New Sheffield Wednesday chiefs drop exciting message | OneFootball

Both Simon Wilson and David Bruce have discussed potential short-term goals for Sheffield Wednesday back in League One

Sheffield Wednesday begin their fourth venture into League One next season. In each of their last three, they've been promoted to the Championship at the second attempt.

Ultimately, their return for 2026/27 comes under completely different circumstances, with the Wednesday squad needing a lot of additions after being gutted over the past 12 months as Dejphon Chansiri's final few months of his reign transitioned into a period of administration.

Now, the Owls are under new ownership and have fresh ideas that the club didn't have under their former owner. For example, Simon Wilson's sporting director role wasn't utilised under Chansiri, who didn't believe in long-term planning in football.

However, regardless of the state that Sheffield Wednesday find themselves in, there's always an expectation that they'll be a big fish in the third tier pond and will immediately be challenging for promotion.

But, the new hierarchy at Hillsborough are insistent to not having massive expectations ahead of the new campaign, instead putting the onus on seeing improvement, and seeing where things go from there.

Sheffield Wednesday hierarchy not hasty to put a label on short-term targets

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Sheffield Wednesday's new owners, the new CEO David Bruce and Wilson all spoke at an event at Hillsborough on Monday evening, per the Sheffield Star, and, understandably, questions were floated about what their expectations are this season.

However, there's so much to organise both off the field in terms of bettering the club's facilities at the training ground and at Hillsborough, and on it, too, regarding signing new players to help bulk out Henrik Pedersen's vastly inexperienced and thin squad, before a ball is even kicked.

The focus, therefore, is on adding enough so they can form a short-term objective from that, but David Bruce insisted that, in the opening few years at least, "football is not linear" to their goals.

"We want to do as well as we can," Bruce said. "Our hard objectives will emerge over the coming weeks, but we're going to be competitive, we're going to invest and put a team on the field that I think we'll all be proud of.

"Our goal is to get out of this league pretty soon, but football is not linear. As long as we are improving and progressing and building all the way, we want to build something for the medium and long term.

"This is not about short-term plasters, which I think this club has been guilty of in the past alongside others. You chase, chase and chase, and you might get a moment, but then it kills you for the next three or four years. We'll do it the right way. You've got a group here who are committed to doing it the right way."

New sporting director, Simon Wilson, acknowledged the hype and momentum surrounding the club currently, given their fresh start and the optimism that the Arise ownership has brought about already.

He admitted, though, that putting a label on what they want from this season creates even more expectation that, ultimately, they may not achieve as quickly as they stated.

"I'm here to win. We're all here to win, there's no doubt about that and that's what we will try to do from day one," he said. "I think from the situation we are in now; the momentum, the goodwill and the feeling we've got around the club, we all have an incredible way of self-sabotaging sometimes, right?

"If we create an incredible pressure and expectation, we might kill that momentum. I just think this has to be a season where we build step-by-step and get better and better and better. Then we'll see where it takes us, we'll not put a ceiling on it. It's for everyone else to have expectations, we'll just go and take care of business."

There are exciting times ahead for Sheffield Wednesday, even if success doesn't come immediately

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So far, the new hierarchy at Sheffield Wednesday are setting out all the right targets and, ultimately, while it may take a little longer than optimists hope, it's this model that will see one of the biggest sleeping giants reclaim their top flight status.

For the first time in what feels like an age, there's a direction at Hillsborough that spans longer than one or two seasons. The group is looking ahead to what the club looks like in five, 10, even 20 years.

And, as long as there's progress towards those internal goals, then David Storch and co know that they're on the right track.

Simon Wilson will know that Sheffield Wednesday are an attractive club to come play for in League One, and they'll be able to bring in a lot of top prospects and important players for the level.

But while that may build expectation in the stands and across the media, those at the top of the club aren't letting themselves get carried away with things, which can only be a positive for the long-term future for the Owls.

It'll take some getting used to after a decade of Dejphon Chansiri's short-term goals, but it's definitely something that Wednesday fans can look forward to watching play out.