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Sheffield Wednesday were written off before a single ball was kicked this season, but the Owls have shown enough this weekend to suggest their fate may not be a foregone conclusion as many expect.
Amid all the chaos this summer of transfer embargoes, a managerial shake-up, and something of a player exodus, it’s not really surprising that Sheffield Wednesday were tipped to finish bottom of the league this year.
Even the optimism of Henrik Pedersen and the new contract for Barry Bannan couldn’t change the minds of most pundits in the game with regards to the Owls’ survival hopes.
However, after a brave showing against Leicester City on Sunday resulted in a narrow 2-1 defeat, it sounds like some have started to have a rethink on their Championship predictions for 2025/26.
- READ MORE: Nathaniel Chalobah shares inspiring message with Sheffield Wednesday fans, he’s ‘devastated’
Sheffield Wednesday could actually have a chance of staying up
We asked fans on Twitter/X to share their thoughts on how the season will go for Wednesday now in light of their valiant efforts against the Foxes, and it seems the vast majority of Championship fans believe the Owls actually have a fighting chance of staying up now.
Of the 117 responses, a massive 57.3% (67 votes) agreed that Wednesday now have a chance of surviving, suggesting it will be more of a relegation fight than an inevitable demotion.
However, 35.9% of voters (42 votes) still think Sheffield Wednesday will end up rock bottom of the league come May.
Meanwhile, just eight people believe the Owls can stay up, with 6.8% voting on the idea that they’ll be totally fine this season.
In the replies, one Sheffield Wednesday fan said: “I’m saying we’ll be rock bottom unfortunately, the squad is too small and inexperienced to compete like that for a full season. Add to that a potential points deduction and it’s game over. The bigger picture though is getting rid of Chansiri.”
Regardless, we know Sheffield Wednesday supporters are very ‘proud’ of their team after Sunday’s performance, and it does look like the club will not go down without one hell of a fight.
Henrik Pedersen has nothing to lose at Sheffield Wednesday this season
In many ways, with so many people writing Sheffield Wednesday off already, there’s very little to lose for Henrik Pedersen and his players. They either go down and it’s what everyone expects, or they stay up and achieve what would be an even bigger miracle than Danny Rohl’s escape trick two seasons ago.
The key thing is that the Owls show the kind of fighting spirit they showed on Sunday for the whole season. As long as the fans see that, they’ll have no complaints with the squad and the manager come the end of the season.
Pedersen is clearly impressed with his players and is very focused on the task at hand, which is to strengthen the squad and make Sheffield Wednesday competitive over the next 45 games.