Sheffield Wednesday set for big boost after what happened at Wembley on Sunday | OneFootball

Stockport County's season is officially over, and that means Sheffield Wednesday's pursuit of Simon Wilson can progress

Sheffield Wednesday's new owners have been working tirelessly since their takeover was confirmed to build a strong foundation at the board level so they can attack the transfer window immediately when it opens on June 15.

David Storch and the Arise consortium immediately moved to bring David Bruce to the club as its new Chief Executive Officer, and the hunt for a new sporting director followed afterwards.

Already, that's making a good impression on Wednesday fans, as former owner Dejphon Chansiri refused to have a proper off-field structure and strategy, even going as far as to say in 2020 that you cannot plan for five years ahead in football.

Understandably, that prompted a lot of criticism, so being introduced to new board members almost instantly following the Arise takeover is a reason for excitement about the future of the Hillsborough-based club.

It's no secret that the Owls have highlighted departing Stockport County chief executive Simon Wilson as their preferred candidate, and after the Hatters' season ended on Sunday, it's expected that their pursuit could finally progress.

Sheffield Wednesday set for breakthrough in sporting director hunt after Stockport County loss

Indeed, according to the Sheffield Star, Sheffield Wednesday are expected to "take further steps forward" in their pursuit of Wilson now that Stockport's season is over.

The Hatters were unable to make their CEO's send-off a successful one, as they fell in the League One play-off final against Bolton Wanderers, who convincingly beat them 4-1 at Wembley on Sunday.

Wilson's six-year stint at Edgeley Park has seen Stockport transform from a National League outfit to one on the cusp of a Championship return for the first time since the 2001/02 campaign, and he's been credited with a lot of that progression.

Stockport's chairman, Mark Stott, has stated in the past that he wouldn't have bought the club if not for Wilson's strategy and mindset, so understandably, there's a lot of excitement to get the deal over the line from a Wednesday perspective.

Not only has the County chief helped craft a squad that has helped the Hatters finish third in consecutive League One seasons, but he also knows how to get a club to maximise their potential, something which is sky-high now for Sheffield Wednesday following their takeover.

What David Bruce has said about Simon Wilson will create excitement amongst Sheffield Wednesday supporters

New Wednesday CEO David Bruce has already spoken to the official Sheffield Wednesday Supporters' Trust about his plans for where the club will be improving in the near and distant future, helping create an element of trust that simply hasn't existed for close to a decade.

During that Supporters' Trust AGM, he spoke about the soon-to-be Sporting Director, and whilst not mentioning Wilson by name, his review of the new board member was very positive.

"We're close to our preferred candidate," he said. "We'll hopefully have some news on that pretty soon. The guy we've got in mind has an incredible track record, and he's a great human, which is really important.

"He's someone I can imagine going into the trenches with, coming together and figuring out what we need to do to move this club forward."

Ultimately, with Stockport's season still ongoing at the time of that AGM, nothing official was in place. But now the Hatters' campaign is over, an announcement will surely be made in the coming days.

Then, it'll be all hands on deck to retool a squad that has been gutted over the past year to try and put Wednesday in the best possible position to make a fist of getting back into the Championship at the first time of asking.