'There's going to have to be some change' - Dave Challinor bullish on Sheffield Wednesday mission
Sheffield Wednesday’s rebuild mission remains its very early stages.
FA Cup defeat at Oldham Athletic drew few revelations for newly-installed Sheffield Wednesday boss Dave Challinor - who made clear there will need to be changes made to pull it towards the way he wants things done.
The Owls are just six months into the ownership of US consortium Arise and have taken a fresh direction in the hiring of Challinor, who has a track record of consistent success across the clubs he has managed so far. What’s clear at this early stage is that the former Stockport County boss has identified things he wants to change about the side moving forward.
Challinor and two new members of the coaching team have been hired to progress the side towards a more tangible style of play, with Wednesday having hired consultancy advice from Aaron Briggs to work to rebuild the football operation alongside sporting director Simon Wilson.
“It's it's exactly what what I thought,” Challinor said post-match when he asked whether the performance delivered anything new in terms of his summation of the job at hand. “There’s plenty of work to do in terms of changing what things look like. Change doesn't happen overnight.
“I would hope today we've seen a little bit of structure and where we want to work towards, but there is alignment with the executive leadership and the ownership around what they want we want from the team and what a Sheffield Wednesday team should look like. It's very, very clear and very obvious. And we'll keep working towards that.”
Over 2,600 Wednesday fans made the trip to Boundary Park to watch a deeply disappointing 2-1 defeat that came in extra-time. Asked for his message to Owls fans, Challinor said: “It’s a massive thank you for their support. Stick with us. I know exactly where we’re at and what needs to be done. I hope it will be a quick turnaround in terms of what it looks like. I know I’ll produce a team that they’ll want to represent them given time.
“That’s something that’s not just myself, with the ownership and everyone, we’re adamant it will happen. We’re all clearly aligned on what that looks like. There’s going to have to be some change, but we work with what we’ve got at the moment and we’ll get there.”