 20,000 — and all are fighting to avoid a huge fall from grace.

Below them, one point worse off and in the final relegation position, lie Sheffield Wednesday, whose embattled manager Brian Laws talks about the fight for survival while here we analyse the run-in for the teams in trouble . . .

Brian Laws looked helplessly over the flood that had engulfed Hillsborough and swallowed hard. Sheffield Wednesday's beleaguered manager has been battling to keep his head above water ever since.

A season that was supposed to hold such rich promise for Laws and his team has been swept along on a torrent of broken hearts, broken dreams and broken promises, just catching a breath once in a while.

Now Wednesday, patched-up, bedraggled and near-exhausted by their long campaign of strife, need to win at Leicester today and against Norwich next week to guarantee staying in the Championship.

The reputation Laws so carefully crafted teaching Scunthorpe to punch above their weight is in danger of being dented. He has lost top players, his chairman and, if a mooted takeover is effected, maybe his job.

Laws smiles a brief, mirthless smile as he recollects the summertime phone call that unleashed hell.

He said: "I got a bizarre call saying the pitch was waterlogged. I said: 'Well, that'll be all right'. Then I was told: 'No, it's serious', so I went: 'yeah, righto'. When I turned up, I couldn't even get into the ground.

"It was six foot deep. There was everything floating in there. We even had fish . . . although they were dead, like. You had to see it to believe it. We thought we mightn't even kick off.

"That sowed the seeds. It was four weeks before our first game. We had to re-lay the pitch, the groundstaff were working 24/7, the changing rooms were decimated. It's still in progress.

"Everything had to be ripped out. It's only really just showing signs of being a football club again.

"It wasn't just that. We didn't spend as much as we thought we would, and we sold players. It was a pre-season of turmoil. We had wanted to build on last season, what we did was deplete it.

"The players should have been absolutely buzzing but lost the first six games. When they did get going we were all right. But we had six games to catch up. It felt like we'd been deducted 18 points.

"When we did catch up, we started to run out of steam. We were getting long-term injuries, key injuries, the heart and soul of your team. Then the chairman resigned."

Speculation that new owners would recruit Alan Shearer, like Laws a graduate of Wallsend Boys Club, hardly helped but the former Grimsby and Scunthorpe manager had more pressing concerns.

"It left us without a leader. In Dave Allen's defence, if I ever asked him for anything, he'd give me a Yes or a No straight away. Without him, you're beating around the bush. The takeover talk started then. It was going to happen, but it hasn't. It's gone very quiet now. I've earned a bite of the cherry here. Our misfortunes outweigh those of all the other clubs down there combined."

Laws declines to itemise a chronic injury list almost as deep as the flood water: "It's the worst I've seen. I've got 32 players but I'm working with 15. Five are loans, two are goalkeepers. It'll be YT boys next."

Laws, relegated under Brian Clough with Nottingham Forest, admitted: "We all felt we were too good to go down, opposition players told us we were. We weren't. I can't repeat what Cloughie said to us. The reality is that being a big club gives you no licence. But there's a camaraderie in the camp that was not there at Forest."

"I'd be devastated, I don't even want to contemplate it." Laws is clear. "Even if we win at Leicester it goes to the last game. But the pressure is on them at home, more so if we score an early goal. We have to make sure we have a fighting chance next week.

"I had a letter from a supporter. He said: 'If you give everything you've got and there's no more left, the fans will give you that bit extra, that last breath'. I read it to the players word for word.

"If we stay up, it will be better than Harry Houdini escaping from the darker reaches. If I survive this, I'll try pushing water uphill. It's more experience crammed into one year of management than I had in 15 years."

The pressure will be even more acute as Wednesday will be relegated if they lose at Leicester and Coventry, Norwich and Barnsley all draw and Southampton win on Monday.

At the other end of the table, West Bromwich will win promotion if they beat Southampton on Monday night. If Hull and Bristol City both fail to win today, West Bromwich will be promoted regardless of Monday's result.

Stoke will claim the second automatic promotion place if they beat Colchester and Hull do not win. Stoke will also be in the top flight for the first time since 1985 if they draw, Hull lose and Bristol City fail to win.

THE CHAMPIONSHIP BATTLE FOR SURVIVAL

17th COVENTRY 52pts (GD-9)

Remaining fixtures — Today: Wolves (h); May 4: Charlton (a)

Last five games: WDLLL (4 pts)

Average attendance 2007-08: 18,720

Last time in Premier League: 2000-01

18th NORWICH 52pts (GD-10)

Remaining fixtures — Today: QPR (h); May 4: Sheff Wed (a)

Last five games: WLWLL (6 pts)

Average attendance 2007-08: 24,512

Last time in Premier League: 2004-05

19th BARNSLEY 52pts (GD-13)

Remaining fixtures — Today: Charlton (h); May 4: Cardiff (a)

Last five games: LWWLL (6 pts)

Average attendance 2007-08: 11,462

Last time in Premier League: 1997-98

20th LEICESTER 51pts (GD-1)

Remaining fixtures — Today: Sheff Wed (h); May 4: Stoke (a)

Last five games: LWLDW (7 pts)

Average attendance 2007-08: 23,128

Last time in Premier League: 2003-04

21st SOUTHAMPTON 50pts (GD-17)

Remaining fixtures — Monday: West Brom (a); May 4: Sheff Utd (h)

Last five games: DLWDL (5 pts)

Average attendance 2007-08: 20,767

Last time in Premier League: 2004-05

22nd SHEFFIELD WED 49pts (GD-6)

Remaining fixtures — Today: Leicester (a); May 4: Norwich (h)

Last five games: DDDDL (4 pts)

Average attendance 2007-08: 20,738

Last time in Premier League: 1999-00

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