By David Walmsley BBC Sport Online

Peter Reid has rarely been known to duck a challenge.

But Sheffield Wednesday's on - and off - field plight apparently proved too grim to tempt even him into taking the Hillsborough helm.

At least the Owls' board knew Reid's "right club, wrong time" verdict would not be repeated by the man they turned to next - their former player and Hartlepool boss Chris Turner.

Wednesday are currently second from bottom in Division One and �22m in debt.

But these are halcyon days in comparison to the situation they faced the first time Turner walked through their doors a quarter of a century ago.

Turner's milestones

1976: Makes Sheff Wed debut, aged 18 1979: Joins Sunderland for �80,000 1985: Helps Sunderland to League Cup final, earning a �275,000 move to Man Utd 1988: Rejoins Sheff Wed for �175,000 1991: Wins League Cup final against Man Utd 1995: Ends his career after a four-year spell with Leyton Orient 1999: Appointed Hartlepool boss 2002: Misses promotion in the play-offs for third year running 2002: Appointed Sheff Wed boss

When the boyhood Wednesdayite made his debut in the Hillsborough goal in 1976, the club were in the middle of what their official history calls "the bleakest period" they have ever known.

"A hellish stint in the wilderness of the lower divisions and, for a time, the threat of going under," was what Turner found in his first spell at the club.

Sound familiar? Owls fans will trust their new manager will be spurred on by the desire to avoid revisiting the third division in which Wednesday wallowed during his early playing days.

Turner made his Hillsborough debut as an 18-year-old and played more than 200 games for the club in two stints from 1976-79 and 1988-91.

But he enjoyed his most successful days in a six-season spell at Sunderland, where he was named supporters' player of the year in 1985 after his saves took the Wearsiders to the League Cup final.

Turner also made 64 appearances for Manchester United and ended his career at Leyton Orient before moving into coaching with Leicester and Wolves.

Three years at Third Division Hartlepool remains the sum total of his managerial experience, but his success at Victoria Park has long marked him out as a target for bigger clubs.

Terry Yorath lasted less than a season

When he arrived from Wolverhampton in March 1999, Hartlepool stood on the brink of relegation to the Nationwide Conference.

Turner himself recognised the club as being at "possibly its lowest ebb".

But he staved off relegation in the final 14 games of that season and took Hartlepool into the play-offs the following term.

He achieved the same feat in his second full campaign and made it a hat-trick of near-misses last season when he saw his team lose on penalties to Cheltenham in the semi-finals.

Now, however, he leaves Hartlepool on course for automatic promotion and with a legacy of shrewd transfer dealings and good footballing habits.

Turner's record in Division Three shows he can turn around a side staring relegation in the face and remould them into promotion contenders.

Wednesday are banking on him being able to repeat the trick at a significantly higher level.