Sheffield Wednesday's record signing backs them to be a 'force to be reckoned with' next season
The Owls’ record signing returned to Hillsborough to play in a charity game on Saturday
Jordan Rhodes has backed Sheffield Wednesday to be a ‘forced to be reckoned with’ next season.
The striker joined for a club record fee, reported to be about £8m, from Middlesbrough in 2017, scoring 20 goals in 112 appearances in four seasons. The former Scotland international retired from football last September, aged 35, and he is now the loans manager at one of his old clubs Blackburn Rovers.
Rhodes, who is the third highest goalscorer in English league football in the past two decades, behind only Billy Sharp and Harry Kane, has been following what has been happening at Hillsborough this season and he is pleased to see that they have overcome their problems now.
He told The Star: “I still kind of live in the area, I have still got close friends that are season ticket holders here, so I still keep tabs as I do with most of my old clubs as well. The scenes on the last day of the season looked pretty special. I am sure there will be good times ahead in League One, and no doubt, they will be a force to be reckoned with next year.”
It has been a turbulent past 12 months for Wednesday but the future is looking brighter now they are under new ownership, with David Storch teasing ‘exciting news’ is to come later this week.
“It has been a shame but it is nice that the last three or four weeks has given such optimism for the area and the fans,” Rhodes continued. “I am speaking with one of my old teammates that is still involved in the in the set-up here in Liam Palmer. I am sure that Liam and the team next year will be a real force.”
Rhodes, who also played for the likes of Huddersfield Town and Norwich City before finishing his career on loan at Mansfield Town, and whose dad Andy was goalkeeping coaching at Wednesday for eight years, put his boots back on at the weekend to play in a charity match at Hillsborough to help raise funds for Weston Park Cancer Charity and Sheffield Wednesday FC Community Programme alongside some of his former team-mates from the 2016/2017 season when they reached the Championship play-offs but lost to Huddersfield.
“I really enjoyed it,” Rhodes said of his time at Wednesday. “And the fact that you come along today and see so many familiar faces and you just pick up exactly where you kind of left off as if it was yesterday. So yeah, great times. It is nice to come to a place like this with so many memories. I have some fond memories of the place. It was nice to get not only us guys out there on the pitch, but it was nice for the backroom staff as well to reunite and catch up.”