How Liam Palmer reacted to huge Sheffield Wednesday takeover update - it needed just two words | OneFootball

The Sheffield Wednesday legend only needed two words to sum up the feeling at Hillsborough following his team's match against West Bromwich Albion.

The long-serving captain of Sheffield Wednesday had a very simple message for fans of the club following their final game of the season against West Bromwich Albion.

There was a party atmosphere at Hillsborough for Sheffield Wednesday's final match of the season against West Bromwich Albion. Not only was the new ownership of the club finally confirmed, but the club were also able to announce before kick-off that they won't be subject to a 15-point deduction for the start of next season.

And as if that wasn't enough, Wednesday marked the occasion by beating West Brom 2-1, their second league win of the season and their first at Hillsborough since they beat Middlesbrough more than a year ago.

The win didn't make any difference in so far as the standings at the bottom of the Championship - they finished a jaw-dropping 51 points from safety, with the relegation having been mathematically confirmed at the end of February - were concerned, but carried the symbolic significance of lifting the club to zero points for the season following 18 points' worth of deductions for entering administration and failing to pay their players on time.

Liam Palmer's two-word message for Sheffield Wednesday fans following West Brom win

​​​​​​Taking to the social media platform Instagram after their 2-1 win against West Bromwich Albion on the final regular Saturday of the 2025-26 season, the Sheffield Wednesday captain Liam Palmer had a simple two-word message for fans: "New era." The caption was attached to a picture of Wednesday players celebrating with him.

Palmer had scored the second goal of the match, to put Wednesday 2-0 up against West Brom with five minutes of the first half still to play. It was a second goal in quick succession for Wednesday, with Nathaniel Chalobah having put them 1-0 up five minutes earlier.

Karlan Grant pulled a goal back for Albion with nine minutes to play, but this wasn't enough to prevent the win for Sheffield Wednesday, who will be going into their 2026-27 season in League One on a level playing field with their rivals following the pre-match confirmation that they will not be starting next season with a 15-point deduction.

A one-year contract extension for Liam Palmer should be a no-brainer for Sheffield Wednesday's new owners

Few players will have had greater cause to have felt a huge sigh of relief over the news that Sheffield Wednesday's takeover had been completed than captain Liam Palmer. He first joined the club at seven years old and made his senior debut for them in August 2010.

Since then, Palmer has racked up over 500 appearances for the club in all competitions, with the only other club he's represented being Tranmere Rovers, where he spent the 2012-13 season on loan. He's made almost 350 appearances for them in the Championship alone, and became only the fourth player in the history of the club to reach the milestone of 500 appearances for them against Watford in March.

And the 2025-26 season may have been a tiring one for the captain. He's featured in 45 of their 46 Championship matches, and 42 of his appearances have been starts. Such has been the threadbare nature of the Wednesday squad throughout the course of this season that all hands have been required on deck from the few truly senior professionals, with little room for rest time.

Speaking at the time of his 500th appearance for Wednesday, Palmer said that, "I want nothing more than this club to bounce straight back and get back up to the Championship as soon as possible." It had been expected that the club would pick up a 15-point deduction for failing to exit administration without a plan in place to pay unsecured creditors a minimum of 25p in the pound, but the EFL were persuaded by the club's argument that they had done everything within their power to negotiate with former owner Dejphon Chansiri, who was by far the club's biggest creditor.

Relegation without that points deduction means that the club can start next season on parity with their rivals who'll be fighting for promotion from League One. Palmer's contract with the club expires this summer, but it's understood that there is a clause in it to extend by a year and the club will surely look to trigger this to secure him for another season. A new era is coming for Sheffield Wednesday, and it seems inconceivable that their club captain won't be a big part of it.