"Badly needs upgrading" - Pundit labels Sheffield Wednesday's stadium Hillsborough as worst in Championship | OneFootball

The historic home of the Owls has been put at the bottom of his favourite second tier grounds list.

TalkSPORT presenter Adrian Durham has picked Hillsborough - the home of Sheffield Wednesday - as his least favourite ground in the Championship.

Hillsborough has been, and always will be, associated with some of the most historic moments in English footballing history, for both good and bad reasons.

The disaster that took place on April 15th 1989, when 97 Liverpool fans went to watch their side play against Nottingham Forest in the FA Cup and never came home, is what most football fans will think of when they hear the name Hillsborough, but it has also been home to a lot of good things too.

In recent seasons, Wednesday have managed to pull off two separate miraculous comebacks to help win themselves promotion and then survive relegation. All of that was done with the backing of those in the stands of the stadium in the blue half of S6.

Being at home hasn't been much of a help this season though. They are 18th in the Championship's 2024/25 home standings, with seven points picked up in five matches.

Despite mixed recent form, it's a place that will forever be stooped in infamy, but it's not everyone's cup of tea.

Adrian Durham puts Hillsborough as his least favourite Championship stadium

Durham, who used to host the talkSPORT Drive show for 15 years, and now is their main presenter for live football on GameDay Live, recently completed the 92; going to all the stadiums of all the clubs currently in the EFL and the Premier League.

Since achieving this lifelong goal of many football fans, he has comprised lists of his best and worst grounds in English football.

In his Championship rankings, Hillsborough comes in at dead last.

This may come as a surprise to some, if you don't know Durham's allegiances.

He is a Peterborough United supporter, and the Posh's most recent memory of a trip to visit Wednesday was not a good one.

They were on the wrong end of the aforementioned historic result in which the Owls turned round a four-goal deficit from the first leg of the 2023 League One play-off semi-final between the two clubs. Peterborough lost 5-1 in the second leg and ended up losing on penalties. Wednesday would then go on to beat Barnsley at Wembley to win promotion to the second tier.

Durham was very up front about that match's influence on his positioning of Hillsborough in his list of Championship grounds. "A lot of it is very dated and badly needs upgrading,"claimed Durham.

Bramall Lane, the home of Wednesday's bitter Steel City rivals, Sheffield United, came in at ninth on Durham's list, while Leeds United's ground took silver in his rankings. Elland Road is actually the presenter's second favourite ground in the entire 92, only being pipped by Loftus Road.

Hillsborough isn't the worst ground in the Championship

There's self-admitted bias in Durham's decision to put the home of the Owls dead last among all second tier stadiums, and he gets a bit more respect for his candidness rather than trying to hide behind some other excuse, but it is a very bold take, regardless of the nightmares he has about the place.

These are some of the grounds that are ahead of Hillsborough. Oxford United's Kassam Stadium, Stoke City's bet365 Stadium, Hull City's MKM Stadium: all of those places have less character and personality than Hillsborough does, even with its dated feel, as Durham describes it.

It's not the best by any means, but putting it dead last is a harder case to argue for than putting it first.