Fri Jun 05, 2020 12:46 pm
How Sheffield Wednesday striker turned down Neil Warnock and Sheffield United…
Sheffield Star
Friday 5th June 2020
Lloyd Owusu couldn’t really have asked for a better Sheffield Wednesday debut, but he has explained that he was almost in a red and white shirt rather than a blue and white one…
Owusu joined the Owls from Brentford in 2002 after helping the Bees to the Second Division Play-Off final in the 2001/02 season, but had to wait until September before he was able to don SWFC colours for the first time due to an injury that he was carrying on his arrival.
As quoted on the club’s official website recently, the 43-year-old explained that Sheffield United’s Neil Warnock was also keen on landing his services – the likes of Oldham Athletic Crystal Palace were also said to be interested – but he couldn’t go back on his word to make the move to Hillsborough.
“How did I join Sheffield Wednesday?” he asked. “I was playing at Brentford, we had the play-off final against Stoke and I was in the final year of my contract, so I was a free agent in the summer. I was speaking to quite a few clubs at the time, Stoke, Gillingham, Wednesday and even at the last minute, Sheffield United!
“I came up to see Terry Yorath and had a good look around the club. Sheffield United came in just a few days after I’d shook hands with Terry. I said to Neil Warnock that I’m a man of my word and I’d given Wednesday my hand.
“As a player you want to play at the highest level you can. Obviously having been in League One for most of my career, I wanted to test myself against the best players. It was a daunting time, because you go from playing in front of five to six thousand people at Griffin Park, to 20,000 at Hillsborough. It’s a different kettle of fish, but a great experience.”
It didn’t take him long to endear himself to the Wednesday faithful, scoring against Warnock’s United just 60 seconds into his SWFC debut, and he says that he had a feeling that it was going to happen, even telling his teammates prior to that Steel City Derby that he was going to score...
Owusu, known for his ‘raise the roof’ celebration, added, “It was funny because I’d had a dream. I was in the gym with Alan Quinn, Paul McLaren, Derek Geary and Leigh Bromby, I told them I had a dream that I’m going to make my debut against United and score with my first touch.
“They were saying ‘Shut up Lloyd!’ If you look at the celebration, you can see me telling the lads, ‘What did I tell you!’ It was a dream come true.”
The former Ghana international, who unfortunately didn’t score that many more goals for Wednesday before leaving for Reading on a permanent deal in 2004, is now working as a player consultant having retired from football back in 2015.