Sheffield Wednesday got it wrong with Burnley transfer raid - Birmingham City made the same costly mistake | OneFootball

Sheffield Wednesday and Birmingham City may both be feeling the same regret over signing goalkeeper Bailey Peacock-Farrell.

As the threat of relegation from the Championship looms, Sheffield Wednesday could be facing the prospect of a big rebuild in League One next season, just as they did four years ago.

After a nightmare summer, Wednesday have already been hit with a four-window transfer ban and a number of transfer embargoes as their off-field crisis under owner Dejphon Chansiri continues, and it is believed that a points deduction is inevitable at some stage this season as the charge sheet against the club increases.

The Owls would have hoped that their return to the Championship in 2023 would have marked the start of a bright new era, but just two years on from their Wembley victory, the club is in turmoil once again, and a points deduction would all but condemn them to League One, particularly if it is as severe as many expect.

Ownership problems have been a common theme for Wednesday over the past decade under Chansiri, and they suffered relegation to the third tier in the 2020-21 season after receiving a six-point deduction for breaching spending rules.

On that occasion, the Owls were fortunate to have a manager like Darren Moore in place, and the now Port Vale boss used his contacts to build a strong squad that would not only lead the club to promotion, but also help them to consolidate back in the Championship.

Moore was widely praised for his recruitment during his time in charge at Hillsborough, but it is fair to say he did make a few mistakes in the transfer market, and his decision to sign goalkeeper Bailey Peacock-Farrell on loan from Burnley was one of his more questionable calls.

Darren Moore's Bailey Peacock-Farrell call proved to be costly for Sheffield Wednesday

After fan favourite Keiren Westwood was released in the summer of 2021 following relegation, many assumed that academy graduates Joe Wildsmith and Cameron Dawson would battle it out to be Wednesday's first-choice goalkeeper in League One, but Moore instead opted to bring in Peacock-Farrell.

On paper, given that Peacock-Farrell had been signed by Burnley from Leeds United for £2.5 million just two years earlier, and that he was a regular for Northern Ireland at international level, his signing looked to be a shrewd move by Moore.

That optimism increased further as he became the first Owls goalkeeper to keep clean sheets in all of the opening five games of the season, but it would not be long before mistakes began to creep in, and after missing a game due to international duty in October, Moore initially kept faith with Wildsmith following his return.

However, Peacock-Farrell was swiftly restored to the starting line-up in a move that divided Wednesday supporters, and while he did certainly produce some impressive saves, an error was never too far away, which in turn appeared to unsettle a defence that were guilty of conceding far too many cheap and late goals during the course of the season.

For much of the season, it looked as though automatic promotion was a distant dream for the Owls, but they finished the campaign just five points behind second-placed Rotherham United, and that left many wondering what could have been if not for some of Peacock-Farrell's mistakes, particularly after defeat in the play-offs against Sunderland.

Peacock-Farrell did win two Player of the Month awards during his time at Hillsborough, so it would be unfair to describe him as a transfer flop, but it is difficult not to feel that with a safer pair of hands between the sticks, Wednesday could have been celebrating promotion a year earlier than they eventually did.

After a spell out on loan in Denmark with AGF, Peacock-Farrell departed Burnley on a permanent basis last summer as he completed a move to newly-relegated League One side Birmingham City.

Having signed a four-year contract at St Andrew's @ Knighthead Park, it looked as though Peacock-Farrell would be given the chance to cement himself as the Blues' long-term number one, but shortly after his arrival, the club brought in Ryan Allsop, who had performed well for play-off chasing Hull City in the Championship the previous season.

Despite many expecting Allsop to get the nod to start, Peacock-Farrell began last season as Birmingham's first-choice goalkeeper, but manager Chris Davies' faith in the 28-year-old was soon tested to the limit as he made a string of high-profile mistakes in the early weeks of the campaign.

It did not take Davies long to drop Peacock-Farrell from the starting line-up, with Allsop taking his place in the team after just seven league games, and he retained his spot for the remainder of the season as the Blues stormed to the League One title with an EFL-record total of 111 points.

If Peacock-Farrell's performances on the pitch were not frustrating enough for Birmingham, the goalkeeper is thought to have been their highest-paid contracted player last season, as per Capology, which makes his signing a particularly costly error for the Midlands outfit.

With the Blues signing another ex-Wednesday goalkeeper this summer in James Beadle, Peacock-Farrell was allowed to join League One side Blackpool on a season-long loan, and after a shaky start to life at Bloomfield Road, he will be hoping to rediscover the kind of form that made him so highly-rated during the early stages of his career at Leeds.