'You can't - Chris Waddle gives his verdict on Henrik Pedersen's future as Sheffield Wednesday manager

Sheffield Wednesday legend Chris Waddle believes Henrik Pedersen is worthy of the opportunity to continue as manager next season, insisting it is not fair to judge him on this season’s events.

Following Danny Röhl’s departure last July, Pedersen stepped up from his previous position of assistant manager to lead Wednesday into the 2025/26 campaign. The club was already in a state of flux after wages had gone unpaid during the summer, pre-season preparations had been left in tatters and several embargoes had been put in place.

The situation rapidly worsened, leading to Wednesday going into administration for the first time in their history in October. The chaos and carnage off the pitch meant Wednesday, who were left with a threadbare squad after multiple exits over the summer, struggled to get results on the pitch, meaning relegation swiftly became inevitable.

Despite leading the Owls to just two wins from their 46 Championship matches, Pedersen banked plenty of respect and admiration for the way he continued to motivate a group of players that really ought to have been on the floor.

His leadership has been praised and commended by those closest to him and wider Wednesday staff members, meaning several Owls insiders believe he is fully worth of the opportunity to try and take the club forward under the new ownership group, Arise Capital Partners LLC. And that is an opinion shared by Wednesday icon Waddle, who has praised for the Owls for their refusal to roll over.

Speaking to Mega Casino - which has a wide variety of online casino games including Football Cash Collect Slot - Waddle said: "He needs a checklist, and you can't judge a manager on this (season).

"When you look at all the circumstances around Sheffield Wednesday and what they've had to play with, and they've had to throw kids in at times, they've held most teams. Apart from the Oxford result, they've been close in every other game for months.

"They're not as far away as people think. They've got some good young players who've had great experience and they're dropping a division, which should help them.

"I'm sure the plans are to get about 20 new players to build the squad and you would think they are going to be a lot of seasoned professionals who know that league and know what they can get out of it."

Arise, governed by new Owls chairman David Storch, officially completed their purchase of the club last Friday and were unveiled to the fans the following day, marking the beginning of a new dawn at Hillsborough. Although it is very, very early days, Waddle has been impressed with what they have so far communicated to the club’s supporters.

Waddle added: "He wants to make decisions which are right and we needed somebody who's going to communicate with the fans, so it's not going to be ‘them and us’.

"I've been impressed with what they've had to say and want to do. If they can fulfil that, then I'm sure there'll be a lot of happy Owls."