Henrik Pedersen wants 'new Sheffield Wednesday with our old heart' as Dejphon Chansiri departs

But captain Barry Bannan has asked fans to come to the ground for Saturday's Championship game against Oxford United to give it the best chance of being a success.

The 158-year-old Championship club and, importantly, its separately-owned Hillsborough ground went into administration on Friday, putting jobs at risk and incurring a 12-point deduction.

Although neither Pedersen nor Bannan would accept as much, it makes relegation increasingly likely. The club still faces a Football League charge for not paying players – along with a parallel charge for Chansiri – which could carry a further deduction. A change of ownership will not lead to it being dropped.

But the removal of chairman Dejphon Chansiri – even down to the white seats in the North Stand being ripped out within an hour of administration being confirmed – and the now greatly-improved prospect of new owners have created a fresh sense of optimism which the always-positive Pedersen was happy to ride.

"It's a sad situation for a club with our history, this amazing club has to go into administration," said the Owls manager. "And the consequences are sad.

"But this is one side of the bread.

"The other side is the beginning of a new era. We can get a fresh restart and start to look into the future to create something positive again.

"How it was, we couldn't continue. What this club deserves and what the fans deserve is the fundamentals to reach the level we want."

Pedersen's comments about what the club requires from new owners perhaps said something about what he thought of the old one. Chansiri bought the club in January 2015 and pumped huge amounts of money in initially to try to get into the Premier League before seemingly running out of cash and the will to keep it competitive even in the second tier.

"I hope and I believe there will be some great owners who have big respect for the club and the tradition of the club, an understanding of the club, so we can build up a new great Sheffield Wednesday,” he said.

"I have only been here for two-and-a-half years (initially as Danny Rohl's assistant), so many people have been here their whole lives.

"As my two new assistants say, it doesn't matter where you go in England, there are Sheffield Wednesday supporters everywhere.

"There is a lot of quality in the players (even though) it is a small group. There are a lot of quality staff and coaches.

"We have to be a new Sheffield Wednesday with our old hearts.

"We have a fantastic club, but this fantastic club deserves to grow now.

"When I close my eyes I can see a bright future for Sheffield Wednesday. It's a sad situation but it can still be a good day."

Bannan shared the sense of optimism but was conscious of big challenges ahead.

Julian Pitts, Kris Wigfield and Paul Stanley of Begbies Traynor have taken over running the club as administrators. Wigfield, a Hillsborough season ticket holder, has urged supporters to get back into the ground and spending money.

The club’s Supporters’ Trust has backed various protest measures designed to smoke Chansiri out by denying him funds, but now says it wants to move from “a phase of resistance” to “a phase of renewal”.

Bannan was keen to emphasise how important that is.

"We've known for a while now that this could be the route that it was going to go down," he said.

"We couldn't keep going on the way we were going on, it's probably the right thing to do.

"We need (the fans) more than ever. The fans have got what they wanted. This is where we really need them to come and get behind us and be that extra man, because it was a hard game the other night to play with no crowd, that's not the way Hillsborough should be.

"It's not only helping us on the pitch, it's helping all the staff who are hoping to get paid next Friday.

"Hopefully we get a sell-out and everyone who's worked hard over the last few months through this tough time actually do get paid on time next Friday."