Further Sheffield Wednesday backroom changes to come as Owls 'reset' coaching aspects
Sheffield Wednesday unveiled new manager Dave Challinor on Tuesday.
A changing of the guard at Sheffield Wednesday will prompt further changes to the club’s coaching set-up, with sporting director Simon Wilson keen to grasp the opportunity to ‘reset’ some of the roles and job descriptions.
The arrival of new boss Dave Challinor this week saw tristed lieutenants Clint Hill and Tony Sweeney join alongside him. The Star understands further coming and going in personnel is expected, with some staff placed in redefined roles as the 51-year-old takes over from Henrik Pedersen, who left the club last weekend.
“There will be some further additions,” Wilson told The Star. “And there will be some changes to roles and responsibilities within it. One of the biggest underestimated things about high performance is clarity. And I think one of the things that we perhaps haven't done so well to date is be really, really clear about how we want to play, who's doing what, how we're working.
“I think there's a good opportunity to have a reset with that right now. So that's what we're going to try and use it for.”
Aaron Briggs, a former Manchester City and Liverpool figure who is acting as a consultant at S6, was involved in the recruitment process to hire Challinor and has been working alongside Wilson and others in recent weeks in aligning the coaching structures at the club from the very youngest age groups to the first team.
Challinor’s appointment appears to be a positive one based around a track record of promotions, seven of which he has achieved in a management career of 16 years. Having managed at Colwyn Bay, AFC Fylde and Hartlepool before taking Stockport County from non-league to the League One play-off final last season, the Wednesday job is the first he has been appointed to in the EFL - and to a club with the background resource to better support his efforts.
“I think what you get from Dave is unbelievable clarity,” Wilson said on his appointment. “He's very consistent, he's very steady in the face of pressure, adversity, good periods of form, bad periods of form. That process that he's got, like a winning methodology over the course of 46, 55 games season on season, is really, really productive as he's seen through his career. So he's actually really easy to work with, low maintenance, except for the odd bad day”
“As Dave said, in his career he's been at clubs where they haven't had resources, they haven't had specialists. He's pretty much done every job. So he's got a real empathy and understanding of what it takes to run a football club. He's a really good collaborator and likes to have fun and get things done.”