Sheffield Wednesday have made their best start in 30 years - manager deserves huge credit
Sheffield Wednesday climbed to the top of League One for the first time this season following Saturday’s 2-1 win over Peterborough United.
It is often argued that league tables do not start to take effect until roughly ten or 12 games into the season.
However, after being put through the mill last season, Sheffield Wednesday fans can be forgiven for regularly glancing at the League One table over the next few days. Following Yan Valery’s late winner against Peterborough United at the Weston Homes Stadium on Saturday afternoon, the Owls are now top of the third tier for the first time this season.
The Tunisian’s winner, 11 minutes from time, sealed a 2-1 triumph for Wednesday, who secured a third successive league win in a week and a third in a row for the first time since their final three games of the 2023/24 campaign.
After winning just two matches in the whole of last season, everyone associated with Wednesday deserves the opportunity to enjoy this excellent start, which has seen them win four of their first five matches.
Winning 12 points from the first 15 on offer marks Wednesday’s best start to a season after five games since the 1996/97 campaign. Five games into that particular season, they also had 12 points on the board, meaning they were top of the Premier League table.
Since relegation from the top flight in 2000, Wednesday had previously reached double figures after five games in 2003/04 (10), 2010/11 (10), 2021/22 (10) and 2022/23 (10). Twelve points on the board after five matches, however, is something an entire generation of Wednesdayites has never seen before.
Before we all get carried away with ourselves, it is important to stress that Wednesday’s strong start to the campaign is nothing more than a start. For example, after winning their opening four matches in 1996/97, Wednesday then went on an eight-game winless run.
However, considering the volume of changes that were made at Hillsborough over the summer, including the arrivals of 18 new signings, four wins from the first five league matches deserve enormous credit.
Chairman David Storch and his Arise Capital Partners colleagues, Michael Storch and Tom Costin, chief executive David Bruce, and sporting director Simon Wilson deserve immense credit for the work they did to assemble this new-look squad. But the man tasked with blending it all together and making it successful, of course, is Henrik Pedersen.
The Wednesday boss was backed to lead the Owls into this new era, and he has so far justified Arise’s decision to stand by him. He now has a squad to choose from and is part of a proper football structure.
After watching his side dismantle Bromley at Hillsborough last Saturday, winning 7-2, Pedersen watched his players grind out victories over Wycombe Wanderers (2-1) and Peterborough to extend their winning start on the road.
At both Adams Park and the Weston Homes Stadium, Pedersen was forced to react on the touchline as Wycombe and Peterborough started to apply pressure. After the introduction of Jaden Heskey stemmed the flow against Wycombe, the introductions of Billy Mitchell, Ali Al-Hamadi and Mason Burstow against Posh helped turn the game back in Wednesday’s favour, allowing them to regain some control and push the home side back.
Those tactical tweaks and changes in personnel went a long way towards Wednesday enjoying a perfect three-game week and ensuring they will go into next Saturday’s clash with Wigan Athletic at Hillsborough at the League One summit.
Wednesday did not come close to matching the performance levels they produced against Bromley against either Wycombe or Peterborough, but they made up for that by rolling up their sleeves, digging deep and finding a way to get the job done.
Considering Pedersen is still searching for consistency in his team selections and has added players to his squad at different stages over the last few months, 12 points from the first 15 on offer represents a fabulous start for a club that has essentially had to start from scratch again after last season’s horrors.
The new-look hierarchy have done a fabulous job of assembling the squad they have, considering the restrictions in place, but you must also credit Pedersen for the role he has played in overseeing such a great start.