The sense you get up close ahead of a big few weeks for Henrik Pedersen and Sheffield Wednesday
The experience of watching Henrik Pedersen up-close is very different to the press conference persona he chose to adopt last season. Alex Miller reports from Budapest.
From one humble seat in a press box near you, there are few things more infuriating than the notion that a football manager fails simply because he is ‘too nice’.
Sure, you want any leader to have an edge to them. But a nice guy persona didn’t stop Eddie Howe from ending Newcastle United’s generational wait for a major trophy or Claudio Ranieri from steering the Leicester City miracle. Carlo Ancelotti is one of the all-time greats and is known to be a gentleman. His Spurs-ing aside, Thomas Frank remains one of the most highly-rated managers in European football. Sir Bobby Robson was one of life’s most gallant. God bless Kevin Keegan.
Those managers haven’t or didn’t succeed because they were naughty or nice. They do so because they are good football managers. It’s an occupation that takes all sorts. And when the question turns to Henrik Pedersen, the cold fact of the matter is that right here and right now, his managerial record doesn’t hold a wax droplet to those of the men listed above. Few do. It is for his football achievements that he should be judged in the coming weeks and months; not because he repeatedly expressed pride for the teenagers parachuted into a warzone last season. Now is his opportunity.
Watching him up-close in the last days two things are clear; that he is a nice guy and that, actually, he does have an edge. There’s no need at this stage to regale the circumstances that didn’t so much leave him and others operating with a hand tied behind his back than being hog-tied with double knots. Soft-soap press conferences in the tumultuous last campaign seemed to irk a section of the fanbase that had grown tired of defeat, but it is absolutely clear to those close to things that this was merely a public protection of those in the firing line.
More private conversations throughout that season showed a different side. He’s no happy-clappy fool. It was a mission of protection for which he took the bullets out of choice.
If the entrails of last season so cruelly claimed many victims, Pedersen is certainly one. For all those who appreciate the job that he did in keeping Wednesday from week-to-week lashings last time out, you wonder whether he can afford a slow start in the wider court of public opinion. Real life is not a computer game and while the business done so far feels impressive, the task of moulding this side together into a team ready to blitz League One from the starting line is no small one. For all the expectation that befalls a club the size of Wednesday in a division such as League One, he and Wednesday will be willed on by tens of thousands.
He’s a fiercely demanding boss. Watching the last few days of Sheffield Wednesday’s training camp in Budapest carries what has been seen on the sidelines and in occasional visits to Middlewood Road. There’s a passion to him that you rarely see even at this level of football and if individuals drop their standards, they know about it. It’s clear what he wants to build - a far cry from the sticking plaster set-up of last season - and it’s a sophisticated, progressive prospect that will excite if it can be pulled off.
To engage in a conversation about football with Henrik Pedersen is to be thrown in a tumble dryer. His enthusiasm for talking technical and tactical aspects of the game is unmatched and sets him off like a rocket. A cursory chat in the lobby of Wednesday’s training base ventured into the World Cup and one tactical query had the Dane hurriedly rearranging ornaments as he sought to explain the finer points of defending to a pair of bewildered hacks. In moments, he may as well have been explaining the curiosities of astrophysics. In Danish.
The rollickings are delivered behind the scenes, make no mistake. Individuals dipping below the desired level are told as much and while there’s been no witnessing of an Fergie hairdryer, the delicate, softly-softly nature of his public utterances are not a true reflection of the way his ship sails. Watching on from the sidelines of training, there’s clearly a deep respect for him and his coaching staff from the squad.
By the admission of those players, this pre-season has been gruelling and fierce. They were in a week earlier than most EFL clubs and have been beasted for the most part, with double sessions designed to test them physically and mentally. So let’s see where things go in the coming weeks. Pedersen and co now have something to work with. You’d be hard-pushed to find a soul that isn’t pulling for everything to succeed. They’ve got every chance.