da aviator aposta： Sheffield Wednesday were a surprise package in the top six of the Sky Bet Championship last season, and were just one game away from promotion to the Premier League when Hull City beat them 1-0 at Wembley.
da brdice： After three seasons of mid-table mediocrity in the second tier, they faced defeat just ten times in the 2015/2016 campaign as they enjoyed generally good run of form across the entire term. They scored the most goals and kept the most clean sheets than they have done since they rejoined the Championship in 2012. Now, they face the possibility of going back up to the top tier for the first time since 2000.
But how did they sneak back into the upper tiers of the league, and is it something they can maintain beyond just one season?
The second tier of English football has a reputation for being much more open than the Premier League but, with TV revenues going up and more competitive sides coming down from the top tier, it’s getting a lot tighter in the Championship. Added to this is the prize of Premier League status and the riches that come with it, and it seems that clubs are willing to risk their own stability to make that leap into the big time.
Part of the responsibility of their success must lie with owner Dejphon Chansiri, who took over the club in the summer of 2015 and promptly made significant changes to the playing and coaching staff, injecting more money into the side to ensure they could afford players like Fernando Forestieri and Gary Hooper, both on reported £3m deals.
He also brought new head coach Carlos Carvalhal to English football after a ‘journeyman’ managerial career in the Portuguese and Turkish leagues and established a sporting ‘committee’ at the club, with former West Ham United and Newcastle United manager Glenn Roeder working alongside former Hull City owner Adam Pearson to work with the players and on the business strategy of the club respectively.
While the appointment of Carvalhal didn’t necessarily point them in a direction they wouldn’t have gone anyway (previous incumbent Stuart Gray led them to a six-year high of 13th in the league the previous year, and equalled their clean sheet record for a season), and the sporting committee was slowly broken up during the first few months of the 2015/2016 season (Adam Pearson soon moved on to Leeds United while Roeder left The Owls in December, eventually moving to Stevenage Town in a similar role the following March), their achievements under him have been phenomenal.
His debut season in England saw the club reach 6th place in the Championship (their best finish for sixteen years in the league) and also went on their greatest League Cup run since 2001/2002, reaching the fifth round and beating Arsenal at home on their way.
While Carlos may have arrived at Hillsborough with the same anonymity as Arsene Wenger’s arrival at Arsenal in 1995, his wealth of experience with no less than fourteen teams previous to The Owls allowed him to bring a new approach to the side.
After just two wins in their first eight games of the season, they went on a storming run for the rest of the season with unbeaten sequences only occasionally peppered with defeats, ensuring that a top six finish was all but guaranteed for them.
With a focus on fitness, his young Wednesday side not only succeeded in the league, but also went far in the League Cup, beating an under-par Newcastle United in the third round before meeting Arsenal in the fourth. While the London side may have been unlucky to lose both Theo Walcott and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain early on in the match, Sheffield Wednesday were the better side on the night and fully deserved their historic victory.
New additions to the team over the past couple of seasons have also contributed to their success, with Forestieri adding flair to the line-up. His debut season ended with a 15-goal haul and Wednesday’s Player of the Season award; his striker partner, Gary Hooper, was able to add thirteen goals himself to the tally.
But it wasn’t just up front where the changes were coming in. With fourteen new players to integrate into his team, he also brought in Jack Hunt at right-back who was able to slot into defence alongside Glenn Loovens, and Liam Palmer to help them keep 14 clean sheets in the 2015/2016 campaign.
The Owls are currently in 10th place in the Championship as they head into the dreaded winter period, but their position belies their strength. Having added striker Steven Fletcher in the summer, he has already notched five goals for the team, and goalkeeper Keiran Westwood already has four clean sheets to his name.
Hull City fully deserved to win the play-off final in May to send them up to the promised land rather than Sheffield Wednesday, the bookies’ favourite, but you can bet that they won’t make the same mistake again this season.
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