Sheffield Wednesday hoping for green light on free agents but they must pass Henrik Pedersen's character test
Henrik Pedersen says character will be as important as ability if Sheffield Wednesday are given the green light to sign free agents.
The Owls recently went into administration under five transfer embargoes, all of which are still in place. But the rules do provide to stop clubs being left short-staffed.
Joint administrator Kris Whigfield is working with the Football League to see if Wednesday can be allowed new signings before the transfer window opens in January. They hope to hear back in the next 48 hours, with former Leeds United captain Liam Cooper linked.
"I wait for an answer from Kris to what we can do," said manager Pedersen. "I hope we will know more on Thursday or Friday about which direction it will go. At the moment I don't have any concrete answer."
Asked how many new faces he thought would be realistic, he replied: "Maybe one or two.
"For me, one thing is the technical quality, the football quality, but the most important thing is also that we find the right people who understand that they have to come to Sheffield Wednesday and be a part of a team where the team is the most important (thing).
"They have to be ready to give something and not just get something because there is no space for egos, there is space for strong personalities.
"They (the current squad) all know – ‘Hey, we are here for something that is bigger than ourselves.’"
The only senior players the Owls have been able to sign since the end of last season have been loanees Ethan Horvath and Harry Amass, as well as re-signing captain Barry Bannan on greatly reduced wages.
The squad list submitted when the transfer window closed had just 14 players over the age of 21. Of the rest, George Brown, Bailey Cadamarteri, Pierce Charles, Sean Fusire and Gabriel Otegbayo meet the threshold of "permitted players" with three or more league starts at Championship or Premier League level. Embargoed clubs are not allowed more than 23.
Pierce Charles, Di’Shon Bernard, Nathaniel Chalobah, Ernie Weaver and Olaf Kobacki are injured. So are Rio Shipston, Gui Siqueira and Mackenzie Maltby, youngsters yet to hit the three-start mark.
The Football League's role is to strike a balance between punishing the Owls for not meeting their financial obligations under Dejphon Chansiri and maintaining a fair competitive balance.
Even though Chansiri no longer has an influence, the League do not want the Owls to benefit from his actions, but equally do not want them to be so uncompetitive that sides playing them at this point have an unfair advantage.
The Owls are due to play 11 games in the 42 days between the end of November's international break and FA Cup third-round week.
"We need really good players and experienced players," said midfielder Yan Valery.
"That would be really important, especially in December with all the games we're going to have.
"If we have injuries or if people are tired you need to have a good bench. It would be really important.
"It will be tough if we don't get anyone in. We have really good players and we've seen that in the (League) cup so we trust them but sometimes you need a bit of experience as well."