Hillsborough upgrades, better food and renewed energy - Sheffield Wednesday star hails Arise improvements
Sheffield Wednesday’s infrastructure has been given some much-needed love, care and attention during what has been a transformative summer.
It is not just the arrival of 13 new players that has everyone connected with Sheffield Wednesday looking ahead to the start of the 2026/27 League One campaign with renewed optimism.
Just over 100 days after Arise Capital Partners completed their takeover of the club, the mood has been transformed in remarkably quick time – and much of that optimism stems from the improvements made off the pitch.
With the additions of key personnel such as chief executive David Bruce, who has already become a named director of ‘Wednesday 1867 Ltd’, and sporting director Simon Wilson, the Owls once again have a sense of direction. After jumping from one season to the next with little direction under former owner Dejphon Chansiri, Wednesday now have a blueprint to follow.
Additionally, Arise have invested more than £8million in infrastructure improvements at both Hillsborough and the club’s Middlewood Road training ground. From plush matchday premium offerings to new decor in the tunnel area, the US consortium has put its money where its mouth is, bringing Wednesday’s historic home kicking and screaming into the 21st century with improvements in just about every corner of the ground.
Improvements of this ilk have long been overdue. Unsurprisingly, the off-field changes made in recent weeks have gone down a storm with the fans, many of whom felt the club’s infrastructure was neglected throughout Dejphon Chansiri’s tenure.
But what do the players make of the improvements off the pitch? Considering Arise have made countless cosmetic upgrades at the training ground, improved the facilities, introduced new branding across the board in line with the club’s new crest and ensured the players are now receiving better nutrition, it has, unsurprisingly, gone down well with them, too.
Just over a year on from leaning out of his car window in the Middlewood Road car park and being quizzed by Sky Sports about the worsening crisis that was unfolding as Chansiri’s tenure approached its conclusion, attacker Jamal Lowe is delighted with the progress that has been made.
"It's massive," Lowe told The Star, addressing the off-field improvements. "It's massive because, even like you say, the stadium's had a little refurb. The training ground's a lot better than it was.
"The food that we get after games and training is a lot better than it was last year. Little stuff like that does help massively.
"You say our nutrition is key, but if you're not getting food, sometimes there is no food, or whatever the situation is, we've rectified all those small little problems that maybe you don't see every day.
"It just makes our life a little bit easier, makes our recovery better. The gym is better, the facilities are a bit better.
"Overall, the club is in a better place than it was last year, but obviously it wasn't in a great place last year. It has been good.
“It boosts the energy of everyone because you are coming into a better working environment. Everyone comes into work that little bit happier because it's just a better environment to be in.
"It's not like, 'What's going to happen today, then? What's going to go wrong today?' Everyone is pushing in the right direction."
With so many improvements having been made in next to no time, Arise, via their investment in Hillsborough, have made it clear that they want to bring success back to this part of the world as quickly as possible.
Promotion has not publicly been declared as the aim this season, but Lowe has insisted that has to be the aim, although he has acknowledged it will be far from straightforward.
“The target is promotion, however that comes about,” Lowe continued. “But we’ve looked at how many teams get promoted in the first year [after relegation], and I think it’s something like 20 per cent over the last 15 years, or however long it is.
“So we know it’s something that not many teams do, and it’s going to be difficult. It is going to take a competitive squad, which is what we’ve got, so hopefully we can deliver on that.”
On a personal note, Lowe is relishing the competition for places in the starting XI this season after Wednesday went through last term with a threadbare squad.
He added: “If you know you’ve got someone waiting to take your spot straight away, it kind of puts that added pressure on you. I need to deliver, and that’s when you get the best out of everyone.”