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Sheffield show steel

Sheffield Wednesday's chairman Dave Richards has told his chief aggravator, Joe Ashton, that the war of words is over

By ADAM SILLS
Mon Jan 24 2000 - 00:00

Sheffield Wednesday's chairman Dave Richards has told his chief aggravator, Joe Ashton, that the war of words is over. Yet, given the response of Danny Wilson's side to the brickbats thrown at them, Ashton should perhaps be encouraged to keep the insults flying.

In the past 10 days, while the MP has been busy calling for Richards and Wilson to resign and accusing the club of financial mismanagement, Wednesday have won three times. On Saturday they climbed off the bottom of the Premiership with victory over Tottenham, their first away win of the season.

"I've never been in a position where I didn't think we would get out of it," Wilson said. "We can't be complacent and we're certainly not out of the mire yet but results like this help.

"You do consider the sack and the fact is that some people have never been allowed to have a bad run like I've had and have gone long before," he added.

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"I believe the lads we've got here are good enough anyway."

It is not a sentiment shared by Tottenham's manager George Graham. While David Ginola hit the bar and the side netting, and narrowly missed with two other efforts, Tottenham lacked sufficient presence up front.

Graham admitted that his side had been outplayed in the second half but counted eight attempts on goal for the home side as opposed to just two for the visitors in the first period.

Niclas Alexandersson, supplied by Wim Jonk, took one of these opportunities for Wednesday and Gilles de Bilde missed two glorious chances towards the end to make the game safe.

In response the home fans, not for the first time, chided the chairman Alan Sugar to "get his chequebook out" and Graham is desperate to buy a new striker.

"I think I've got money to spend. I hope I've got money to spend," Graham said.

"But the next problem is finding players who are available."

TOTTENHAM: Walker, Carr, Perry, Campbell, Edinburgh (Young 62), Anderton, Clemence (Nielsen 62), Sherwood, Ginola, Armstrong (Korsten 62), Iversen. Subs Not Used: Baardsen, Dominguez.

SHEFFIELD WED: Srnicek, Nolan, Atherton, Walker, Hinchcliffe, Alexandersson, Jonk, Haslam, Quinn (Scott 73), Sibon, De Bilde (Donnelly 89). Subs Not Used: Pressman, Sonner, Cresswell. Goal: Alexandersson 38.

Referee: M Riley (Leeds).