Leon Knight turned the heat up on Chris Turner again today by claiming he has only himself to blame for the mess Sheffield Wednesday find themselves in.

Knight's return to Hillsborough with Albion on Saturday must be enough to make the beleaguered Owls' manager wake up in a cold sweat.

Wednesday, one of the pre-season favourites for promotion, are languishing in mid-table.

Consecutive defeats, at home to Bournemouth and at Stockport last Saturday, have destroyed any chance of mounting a late charge for the play-offs.

Takeover bids by former Chelsea owner Ken Bates and Dennis Hobson, a Sheffield boxing promoter, have also increased doubts about Turner's future ahead of the clash against the Seagulls.

Knight will not be losing any sleep over the plight of the man he accused of nearly wrecking his career if he adds to his 24-goal tally to help promotion-chasing Albion to another precious victory.

Knight said: "If we beat them and he gets sacked that is just what happens in football.

"We are just going there to get three points and whatever their Board decide to do or whatever pressure he is under is his problem.

"He runs it the way he wants to and it is not going well for him, so he has got to take the blame, it's as simple as that."

Knight's loathing for Turner stems from his unhappy loan spell with the Yorkshiremen last season from Chelsea.

In an exclusive interview with The Argus in September he described Turner as "the most disrespectful man I have ever come across" and said he was "thinking of packing the game in" because of the way he was treated.

Turner responded by branding Knight a failed footballer, a remark he paid for when, two days later at Withdean, Knight opened the scoring in a 2-0 win over Wednesday.

Turner came under fire from Wednesday supporters at the club's AGM earlier this month for failing to get the best out of Knight. He made the last of only 14 starts for the Owls in the 1-1 draw against Albion at Hillsborough last season.

Turner told shareholders at the AGM: "Leon Knight made 27 appearances for us and scored three goals.

"From the day I came here, he said he didn't like Sheffield Wednesday; he felt let down by the previous manager (Terry Yorath) because he played him out of position and kept taking him off.

"After two weeks he still wanted to go back to Chelsea. I spoke to Alan Sykes (Wednesday's former chief executive) about the situation.

"He said that as Knight was on a year's loan, he couldn't go back early to Chelsea.

"I informed Leon of this, and from that day onwards he tried his utmost to get us to send him back, through every sort of way you can think of.

"His discipline on and off the training ground and on match days left a lot to be desired. To go any further than that would be unprofessional of me.

"He went back to Chelsea because he was under contract to them. It's not as if he was our player to let go to Brighton."

Former Wednesday defender Lawrie Madden, now a freelance journalist, said: "Chris tries to play a fairly straight bat on the whole issue.

"He accepts players sometimes come back to embarrass you, but he feels he made the right decision on Leon Knight. All sorts of things are going on off the field, so it is a very difficult time for Chris.

"If different people come in things might change, but the general feeling at the moment is he will be given more time. A lot of players are out of contract in the summer, so he will have the opportunity to make changes. He will be under pressure then next season."

Knight, meanwhile, expects to be cheered by some Wednesday fans and jeered by others.

"I'm looking forward to it," he said. "It's a big stadium, there will be a big crowd and it's a big occasion for us. We need another three points to keep our little run going.

"I think I will get a mixed reception. Some of their supporters will see I should have been playing when I wasn't, others will think I was just playing about and not bothered.

"They will be the angry ones and the ones who knew I wanted to play but wasn't being picked will be more humble and okay about it."

Knight's scoring exploits for Albion this season have made Turner look a little foolish.

Former Albion manager Steve Coppell snapped him up on a free transfer and gave him a two-year contract, although The Argus revealed last week that Chelsea inserted an extraordinary 50 per cent sell-on clause.

Knight is focusing on the promotion run-in, rather than his future with the Seagulls.

"I am not really bothered about Chelsea's sell-on, we are just trying to keep ourselves in the play-offs," he said.

"Whatever happens at the end of the season happens. If clubs come in and my transfer value is too high because of the sell-on then so be it."