'Hard not to get overexcited' - Carlos Carvalhal’s Sheffield Wednesday prediction sums up mood after takeover | OneFootball

The former Owls boss is optimistic about the club's future under David Storch

Sheffield Wednesday’s sense of renewal under David Storch has sparked understandable excitement around Hillsborough, and few figures embody the club’s last genuinely optimistic era quite like Carlos Carvalhal.

The Portuguese coach, who guided the Owls to back-to-back Championship play-off campaigns under Dejphon Chansiri, believes Wednesday can return to the Premier League within the next four or five years if momentum continues under the new ownership.

"I hope that next season in League One, the club is promoted, and after, with this kind of wave after wave, the club can get the power to go to the Premier League in two or three years," he told BBC Radio Sheffield's Rob Staton.

"You go, you are strong, you become stronger and after, you fly and go to the place that this club must be."

That optimism has been fuelled by a dramatic few weeks in South Yorkshire. Wednesday emerged from administration before the final day of the season, avoided a feared 15-point deduction and ended a disastrous relegation campaign with a packed Hillsborough and a rare home victory over West Brom.

Supporters are now watching a complete structural reset unfold in real time, with David Bruce installed as CEO, Simon Wilson expected to arrive in a sporting director role and major operational changes already underway behind the scenes.

Carlos Carvalhal’s Sheffield Wednesday Premier League prediction shouldn’t make Owls fans get carried away

Football League World’s in-house Owls fan pundit Patrick McKenna reacted to Carvalhal’s ambitious Premier League prediction - and explained why supporters are trying to balance hope with realism after years of instability.

“Yeah, with things at Hillsborough these days, I suppose it is hard not to get over-excited or carried away,” McKenna told FLW.

“Just in the past few weeks, the good news and positivity coming out of Hillsborough - it almost seems like a dream, and what we've seen so far from the Arise consortium is all very encouraging,

“One thing that is there - that has been missing for a generation - is planning, professionalism, structure, and it all just seems to point to a club that is looking to be rebuilt,

“It's going to be done on proper foundations, with the right people in the right role - that's obviously exciting,

“But there is no point putting on any time scales about returning to the top flight.
It's not simply about being in the Premier League, it's about being a solid well-run club, and obviously that's what we want,

“Obviously in this vision, our owners will want to get to the top flight, but let's not put any sort of dates on it or you'll get carried away. Let's just enjoy the new ownership and see where it takes us.”

Sheffield Wednesday’s rebuild finally feels rooted in long-term thinking

Perhaps the most significant change at Sheffield Wednesday is not the takeover itself, but the sudden shift in tone around the club.

For years, Hillsborough existed in a state of permanent instability. Even moments of optimism often felt fragile.

That is why the conversation around Wednesday feels different now. Not because anyone seriously expects a seamless rise from League One back to the Premier League, but because there finally appears to be an understanding of what sustainable football clubs actually look like.

The language coming out of Hillsborough is no longer centred around shortcuts or grand promises. Instead, it is the ‘boring’ things - infrastructure, recruitment, staffing and competence. The concepts that should be ordinary, but at Wednesday have become strangely novel.

Carvalhal’s teams arguably represented the last time supporters truly felt connected to the club’s direction, when Hillsborough still carried the sense that something meaningful might be building. Much of the affection for him stems from that feeling as much as the football itself.

The challenge for David Storch and his ownership group is ensuring this moment becomes more than a mood shift. Wednesday are still emerging from one of the bleakest periods in their modern history, and the damage caused by years of mismanagement will not disappear because of one celebratory afternoon against West Brom.

League One remains unforgiving, expectations will grow quickly and football ownership stories rarely unfold in straight lines.

Yet there is also a reason the atmosphere around the club has changed so dramatically in such a short space of time. Owls supporters are reacting to signs of care, organisation and accountability. After so long spent fearing for the club’s future, even basic professionalism feels exciting.

Whether that eventually leads back to the Premier League is impossible to predict. But for the first time in years, Wednesday look like a club trying to build something rather than simply survive the next crisis.