2017-18 Preview: Sheffield Wednesday only interested in looking forward

Just 12 days earlier, his hopes of leading Sheffield Wednesday into the Premier League had been dashed in the cruellest of fashions.

Danny Ward’s penalty save from Fernando Forestieri meant Huddersfield Town and not the Owls were going head-to-head with Reading at Wembley in a match that had a £200m cash bounty riding on the outcome.

For Carvalhal, that agonising shoot-out defeat to the Terriers meant a second successive summer of ‘what ifs’ and ‘maybes’ lay ahead. Hence why, as he relaxed on holiday, the Portuguese ensured he was otherwise engaged as events unfolded under the most famous Arch in football that would, eventually, take David Wagner’s side into the big time.

“I did not watch the play-off final,” explained the 51-year-old to The Yorkshire Post ahead of attempting to make it third-time lucky in his attempts to bring top-flight football back to Hillsborough for the first time since 2000. “I had the chance to but I chose not to.

“My feelings at the end of the season were a mixture of disappointment and pride. To achieve a play-off place in two (consecutive) seasons set a high standard. It is not easy to do this in the Championship.

“Brighton were in a high position for two seasons. But just them and us achieved a place in the top six two times. Other clubs may have achieved it one year but not the next. That is something to make me proud.

“It was good but not good enough. Now, we have to do better.”

Part of Carvalhal’s reasoning for giving the play-off final a miss was a desire to look forward and not back.

Regrets are not for someone who had managed 15 clubs in the 14 years that preceded his arrival in south Yorkshire during the summer of 2015. Plus, not dwelling on the play-off final defeat to Hull City at the end of his first season had helped Wednesday move on from such a crushing blow to again book their place in last May’s promotion deciders.

“My conversation to the players (on the return from pre-season) this year was to look forward,” he added. “They have done that and I am sure we are more ready this season (than a year ago).

“We have worked together for two years and the players understand what we want. We have tried to upgrade things. The players know a lot of the principles we want.”

Carvalhal’s two years have brought a huge transformation in S6. Where pessimism had abounded following a decade or more of, at best, treading water, Wednesday are now a club that carry a justified sense of expectation.

The tens of millions ploughed into the team by Dejphon Chansiri has given Carvalhal a squad that draws envy from the vast majority of his managerial peers in the second tier.

Nowhere is this more apparent than up front, with no less than seven strikers vying for a place in the starting XI. Midfield, both in the centre and out wide, is similarly well staffed, while the priority during the ongoing transfer window has been to bring in competition for Tom Lees and Glenn Loovens in the one area of the field where the Owls were caught short last term.

That search is expected to bear fruit very soon and, even in a competition where clubs are splashing the cash at a rate unthinkable just a couple of years ago, Wednesday are well fancied to realise Chansiri’s dream of Premier League football.

“Two years in the Championship have shown me how tough this league is,” added Carvalhal, who agreed a new contract extension at the end of last season. “I believe it will be very strong again this year. Wolves are just one team who have spent a lot of money on players with very high quality.

“There are also teams who have been relegated that will be strong. Teams who have been promoted as well. And the teams who last year maybe could have done better.

“It will be very tough, probably eight to 10 teams will believe they can win promotion. We are one of those teams. We are not the best but one of the best. We will fight for a good position.”

Last season was not all plain-sailing for Carvalhal, Yorkshire’s longest serving manager despite being in the job a little over two years. At times, the expectation generated by the run to Wembley seemed to weigh down the Owls and it was notable that the Portuguese came off Twitter during the final few months of the campaign.

He admitted to being “hurt” at the online barbs that came his way during an indifferent run of form for Wednesday.

“It is important to manage very well the expectations (surrounding the club),” admitted Carvalhal when asked about the coming season’s challenges. “And, at the same time, play with ambition so we win games.

“We have to understand that, even if you are in a good position, this competition can change quickly. By the end, it can have changed a lot.

“Look at us last season. In December, you remember that we were not in a good position but then we had a very fast run and achieved the play-offs.

“We must remember Sheffield Wednesday will not achieve anything in January or February. But we do need a good balance, that is key for us to achieve a good position.

“The big thing is we all also believe. Without having the soul, we will achieve nothing. But I am absolutely sure we have this in our team. I promise our fans we will fight to the very end for the three points every week.

“Before the players went away (for the summer), I had a conversation with them all that was very similar to the one we had when they came back.

“We have a big commitment at this club, it is between us, the players, the fans, the chairman and a big responsibility to do better than we did last season.

“We achieved sixth (in 2015-16) and fourth last season. But we have to do better. We know the season will be more difficult than the previous two seasons because there are now a lot of ambitious clubs in this division. They all want to do well and all spend money. Everyone wants to win promotion to the Premier League.

“The big feeling after Huddersfield was disappointment because we were so close. But this is the life we have. Our job is to be stronger.

“I am very proud of how well my players have done but we want more.

“I do believe we are one of the strongest sides in the competition. Not the strongest but a strong team.”