Sheffield Wednesday announce Dave Challinor as new manager

Challinor will be at the 2pm game, but Matt Hamshaw will take caretaker charge for the second and final time.

Like his predecessor, Henrik Pedersen, Challinor takes the title of first-team manager, but he will work closely with Simon Wilson, his sporting director at Stockport County last season.

As soon as Wilson joined Owls in the summer, many were expecting that Challinor would follow in time. They have taken a week to assess other candidates before settling on the 51-year-old, who was out of work after leaving Edgeley Park after the Hatters’ League One play-off final defeat to Bolton Wanderers in the summer.

Pedersen was sacked a week ago after his nine-match unbeaten run in all competitions was ended by back-to-back away defeats. He had been given the chance to show his worth after standing by the Owls in arguably the most difficult season in their history as they went into administration and were relegated from the Championship with zero points, the lowest ever tally in league football.

But Pedersen was given the chance to show his worth with a proper – albeit Football League-restricted – budget and a new-look squad built by Wilson. Although results were reasonable, fans were unhappy that the style of football was not attacking enough, and addressing that will be one of Challinor’s first challenges.

In his days as a Tranmere Rovers centre-back, Challinor was known for the longest throw-in in English football, regularly launching the ball into opposition penalty areas from the halfway line. But as a manager he has forged himself a new reputation.

And although Wednesday are the biggest club he has managed, he has more than earnt the right.

He began in the seventh tier with Colwyn Bay in 2010, and has managed at every level up to League One since, as well as the one below, winning promotion from all of them bar the third tier. Remarkably, none of the four teams he has managed has ever finished outside the play-off places in their respective divisions.

After winning the Northern Premier League Premier Division play-offs in his first season in north Wales, he moved to Division One North, claiming that title, then the Premier Division play-offs and National League North title, as well as the 2018–19 FA Trophy.

It earnt him a move to Hartlepool United, who he took into the Football League via the play-offs.

On the back of that he moved to Stockport in 2021, taking them from the Conference to League One, where he won the Football League Trophy in the first of two trips to Wembley last season, the other being the play-off final.

His first game in charge will be a Sunday evening televised FA Cup tie at Oldham Athletic.