In the light of such a cataclysmic 1919-20, it was hardly a surprise when The Wednesday made radical changes at management level. Until this point, team selection had always been the province of a small committee headed by Club Secretary Arthur Dickinson - but he stepped down after some 29 years service, allowing the appointment of a team manager who would be solely responsible for footballing matters.

Bob Brown was initially employed by Wednesday as a scout in the 1900's and also enjoyed a spell as Dickinson's right-hand man, but it was as manager of Portsmouth that he subsequently earned real plaudits. His return to Hillsborough did not pay instant dividends, but once his personality and methods had been successfully imposed on the team, the results - a Second Division Championship, an FA Cup Semi-Final, two Football League titles and five top-three finishes, all within the next 13 years - comprehensively vindicated the board's decision.

Brown's first season at the helm, however, brought not the hoped-for return to the top flight, but a 10th place finish in the Second Division and even a brief flirtation with relegation to Division Three, following an alarming slump in which the side failed to register a goal in nine out of 11 league games between October and January. Nine wins from the final 14 fixtures eventually averted a second consecutive demotion, yet by the halfway point of 1921-22, the Wednesday were once again in trouble at the bottom of the table and it was only the mid-season captures of Arthur Lowdell and Jimmy Trotter which inspired a late surge to safety.

The acquisition of that pair, coupled with the gradual introduction of Jack Brown, Ernest Blenkinsop, Tony Leach, Fred Kean and Billy Marsden (all future England internationals) during this period helped the Owls maintain a steady if unspectacular improvement by twice achieving eighth place in subsequent Division Two campaigns. In that respect, the 1924-25 season - and the conspicuous absence of a promotion challenge - came as a massive anti-climax. The year had begun brightly with a 5-2 drubbing of Portsmouth in which Trotter bagged all Wednesday's goals (entering the SWFC record books as the first man to score five times in a single game), but when only three wins were forthcoming from the next 16 matches - including an FA Cup exit to Sheffield United - during winter and early spring, fears of the drop were once again awakened; banished only by a convincing 5-0 defeat of Hull City in the penultimate game. Incidentally, it was during this campaign that The Wednesday Cricket Club, which had originally given life to SWFC all those years ago, was finally wound up due to lack of support.

When the 1925-26 term opened positively and Trotter repeated his five-goal feat in a 6-2 September demolition of Stockport County (the first four of his strikes coming in the space of five cathartic minutes), the optimism amongst fans was guarded at best; overshadowed by a familiar sense of déjà vu. Yet this time the Wednesday did not falter. The impetus was maintained, and when the usual Christmas wobble was replaced nine wins out of ten, a return to Division One began to appear plausible. Promotion was confirmed thanks to a Trotter brace at Southampton, and the Second Division title followed a week later with a 2-0 Hillsborough victory over Blackpool. The revival had begun.

Predictably, the first season back in the top flight proved to be one of consolidation, Trotter's 39 goals being a major factor in the Wednesday's survival and also making him the First Division's leading marksman. The disappointment of two derby defeats cut deep, but overall there was satisfaction at a good job done - and the mid-season signings of Alf Strange from Port Vale (who would go on to earn 20 England caps whilst based at Hillsborough), Mark Hooper from Darlington (later feted as "the best uncapped winger in the country") and Brentford's inside forward Jack Allen, plus an audacious summer swoop for Tottenham's ex-England ace Jimmy Seed engendered further hope for the future.

But the nightmarish start to the following season indicated that such faith had been misplaced. A solitary success in the opening dozen fixtures left the Owls anchored to the foot of the table. Bidding to kick-start the season, the Club splashed out on Tranmere Rovers' winger Ellis Rimmer and then smashed the transfer record to bring in £4,000 Blackburn Rovers and England striker Ted Harper, who promptly netted twice in an epic 6-4 epic triumph over Derby County. but such conquests were rare and by mid-March Wednesday still propped up the division, seven points adrift of the next-to-bottom club and with only 10 games remaining.

But 1927-28 is etched into Hillsborough folklore as "The Great Escape" for a reason. In an extraordinary turnaround, Brown's side collected no less than 17 points from a possible 20 in those final games - including a 'double' over relegation rivals Spurs, with White Hart Lane reject Seed on the mark in both meetings. Although still in bottom spot, a spirited revival comprising six wins and two draws had suddenly revived fast-flickering hopes and when Seed's last-gasp header earned a 1-1 draw at Highbury, the Owls moved out of the relegation zone. On the season's final day, no fewer than ten clubs were still mathematically in danger but Brown's men knew that victory over Aston Villa would complete their remarkable escapology act which had appeared impossible six weeks beforehand. Allen and Trotter duly obliged with the goals in a 2-0 success and the celebrations went on long into the night. Yet even the most optimistic of Wednesdayites could scarcely have dreamed of what was to follow.

The following season began quite modestly, but by November a 2-0 win at Elland Road saw The Wednesday touching the heady heights of second place; a far cry from their tribulations of the previous year. By Christmas the contrast was even more pronounced, six victories out of seven putting the Owls on top of the Football League for the first time in 13 years. Despite a failure to win any of their remaining 12 games on the road, the side's fearsome form at "Fortress Hillsborough" - resounding subjugations of Derby County (5-0), Leeds United (4-2) and West Ham (6-0) standing out in particular - kept them in pole position until the visit of Burnley in the final home fixture. A win was required to clinch the Championship: and although a slightly disappointing 1-1 draw was the eventual outcome, Leicester City's inability to conquer Huddersfield in their game meant that the Owls - rank outsiders to even be in the First Division 12 months previously - took the trophy at an exultant Hillsborough.

The summer following that title triumph brought few alterations as Brown largely opted to keep faith with his existing squad. yet there was one significant change in the close season, as the Club's name was officially re-registered as Sheffield Wednesday Football Club. The modification had little bearing on footballing matters, though, as SWFC kicked off with a 4-0 battering of Portsmouth at Fratton Park - and another four-goal salvo, against the previous year's runners-up Leicester City in October, saw the Owls settle into second place once again, tucked in behind leaders Manchester City.

The top two went head-to-head in a pulsating 3-3 Maine Road encounter on New Year's Day 1930 (Wednesday having leapfrogged their cross-Pennine rivals three days earlier), and a subsequent spurt of seven successes in the next eight games not only enhanced Wednesday's advantage at the summit but also ensured progress to the last eight of the FA Cup. Once Nottingham Forest had been dismissed in the quarter final, hopes of becoming the first team to complete 'the double' in the 20th Century gathered substance.

In the event, though, a controversial 2-1 reverse to eventual beaten finalists Huddersfield - in which Allen had an apparently legitimate stoppage-time equaliser ruled out - denied Wednesday that honour*, but the sting of disappointment quickly faded thanks to back-to-back wins over West Ham and Liverpool as the Owls homed in on more silverware in League. A 4-1 surrender to Derby County, just three points adrift in second slot, prompted fears of a stumble right on the finishing line. but normal service resumed was against the same opposition at Hillsborough in the very next game. The Rams were butchered 6-3 in an absorbing contest (Allen registering his third hat-trick of the campaign) and with four games still remaining, Wednesday were once again named the Champions of England. There was still time to administer a final flourish, however; nine goals in the two closing matches swelling the team's total to a mighty 122 in all competitions.

In spite of losing to Arsenal in the Charity Shield, the Champions began 1930-31 in a manner which suggested that the title could be destined for Sheffield 6 once more. A single-goal success over Bolton Wanderers in early October earned a top-six berth, whilst striker Jack Ball (prised away from Manchester United during the summer) rattled home 14 goals over a ten-game period which concluded with a 9-1 stuffing of Birmingham City at Hillsborough, in what remains SWFC's all-time record league victory.

That propelled the Owls back into pole position, which they then proceeded to switch with Arsenal a number of times before three straight defeats allowed the Gunners to go clear at the top, eventually taking the crown by a 14-point margin - with Wednesday slipping to a slightly disappointing third place. That was also the side's fate in 1931-32, a season that began in rip-roaring style when the opening four fixtures yielded maximum points and 20 goals scored (to wit: 6-1 vs. Blackburn Rovers, 4-1 vs. Grimsby Town, 7-1 vs. Bolton Wanderers and 3-2 vs. Chelsea). November's 2-1 triumph in the Sheffield derby left the Owls in second spot, yet that proved to be the last success for six games and by February, Wednesdayites were contemplating an alarming slump down to 10th place. A late-season burst of form brought some mollification, however, as seven victories from the final ten matches saw SWFC once again underline their status as one of the top three clubs in the land.

The following year heralded another mid-table start. Hampered by frailties on the road, the side collected not a single away point until a 5-3 blitz at Molineux in October prompted eight wins from the subsequent nine games (encompassing another impressive travelling triumph; 6-3 at Villa Park) lifted the Owls back into contention at the top - especially when league leaders Arsenal were pipped 3-2 in Sheffield. By the time Wolves were comfortably dismissed in March's return meeting, Wednesday were two points behind Herbert Chapman's pace-setting Gunners with a game in hand. However, perhaps paying the price for not augmenting his playing personnel over the summer, Brown's last full season in charge at Hillsborough was shorn of a grandstand finish; injuries and suspensions weakening a small squad to such an extent that - claiming just one win in the closing nine fixtures - the Owls limped to 3rd place once more, when so much more had seemed possible.

Yet again, Brown declined to make major alterations to his squad over the close season; a decision the Wednesday chief probably regretted after suffering three defeats in the first four games of 1933-34. In truth, Brown's heart was no longer in the challenge - his wife had passed away suddenly that summer, and with his own health failing fast, arguably the greatest SWFC manager of all time handed in his notice following a 3-2 win at Goodison Park in the campaign's fifth game.

Assistant boss Joe McClelland took caretaker charge, but it was to be a full three months before the Club secured a replacement. After an abortive attempt to lure popular ex-Owl Seed back from his management 'apprenticeship' at Charlton Athletic, veteran Aston Villa player Billy Walker took the Hillsborough reigns. It was the 36-year-old's first managerial appointment, yet the erstwhile England skipper's influence was immediately felt as Wednesday went 16 games unbeaten to jump into mid-table and make progress in the FA Cup. Interest in that competition ended after a Fifth Round replay defeat by Manchester City (the initial encounter, a 2-2 draw at Hillsborough, attracted some 72,841 spectators - the stadium's largest ever gate) and although a tense 1-0 victory briefly permitted the Owls to attain fifth place, an indifferent last two months of the season (incorporating a shocking 5-1 capitulation at Bramall Lane) brought about a still-respectable final ranking of 11th.

Optimism was high, therefore, when Walker returned to Villa Park to grab Scottish international full back Joe Nibloe during the summer break and three wins from the campaign's introductory four matches put Wednesday on top of the league. Though the squad Walker had inherited was aging, it still packed enough potency to brush aside Liverpool (4-1), Spurs (4-0) and Birmingham (4-0) en route to yet another third-placed finish.

That was achievement enough, but the real excitement came courtesy of the FA Cup, where the Owls reached their first Final for 28 years - the Club's first ever appearance under the legendary 'twin towers'. Opponents West Bromwich Albion twice levelled to cancel out efforts from Palethorpe and Hooper in a see-saw contest, but after the Midlands outfit had squandered a gilt-edged opportunity to take the lead, Wednesday made them pay for their profligacy with two killer late strikes. Goalscoring winger Ellis Rimmer had netted in every round during the run to Wembley, and when he beat Albion's goalkeeper to a through ball to continue that sequence in the 86th minute, the trophy looked bound for South Yorkshire. Two minutes later, Rimmer pounced on the rebound when the goalkeeper parried Hooper's drive, and the preparations for a civic reception and open-top bus ride around the city could begin.

With an enterprising young manager at the helm, the FA Cup in the trophy cabinet and a record of finishing outside English football's top three just once in seven seasons, the outlook appeared uncommonly sunny. But even at the very moment of triumph, there was a gargantuan storm brewing. in more ways than one.

* Some three decades had elapsed before Tottenham became the first side to claim the distinction in 1960-61 - coincidentally with Harry Catterick's Owls in hot pursuit, finishing runners-up in Division One and making another FA Cup Semi Final appearance.