SHEFFIELD Wednesday legend Chris Waddle insists Henrik Pedersen fully deserves the chance to lead the Owls back to the Championship next season - following his sterling work amid trying circumstances in 2025-26.

Wednesday endured all manner of vicissitudes in a torrid campaign, which saw the club docked 18 points due to their financial issues.

The Hillsborough outfit's best moment arrived on the very last day of the regular season, with the completion of David Storch's takeover coinciding with the news that the club will not start next term with a 15-point penalty in League One.

A 2-1 win over West Brom - Wednesday's first at league level on home soil since Easter Monday 2025 - added to the feel-good factor.

New Sheffield Wednesday owner David Storch with Henrik Pedersen.

placeholder image — New Sheffield Wednesday owner David Storch with Henrik Pedersen.

It was one of just two league victories in a season when the crisis at S6 was the talk of the EFL.

With Wednesday to now hopefully embark on a close season of normality, Waddle is backing the claims of Pedersen to carry on.

Speaking to Mega Casino - which has a wide variety of online casino games including Football Cash Collect Slot - Waddle said: "He needs a checklist, and you can't judge a manager on this (season).

"When you look at all the circumstances around Sheffield Wednesday and what they've had to play with - and they've had to throw kids in at times - they've held most teams. Apart from the Oxford result, they've been close in every other game for months.

Sheffield Wednesday and England legend Chris Waddle, above.

"They're not as far away as people think. They've got some good young players who've had great experience and they're dropping a division, which should help them.

"I'm sure the plans are to get about 20 new players to build the squad and you would think they are going to be a lot of seasoned professionals who know that league and know what they can get out of it."

Waddle says he has been impressed by the words and deeds of Storch and the way he has engaged with fans after the fissure of the final few years of the Dejphon Chansiri era.

He continued "He wants to make decisions which are right and we needed somebody who's going to communicate with the fans, so it's not going to be ‘them and us’.

"I've been impressed with what they've had to say and want to do. If they can fulfil that, then I'm sure there'll be a lot of happy Owls."