Henrik Pedersen facing big Sheffield Wednesday threat - it could force David Storch U-turn | OneFootball

Defeat to Bromley could make the Dane's tenure more insecure

There is a reasonable argument that Henrik Pedersen should be under no immediate pressure at Sheffield Wednesday.

There is an equally reasonable argument that, if Saturday goes badly, David Storch will have to begin asking more serious questions about the manager.

Bromley’s visit comes at an awkward moment. The Owls began League One with a 2-1 victory at Leyton Orient, but followed that with a disappointing 1-0 defeat to Bradford City in their first home league game of the season.

Tuesday's 2-0 Carabao Cup defeat to Wolves provided little in the way of encouragement.

Another defeat on Saturday would mean three consecutive losses at Hillsborough, and that would inevitably change the atmosphere.

The circumstances of his job deserve more consideration than the first three results of the campaign alone can provide.

Yet there is a distinction between arguing that Pedersen deserves time and suggesting that he is beyond scrutiny.

Sheffield Wednesday must give Henrik Pedersen time to build

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The case for patience is a strong one. Wednesday's summer has amounted to something closer to an overhaul than a conventional transfer window.

A huge number of new players have arrived, and Pedersen has been tasked with turning a collection of individuals into a functioning side.

For players arriving from different environments, the move to League One represents a cultural as well as sporting change. It would be simplistic to expect cohesion immediately.

Storch's decision to retain Pedersen was, in that context, defensible. The manager provided a degree of stability during a season in which almost everything around him was unstable. The Owls' eventual relegation did not erase the fact that he was operating under extraordinary restrictions.

There was logic in allowing him to oversee the rebuild rather than asking another manager to inherit an almost entirely new squad and start again.

The difficulty for Pedersen is that patience ultimately needs to produce evidence of progress.

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There have been encouraging signs in the way Pedersen has helped sell Wednesday to potential recruits.

Several of the club's new arrivals have spoken unusually warmly about their conversations with the manager.

Kieran Morrison was particularly revealing after completing his loan move from Liverpool. He explained that Pedersen had been more interested in discussing the person he wanted to become than simply his footballing qualities.

Ali Al-Hamadi has since offered a similarly positive assessment.

None of that guarantees success. A manager can be admired in the dressing room and still fail to produce a team capable of winning enough football matches.

But it is significant - Pedersen has not inherited this squad, his personality and his vision have been part of the recruitment process. The players arriving at Hillsborough have, to some extent, bought into him.

Henrik Pedersen cannot become untouchable at Sheffield Wednesday

The argument for Pedersen must stop short of absolution - he deserves time, but not immunity.

Saturday should not be treated as a referendum on his tenure. Wednesday will not suddenly cease to be a work in progress if Bromley leave Hillsborough with three points, and one result should not make Storch's decision to retain Pedersen irrational.

Football, however, is rarely judged in isolation.

If Wednesday lose on Saturday, the pressure will increase. Three successive home defeats would make it difficult to dismiss concerns about Pedersen.

The irony is that Pedersen's greatest defence may be the same thing which makes his position vulnerable - he has been given responsibility for a squad built to his specifications.

If he can integrate it and make Wednesday competitive, the early turbulence will look like precisely what it was - the necessary discomfort of rebuilding.

If he cannot, Storch will eventually have to decide whether loyalty to the original plan is more valuable than changing course.

It would be rash to demand that change now - but it would be equally rash to assume it can never come.