Sheffield Wednesday swooped after player snubbed Burnley - Owls never saw him at his peak | OneFootball

George Boyd only netted four times in two seasons for Wednesday

When George Boyd signed a two-year contract with Sheffield Wednesday at the start of the 2017/18 season, the Owls were getting a winger who had achieved Championship promotion at his last two clubs, Hull City and Burnley.

Boyd played a major part in Burnley's first season back in the Premier League in the 2016/17 campaign, starting 33 of the 38 league games, but did only register two goals and one assist across those games.

However, after the Clarets offered him a 12-month contract extension with an extra year's option at the end of the season, the then-31-year-old declined as he wanted a set two-year deal for him to remain at Turf Moor.

So, to Hillsborough, he went, and to a Wednesday side who had fallen in the play-offs for a second successive season against a fellow Yorkshire side, losing the semi-finals on penalties to Huddersfield Town a year after losing at Wembley to Hull City.

Boyd's promotion pedigree had Sheffield Wednesday fans with plenty to rave about, but he wasn't able to secure a third second-tier promotion in six seasons, as his tenure at the club coincided with a couple of seasons of mid-table mediocrity.

George Boyd's disappointing two years at Hillsborough

Unfortunately, Boyd picked up a serious injury for the first time in his career almost immediately into his time at Sheffield Wednesday.

A shoulder injury in his first season took him out for four months between September and January and, by the time he made his return, the club had sacked the manager who brought him to the club, Carlos Carvalhal, in favour of Jos Luhukay.

Boyd made just his fourth league start of the season in mid-February which kick-started a run where he was in the team more than he wasn't. However, he only contributed two goals in the final 15 games of the season as the club trudged to a 15th-placed finish.

His second season in South Yorkshire followed a similar path, with yet another four-month injury lay-off at the start of the season, before being given more time in the team towards the end of the season by a new manager - this time Steve Bruce.

His highlight of the 2018/19 season, and arguably his two years at Sheffield Wednesday, was his goal and assist in a 3-0 win over Nottingham Forest in April, a result which then had the Owls just four points behind the top-six. Just one win in their final six league games after that performance condemned Wednesday to a 12th-placed finish.

He was then part of the six players released at the end of their contracts in the summer of 2019.

Sheffield Wednesday caught George Boyd just after his prime

Whilst Sheffield Wednesday fans can feel a sense of frustration that Boyd never showed the class he exhibited in his time at Hull and Burnley, they can rest easily knowing that the winger wasn't able to do so at any of his future clubs following his 2019 release.

Boyd dropped down to League One in 2019/20 to return to Peterborough United, but he failed to score in 22 league appearances that season for the club that he helped take from League Two to the Championship at the start of his career, notching 76 goals and 57 assists in 320 appearances.

The season after that, Boyd played in League Two with Salford City, making 13 appearances there before taking a two-year career break, which he stopped in December 2023 to play for eighth-tier side Wythenshawe Town, where he remains today at 39 years old.

Barring a miraculous return to an EFL club before retirement, Boyd will retire with Sheffield Wednesday being the last EFL side he scored in a league game for. Evidently, it was just a case of bad timing for Boyd at Hillsborough.