Wednesdays first year back in the second division was not a success, finishing the campaign off in a disappointing 15th position, in turn, resulting in the departure of manager, Danny Williams. Derek Dooley took charge at the club in 1971 and he would go on to stay manager at the club for two years, leaving in 1973, however helping Wednesday to an improved 10th position finish in the second division. He also took Wednesday in to the fifth round of the GFA cup; however they suffered defeat against Chelsea in the last sixteen.
The 1973 – 1974 season proved to be a debacle for Wednesday as they crashed to a majorly disappointing 19th position in the second tier, further embarrassment was caused in the second round of the league cup as they suffered an 8 – 2 hammering defeat against Queens Park Rangers.
Len Ashurst took charge in 1975 and went on to stay in charge for two further years at the club, however he saw his Wednesday side struggle in the third division, finishing off the 1975 – 1976 campaign in 22nd position in the third division, their worst ever finish.
It was not until the 1979 – 1980 season that Wednesday crawled out of the division, under the guidance of Jack Charlton who guided the Owls in to a third position finish in the third division.