Sheffield Wednesday

Sheffield Wednesday boss Henrik Pedersen spoke to BBC Radio Sheffield after his side's 1-1 draw with Charlton Athletic:

"I think it's the strongest offensive performance we've had this season, and most control on the ball.

"We knew before the game it would be a game with all the basic things in the Championship.

"There was a lot of long balls, a lot of direct play, there'll be a lot of set pieces and we have to match them today to get anything.

"They score from a long ball and then a second ball in the box and then they had one more chance from this but we also score from these phases in the game."

Rob Staton
BBC Radio Sheffield reporter

Image source, Getty Images

I can imagine nobody wants to see football clubs exploit administration to gain an advantage.

It's quite hard to see how Sheffield Wednesday benefit from their current situation though, as the EFL stands firm on a 15-point deduction for next season.

Dejphon Chansiri created a nightmare Wednesday fans are desperate to wake up from. He was the owner when the club failed on multiple occasions to pay its players and staff on time.

Players departed to raise funds to get through the season. Others cancelled their contracts. The squad is now so depleted the club has won only one league game all season. Their 37-game winless run is the longest in Football League history.

In October the situation reached a point where administration or a winding-up petition were the two options. Chansiri put the club into administration and exited, leaving a mess.

Whoever buys this club isn't getting much for their money. In terms of infrastructure, Wednesday are stuck in the 20th century, let alone being fit for 2026.

You're buying a badge and a hefty bill. That's the reality. You're taking on a salvage job to try and keep alive a club with a passionate fan base and a history dating back to 1867.

Yet in order to take on this challenge, which is about as big as any in football, you have to first satisfy the club's creditors - the main one being Chansiri.

Failure to do so at a level determined by the EFL means further punishment, even though the man responsible for the situation is the one who stands to benefit the most.

There are other smaller creditors too, plus HMRC.

My understanding is the preferred bidder, the David Storch group, intend to make sure these creditors don't miss out.

The issue for potential investors is weighing up the large sum of money required to satisfy the regulations against the value of the club considering its current state.

It's understandable why the EFL wants to guard against administration being seen as a helpful route out of danger for clubs. Not every administration is the same though.

Fans are asking whether a 'one size fits all' approach to regulations is right.

For example, a club could go into administration while retaining a strong squad of players with a healthy infrastructure.

Then, once exiting administration, what's to stop that club flourishing having just rid themselves of an inconvenient debt, gaining a competitive advantage in the process?

Administration would be an easy bail-out, a quick fix, an immediate cure.

Wednesday need to rebuild a whole new squad and will have to do it under financial restrictions. That's on top of all of the work required at Hillsborough and the training ground.

This is a multi-year project requiring millions to be spent, with the errors of the Chansiri era impacting the fresh start before it even begins.

It at least begs the question whether the two situations warrant the same regulation.

You've got a former owner who has taken a club to the brink and the people trying to keep it alive face the prospect of starting on the back foot, purely for not fully compensating what the EFL says Chansiri is owed to avoid a points deduction.

Image source, Opta

Charlton Athletic will aim to take a major step towards securing Championship survival when they visit already relegated Sheffield Wednesday on Saturday (kick-off 15:00 BST).

The Addicks are five points clear of the drop zone with four games remaining but are without a win in their past five matches (D2 L3).

After picking up just one point in 17 league games, the Owls have drawn their past two and are within four points of avoiding finishing the season on a minus total.

• Sheffield Wednesday have won their previous four home league games against Charlton, keeping a clean sheet each time. Only against Grimsby between 1950 and 1979 have they won five in a row without conceding.

• Following their 2-1 win in October, Charlton are looking to complete the league double over Sheffield Wednesday for the first time since 1953-54 in the top-flight.

• Sheffield Wednesday kept their first league clean sheet of 2026 last time out, holding leaders Coventry to a goalless draw. They last kept back-to-back clean sheets in the same Championship campaign in their final two games of 2023-24 (2).

• Charlton are unbeaten in their past six away games in the Championship (W2 D4), despite the Addicks averaging just 39% possession across those six matches.

• Sheffield Wednesday's Jamal Lowe has scored in both of his previous league games against Charlton, netting at The Valley in July 2020 (for Wigan) and in this season's reverse fixture for the Owls (October 2025).

Image source, Getty Images

Sheffield Wednesday striker George Brown has suffered a setback during his rehabilitation from a hamstring injury and is now set for an extended spell on the sidelines.

Manager Henrik Pedersen confirmed, external Brown will miss the remainder of the season and will undergo further tests to determine an exact prognosis.

The 20-year-old has played seven league games for Wednesday this season, scoring twice, including in the Owls sole league win of the season at Portsmouth.

Brown moved up from Wednesday's under-21s earlier in the season before suffering an injury in December.

Last week he played 45 minutes, external in the under-21s 2-0 win at Wigan Athletic as he sought to make his way back to the first team, but now he will not feature until next season.

Sheffield Wednesday boss Henrik Pedersen spoke to BBC Radio Sheffield after their 0-0 draw at Championship leaders Coventry City.

"Of course I'm very, very proud," he said.

"We knew it would be a very difficult game to play against the absolute best team in the league, Frank and his team have done a fantastic job here.

"The boys went on the pitch with a big belief and big discipline and how we defended was amazing.

"We want to win points, we want to win football games and this confidence and togetherness the players went on to the pitch with was strong.

"When we won the ball we had the courage not to only to kick the ball away but to try and play."

Image source, Getty Images

The EFL has announced the fixtures for the 2026-27 season will be published at midday on Thursday, 25 June.

The first-round draws for the Carabao Cup and the Vertu Trophy will be made on the same day.

The new season will kick off on the weekend of August 7-9 with the first round of the Carabao Cup, and the opening fixtures in the Championship, League One and League Two will follow a week later on 14-16 August.

The first round of the Vertu Trophy will be played in the week commencing 21 September.

Coventry City need only four points from their remaining five games to secure promotion to the Premier League and will fancy their chances of getting three of those at home to relegated Sheffield Wednesday on Saturday (12:30 BST).

The Sky Blues have the best home record in the Championship with 48 points from their 20 matches so far while Wednesday's only victory of their league campaign came at Portsmouth in September.

• Coventry have won five of their past six league games against Sheffield Wednesday, though the exception did come in this exact fixture last season (2-1 defeat).

• Sheffield Wednesday won 2-1 at Coventry last season but have never won consecutive league visits to the Sky Blues before.

• Without their points deduction, Sheffield Wednesday have earned 13 points in the Championship this season, while Coventry have 84. This gap going into the game of 71 points is the second-biggest for a match in Football League history, behind the 74 points separating Liverpool and Huddersfield in April 2019; the Reds won 5-0.

• A failure to win in this game for Sheffield Wednesday would see them have the record for the longest winless run in all competitions by a Football League club. It would be a 37th game without victory, breaking Derby's 36-game record between September 2007 and August 2008. In just the league, it would equal the longest winless run at 36 games, set by Derby and also Macclesfield in October 2018.

• Coventry have won 25 league games this season, their most in a single season. Their 15 home wins are also their most in a season since 1966-67 (17).