Owls plan to help Carvalhal celebrate milestone

The Owls’ decision to plump for not just the first foreign manager in the club’s 148-year history, but one with no experience of English football whatsoever, was viewed as bold by some and foolhardy by others. It was most definitely perceived as a risk by all.

To the rivals, it created open amusement. In those early days, the ridicule from the Owls’ Yorkshire neighbours was ceaseless – with ‘Carlos who?’ being the unflattering moniker doing the rounds.

The jibes are rather less pronounced now.

Carvalhal, a tenacious defender in his playing career in Portugal, is the one bearing the contented look these days. The longest serving ‘manager’ in the Broad Acres, no less – with just Yorkshiremen Mick McCarthy and Simon Grayson and Brighton’s Chris Hughton having been in charge of a rival Championship club for longer.

Justifiably proud of reaching the 100-game mark in today’s meeting with Cardiff City he may be, but Carvalhal is sage enough to realise that extending his longevity could well depend on how the club’s fate pans out between now and late Spring.

One thing that he can count upon in that regard is the full respect and support of his players. His leading lieutenant on the pitch, Glenn Loovens, cannot speak highly enough of the impact made by the Portuguese at Hillsborough – both as head coach and as a man.

Loovens said: “It has been great working under him. He is a really good manager and a pleasant person to have around you. I think he has a positive effect on everyone within this club.

“Carlos is his own guy and I have worked with some great managers and he is one of them.

“He is quite chilled and allows you to do your own stuff. But on the pitch, he demands your best and, like any manager, he will accept that you can do your own thing off the pitch as long as you perform on it.

“He is just a generally good guy. Once or twice, we have seen his angry side and I always find that, if a coach is chilled, when he does have a go it has more of an impact. I like the way he is.

“Everyone respects him highly. In his first season in British football it isn’t always easy. Straightaway, though, he brought us into the play-offs and we are in the play-off spots again this year.

“I think he should deserve all the praise he is getting.

“Tactically, he is very good and has always prepared us well for the coming games. Nowadays, you have a lot of foreign coaches in this division and a lot of teams have their own style and it is not the standard 4-4-2 any more and he prepares us well every game.”

The Owls’ latest challenge comes in the form of a Cardiff side whose manager, in the shape of the inimitable Neil Warnock, would derive much pleasure in throwing a spanner into the promotion works of the hosts.

In February, the former Sheffield United chief ‘did a job’ on another of his former clubs in Leeds United, who were undone by a streetwise Cardiff display at Elland Road, with the Welsh clubrunning out 2-0 winners.

Warnock, a figure who Wednesdayites uniformly love to hate, was also smiling in February of last year when his Rotherham United side became the first team to win in the league at Hillsborough in just over six months with a shock 1-0 derby victory for the Millers.

On both those occasions, Warnock’s teams boxed clever to frustrate the hosts at almost every turn and the wily operator will be seeking to reprise those tactics.

With plenty of nous in their own ranks, Loovens believes that Wednesday will be aware of what is coming against a club he knows well from his time in Wales under former Wednesday chief Dave Jones in the mid to late Noughties.

In terms of the battles ahead, the experience of a climactic run-in at the end of last season is something that the Owls can lean upon again, he says.

Loovens, hoping to shrug off a slight fitness issue to feature after coming off at half-time in last Saturday’s fine victory over Newcastle United, said: “We know what Cardiff are about. They are quite physical and an in-your-face team, so we have to make sure we cope with that.”

“Our experience should help, of course. We did it last year and everyone knows what to expect now. There is a bit more pressure coming into the games as it is the end of the season when the trophies are going to get dished out.

“But we have got a lot of experience and players who have been there, too, and I don’t think that we will get too nervous about it.”

Last six games: Sheffield Wednesday DLLDWW Cardiff DDWLDW.

Referee: D Coote (West Yorkshire).

Last time: Sheffield Wednesday 3 Cardiff 0; April 30, 2016; Championship.