Henrik Pedersen's League One blueprint for Sheffield Wednesday: Headers, set pieces and 10 seconds to score
Sheffield Wednesday have known since late-February – much longer, in truth – they would be playing in League One next season, but only now can plans start to form.
David Storch's takeover was completed last Saturday. David Bruce was named chief executive but a sporting director is still in the works, with Portsmouth's Richard Hughes thought to be high on the list.
Storch has spoken of a club “reborn” but clear ideas of how it will look on the field have had to wait.
Negotiations over what budget the Football League would allow were a key part of the process. Getting a threatened 15-point deduction wiped off has changed the picture of who the Owls can attract.
The homework started long ago.
With only three of the Owls' 13 post-relegation games on a Tuesday or Wednesday, manager Henrik Pedersen and his coaches have been racking up the miles watching League One football.
Given what they have learnt, we can expect a much bigger and faster Wednesday team next season.
"We can learn from a lot of clubs," says Pedersen, who worked in Ghana, Denmark, Norway and Germany but never England before joining Danny Rohl's backroom in October 2023. "I spoke with the sporting director from Lincoln (Jez George). He wanted to learn from the Championship, I wanted to learn how Lincoln had done it this season (winning League One).
"We've met people from Ipswich and Coventry and I searched out others too because the more we understand League One, the better chance to do something really good.
"We have looked at all the numbers from the last five years, the teams promoted from League One, and we have a lot of data.
"We know League One is a physically strong league. We know set-pieces play a very important part.
"To have five... if we can have six top headers will be a big advantage.
“In the last five years you need to have a plus-eight in set pieces (of goals scored over conceded) to be promoted. We also know that there are a lot of turnovers (of possession) in second in League One because there's going to be more long balls.
"You need to be a physically strong team to handle all those turnovers from the second balls – from us and from them – but also those transition in both directions.
"When teams come to Hillsborough it will be a compact team we will play against. We want to match them at set pieces and be really good in our counter-pressing.
"Then we also know how to make goals. It's easier if we make the goals inside 10 seconds from winning the ball from a second ball or from pressing, so we need speed up front.
"So it's a mix of size, of power, speed, but also the quality to play forward, to run forward."
In the six seasons since the Covid-19 outbreak, only four teams came straight back after relegation from the Championship. When they went up in 2022, Rotherham United were the great yo-yo team, but now they are heading to League Two.
Second-placed Cardiff City were League One's purest passing side last season but of the other top-six sides, only Bolton Wanderers and Stockport County had more of the ball than their opponents, according to WhoScored.com.
Lincoln had 41.9 per cent and a lower passing accuracy than 19 other teams. But only three teams won the ball in the air more often.
Bradford City's 28 accurate long balls per game was the third highest in League One, but nearly twice as many (53.5) were inaccurate. They are three games from promotion.
The Bantams have relied heavily on experience. Should the Owls?
Only Liam Palmer and Dominic Iorfa remain of the 2023 play-off winners, although others have played at that level too.
"I think it's healthy for a squad that some players have played there before," says Pedersen. "It's healthy to have some very experienced guys, some maybe from a higher level."
"League One Liam" was not a compliment when Liam Cooper was at Leeds United, but he is just the sort of aerially-dominant centre-back the Owls need. He and Iorfa, Wednesday’s top two headers last season, are both out of contract.
Pedersen wants a better spread of ages than this season, when too many were at extreme ends of their careers. He is keen to keep Svante Ingelsson (27) and Max Lowe (28), two of the few from the middle.
"We want young talent who can grow with us into the future," said Pedersen, once the head of Red Bull's global youth development.
"We can sell some, some can play in the first team. We need a group of 21 to 24 years-old who can perform and we need experienced players. We also need some who, in the short term, can help us to be promoted.
"We cannot only sign players who can travel the next two, three, four years. We want as many possible but we also need players in the short term to create good results."
After a year of make-do-and-mend, Pedersen knows what he wants for 2026-27. At last we will be able to judge him properly.