Henrik Pedersen can ease Sheffield Wednesday concerns by proving Simon Wilson wrong
Sheffield Wednesday have enjoyed a solid start to the 2026/27 season in terms of results, but their last few performances have generated some understandable concerns.
You would have been hard-pressed to find any Sheffield Wednesday supporter who would have expected the club to be occupying one of the two automatic promotion spots seven games into this season.
Following a chaotic and traumatic 2025/26 campaign that saw Wednesday enter administration for the first time in their entire history, get relegated by February, and record just two wins all season, no amount of words will ever be enough to explain just how much wreckage and rubble Arise Capital Partners have had to shift since securing the keys to Hillsborough in May.
The damage left behind by former owner Dejphon Chansiri is going to take a considerable amount of time to fully disappear from view, meaning it is quite miraculous just how much great work has been done by Arise and Wednesday’s new-look hierarchy in such a short space of time.
Huge sums of money have been invested in modernising Hillsborough and the club’s Middlewood Road training base, while Arise have also invested as much money as they are legally allowed to in rebuilding the squad amid the restrictions Wednesday continue to be governed by following their exit from administration.
Despite the restrictions in place, Wednesday drafted in 18 new players over a transformative summer, assembling what is a very competitive squad for England’s third tier.
Seven games into this new chapter, Wednesday have amassed 14 points, meaning they are averaging two points per game. Very few would have thought that possible after such a transformative summer.
Promotion is not a word that has been communicated by Wednesday’s hierarchy, which is no doubt keen to temper expectations amid the number of changes that have taken place in such a short space of time. Nevertheless, a large percentage of Owls supporters believe the squad has all the necessary ingredients to push for an immediate return to the Championship.
Considering Wednesday signed the likes of Billy Mitchell, Barry Bannan, Louie Barry and Davis Keillor-Dunn during the summer, it is easy to understand why they expect promotion.
Wednesday won four of their first five matches this season, meaning they found themselves top of the pile with 12 points. Everything was rosy, and the mood was jubilant heading into the Hillsborough double-header against Wigan Athletic and Stockport County earlier this month.
However, back-to-back 0-0 draws have generated concerns and questions about whether Henrik Pedersen is the right man to lead Wednesday forward. The Owls were underwhelming in both matches, registering a collective xG (expected goals) of exactly 2.0, meaning chances were few and far between across 180 minutes of football on home soil.
It has been argued that Pedersen lacks the tactical prowess to get the best out of this Wednesday side, and some supporters have called for a change. However, after amassing 14 points and losing just one of their opening seven games, Pedersen’s job is very much safe, and rightfully so.
Although understandable and justified concerns have been raised about Wednesday’s last few performances, the Owls, just as sporting director Simon Wilson warned ahead of the season opener at Leyton Orient, were never going to be inch-perfect at this early stage.
"The first month will be noisy,” Wilson told The Athletic. “Who knows, the team might surprise us, but even if we start well, I'd expect a dip because there's so much newness. We'll bring good players to this club, and we believe in the coach.
"I'm sure we'll improve, but I'm ready for the first period to be a bit rocky. We'll have to manage through that."
If Wednesday are currently experiencing the ‘dip’ Wilson anticipated, successive 0-0 draws, which saw the Owls secure their first clean sheets of the season, mean it will not be as severe as he anticipated it could be.
Of course, Wednesday’s form may worsen after the international break, but there is also an equal chance that it might go the other way and improve. The one guarantee in football is that nothing can be guaranteed.
There is no denying that Wednesday’s performances against Wigan and Stockport, as well as against Salford City in the Jersey Mike’s Trophy, despite winning 2-1 at the AIG Stadium, have left plenty of room for improvement, and Pedersen and his players will be hoping to take full advantage of this lengthy international break to work on improvements at Middlewood Road.
Following the restart, Wednesday will welcome Sunderland’s Under-21s to Hillsborough for their second Jersey Mike’s Trophy fixture before resuming their League One campaign with a trip to Yorkshire counterparts Huddersfield Town.
The trip to the Accu Stadium will rank as one of Wednesday’s sternest tests yet, and Pedersen and his players will be under pressure to deliver against a fellow promotion rival after failing to score against Bradford City (0-1) and Stockport (0-0).
After Pedersen stressed, following the draw with Stockport, that the extended break had come at a good time for him and his players to spend more time together at Middlewood Road, he will be under an element of pressure to ensure his players deliver a better performance than they have in their last few outings.
With so many new faces coming through the door at Hillsborough this summer, Wednesday were always going to need time to knit everything together. They have essentially started from scratch once again after a season unlike any other.
However, there is only so long Wednesdayites will wait if performances do not begin to show clear signs of progress.
But with Wilson’s warning about a dip in form still very much in mind, Pedersen and his players should try to use that expectation as fuel to prove him wrong and ensure the trip to Huddersfield is the moment Wednesday’s season sparks into life once and for all.