During the 2013–14 football season, Sheffield Wednesday Football Club competed in three professional football competitions. Sheffield Wednesday competed in the 2013–14 Football League Championship, 2013–14 FA Cup, and the 2013–14 Football League Cup. It was the Owls' second consecutive season in the Football League Championship having secured promotion from League One in the 2011–12 season and then securing Championship safety on the last day of the 2012–13 season. The Football League season kicked-off at the beginning of August, along with the League Cup in the same month. Meanwhile, with Sheffield Wednesday being within the top two-tiers of the English football league system the club did not enter the FA Cup until the beginning of January 2014 where they entered at Round 3 of the competition.
Review
Pre-season
Following the end of the 2012–13 football league season, Jérémy Hélan, Danny Pugh, Seyi Olofinjana, Leroy Lita and Steve Howard all returned to their parent clubs following their loans at Sheffield Wednesday. Many players were out of contract in the summer of 2013 and therefore many decisions had to be made on players' futures at the club within May and June. The first transfer of the new pre-season was confirmed just a few days after the end of the 2012–13 football season as development squad player Bastien Héry signed for Rochdale. Sheffield Wednesday youth players Ayo Obileye, Emmanuel Dieseruvwe and Johnny Fenwick soon all signed their first professional contracts with the club, all lasting one-year. On 16 May 2013, the club announced their retained list, with Player of the Year Lewis Buxton, Stephen Bywater, Giles Coke, Jermaine Johnson, Miguel Llera and David Prutton being the senior players to re-sign, while Adam Hinchliffe and Hayden White (who was rumoured to be signing for Bolton Wanderers) were offered their first professional contract. Nicky Weaver and Julian Bennett were released along with youth players Matthew Fletcher and Harry Grant. Also, out-of-favour midfielder Nejc Pečnik left by mutual consent. On 19 June 2013, the first transfer in relation to Sheffield Wednesday was revealed, with Chris O'Grady joining Yorkshire rivals Barnsley for an undisclosed fee, rumoured to be around £300,000. The week after the O'Grady departure, two players had decided whether their futures still lay with Sheffield Wednesday. Promising youth player Hayden White rejected an offer to sign with the team and went with Bolton Wanderers. White had been heavily followed the previous season with his impressive performances for the Owls' youth team and was linked with a possible move to Manchester United at one point. Elsewhere, senior player Stephen Bywater had also rejected signing and went with Millwall on a free transfer for a two-year contract. Bywater played a major part in the side's promotion in the 2011–12 season where he was signed permanently in January of that season. A day after these departures it was confirmed that David Prutton had signed to stay for the next season. Prutton is the second senior player to re-sign after Lewis Buxton signed later that month. 24-hours after Prutton's contract confirmation, Sheffield Wednesday's first signing of the season was confirmed. The signing was Jacques Maghoma from Burton Albion. He has signed a two-year contract after scoring 18 goals in League Two last season from the wing. Another player committed his future at Sheffield Wednesday on 27 June when Miguel Llera signed a new one-year contract at the club, having been a key player in defence over the last two-seasons. Another senior player yet to confirm where his future lay was Giles Coke, but he also chose to commit his future to Wednesday by signing a two-year contract at the club a day after Llera had signed his. Into July and nearly a week after Coke signed with the team, Jermaine Johnson was the last remaining senior player to be offered a contract that he signed to stay for the following season. He is one of the longest playing team players having made over 200 appearances having since joined the club in 2007 Later that day, it was confirmed that the club's midfielder Chris Lines had left by mutual consent. Lines was signed in the summer of 2011 and in the 2011–12 season he made the majority of his 53 appearances and scored all of his 4 goals.