Sheffield Wednesday fans locked in Hillsborough debate - Henrik Pedersen might be the problem | OneFootball

There's a debate going on among Wednesday fans about the atmosphere at Hillsborough which is now tapping into concerns about the team's manager.

Sheffield Wednesday fans are locked in a debate over the lack of atmosphere at Hillsborough, and this has tapped into a conversation about manager Henrik Pedersen.

On the surface, this has been a successful start to the 2026-27 season for Sheffield Wednesday. The team headed into the three-week international break in second place in the League One table, and following relegation from the Championship at the end of 2025-26 which saw them finish on zero points (after deductions), that's an achievement which pays its own tribute to the new ownership under which the club has found itself.

But the way in which the club game gets put on hold over international breaks also leads to reflection and discussion, and there has been an online discussion going on among Wednesday fans about the lack of atmosphere at Hillsborough during recent matches. And in trying to establish why that has come about, many have alighted on the team itself, and in turn manager Henrik Pedersen. Wednesday's last two matches before the break were home league games against Wigan Athletic and Stockport County, and both ended in goalless draws.

A Sheffield Wednesday debate over the atmosphere at home matches is turning into a referendum on Henrik Pedersen

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That the atmosphere for home matches at Hillsborough has tailed off in recent games certainly hasn't gone unnoticed, and a post from the Sheffield Wednesday fan account Owls Extra asked on the social media platform X of what could be done about it, including the possibility of having a designated singing section inside the ground.

While there was discussion of how a singing section could be implemented at Hillsborough on match-days - as well as whether it should or not - there was also considerable conjecture about the extent to which the teams last two home results and the style of football that they've been playing is having the effect of keeping the stadium quiet during matches.

Because not only did Sheffield Wednesday's last two matches before the international break end in goalless draws. Wednesday have played six home games in all competitions so far in 2026-27, and they've failed to find the net in half of them, and this has led to concerns that Henrik Pedersen's risk-adverse way of setting up the team could ultimately be damaging for both the match-day atmosphere and, ultimately, making a quick return to the Championship.

What Sheffield Wednesday fans have been saying about the match-day atmosphere at Hillsborough

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With Owls Extra having asked what could be done about the match-day atmosphere at Hillsborough, they received a lot of responses, so here's a selection of what's been said about how the team's performances could be impacting it.

This Sheffield Wednesday fan feels that the a defensive formation is making it difficult for fans to build up any momentum behind their team:

This Wednesdayite puts a proportion of the quiet on match-days at Hillsborough down to nerves on the part of the fans, and a tendency on their past to expect the worst:

This fan was at the England game on Saturday night, and he feels that the issue affects a lot of clubs and teams, and not just Sheffield Wednesday:

Wednesday have failed to score at all in half of their home matches so far in 2026-27

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Their last two League One games have made for pretty grim watching for Sheffield Wednesday fans.

Two home matches in the last two games before a three-week international break were the perfect opportunity to send themselves into that extended break on a high. But their two matches against Wigan Athletic and Stockport County saw Henrik Pedersen's team firing blanks with two goalless draws.

Against Wigan, they managed three shots on target on ninety minutes, but none of these were categorised as "big chances". Against Stockport, meanwhile, they managed two "big chances", but spurned both of them and these were their only shots on target all evening.

These two matches cannot be taken in complete isolation, either. Against Bradford City in August, they managed two big chances and missed both of them, while against Wolves in the EFL Cup, as against Wigan in the League, they managed three shots on target but no "big chances."

This means that, out of six home matches played in all competitions, Henrik Pedersen's team have failed to score in three of them. One of the other three matches remains their stand-out performance of the season so far, a 7-2 win against Bromley at the end of August which looks even more impressive than it did at the time, given that Bromley ended Huddersfield Town's unbeaten start to the season in their last League game before the international break.

It's clear that there is a proportion of Sheffield Wednesday fans who have significant reservations about Henrik Pedersen, but it seems unlikely that the club's new owners will get rid of him while they remain near the top of the League One table. But Sheffield Wednesday return from their break on the 10th October with a trip to Huddersfield for a Yorkshire derby and then entertain a Wimbledon side who've had a decent start to the season.

If there isn't an improvement in the team's performances over the two goalless draws that they carried into the break, the pressure will continue to build under Henrik Pedersen, despite what the League One table has been saying so far in 2026-27.