Sheffield Wednesday are deeply saddened at the passing of our former player Chris Bart-Williams.
Bart-Williams died in America, aged just 49.
The prodigiously talented midfielder joined the Owls in 1991 after bursting onto the scene as a teenager with Leyton Orient and went on to become an immensely popular performer in S6.
‘Bartman’ made 156 appearances for Wednesday across four years at the club, providing a raft of standout moments, not least a Premier League hat-trick against Southampton in April 1993.
The Sierra Leone product played a major part in the Owls’ success stories of the early 1990s, helping his side to a seventh-place top tier finish in 1993 and both the League Cup and FA Cup finals of the same year.
Bart-Williams moved to Nottingham Forest in 1995 for £2.5m and proved a big hit at the City Ground, posting 230 appearances for the Reds.
He went on to play for Charlton Athletic, Ipswich Town, APOEL FC in Cyprus and Maltese outfit Marsaxlokk before retiring in 2006.
Bart-Williams also represented England on the international stage at Under-19, Under-21 and ‘B’ level.
More recently, he plied his trade in the USA as a coach and mentor, running the CBW Soccer Elite.
Bart-Williams’ untimely passing mirrors that of his manager at Hillsborough Trevor Francis, who also died on this, one of the darkest days in our long history.
Our thoughts are with Chris’ and Trevor’s families and friends at this devastating time.
CHRIS BART-WILLIAMS
1974-2023
RIP