I've noticed there is still a lot of online questioning of Henrik Pedersen.
Everyone is entitled to their opinion - and friendly debate is one of the reasons we all love football - but I want to give an alternative view.
Firstly, the new owners have made their decision. They have chosen to give Henrik an opportunity. Whether people agree with that decision or not, surely the best thing for Sheffield Wednesday now is for supporters to get behind him and give him the best possible chance of succeeding. If he succeeds, the football club succeeds.
From my own experience of spending more than six months at the club and being there every day, this is what I personally saw and heard:-
• A coaching team that was fully behind him.
• Players who, despite operating in some of the most difficult circumstances imaginable, continued to play for him every week.
• A squad that never stopped competing, even with everything that was going on behind the scenes. In fact, I'm still amazed we didn't suffer some real hammerings given the challenges the group was facing.
I also saw a manager with relentless positivity.
Straight after defeats he was already looking forward and motivating players.
Every day on the training ground he attacked the job with energy and enthusiasm. Whether you agree with his methods or not, nobody could question his commitment.
What I heard was equally interesting.
Opposition coaches, scouts and football directors would regularly tell us what a remarkable job he was doing under the circumstances. Many simply couldn't believe how competitive he had managed to keep the team given the challenges he was facing.
Perhaps most importantly, some of the biggest clubs in the country clearly rate him……
Manchester City, Manchester United, Crystal Palace and Chelsea were all proactive in wanting to place or keep young players at Sheffield Wednesday. They weren't doing that as a favour to us. They were doing it because they believed their players would develop under Henrik and that he would improve the value of their assets.
These are clubs with some of the best recruitment and player development departments in world football. They must have seen something they liked.
Does any of this guarantee success? Of course not, it doesn’t even always work out for Jose Mourinho.
Football is unpredictable and nobody knows what the future holds.
But there is a big difference between questioning whether somebody will succeed and declaring that they cannot.
The owners have seen enough to give him a chance.
The people working with him every day have seen enough to support him.
Some of the biggest clubs in England have seen enough to trust him with their young talent.
That doesn't mean they are right.
But it does mean there may be more to Henrik Pedersen than some are prepared to acknowledge.
Now that the decision has been made, I hope supporters give him a fair chance.
Because every now and then in football, the good guy does win.
Wouldn't it be brilliant if that happened here?
Up The Owls! 🦉
@BigMac1892_@drew21pink We as fans are certainly very disappointed in what has turned out to be a poor season. We were looking forward to building on last season & challenging for more. We limped out of cup & trophy with no fight. More damp squid.
@BrownPhilip@saintpat1962@SprLeagueBballW@SprLeagueBballM The full standings is not correct as Gladiators have played 17 with 3 losses.
Hatters presented with the trophy for winning the league on Saturday as Gladiators can't catch up with 1 game remaining. (Hatters have the H2H)
@1987HLW Have you been taking any notice of what's going off? Restrictions on recruitment, wage bills etc. Top players taking wage cuts next season. Who are you going to pull in as a capt. on the cheap + manager & his staff.
@saintpat1962@LondonLions We have been asked to at Sheffield when both men & women have played. I think it's more of a head count. Got to go out to be counted coming back in. Length of time would be down to you. Many virtually stepped out & back in again. Plenty to eat in the arena. Not much nearby.
@CliveLe65894158@SprLeagueBballW@Hatters_BC@Cal_Gladiators I've a thing about refs balancing things out. I don't like it but think it happens & I think it happened last night too. First half gladiators got a lot of calls & trips to the charity stripe. Hence the coach half time rant & T. 2nd half calls gladiators had some tough calls.⚖️
@Neil69490360@Lincs_Blade Yeah and we've only scored one goal since boxing day so it's not like we're going to be much of a goal threat. Not much chance of us 'pulling a goal back' etc
@kinkwadze13 Alright the R might not go on until this weekend but yes we've been down for a long time. We're 34 PTS behind the next team & scored 1 goal since boxing day. Where's the next 34 PTS coming from?
@MrPitbull07 We stopped our milkman because deliveries were getting later & later. Got to be early 80's. I can also remember 'Thatcher Thatcher the milk snatcher' stopping milk in schools.