Henrik Pedersen gives his first sit down interview as Sheffield Wednesday manager with a challenging season expected.
The 47 year old expressed immense pride and excitement about taking on the role after nearly two years with the club, highlighting his deep connection to Sheffield, praising the city’s culture and the Peak District, where his family has settled happily.
Despite other job offers, he chose to stay with Sheffield Wednesday, driven by his belief in the club’s potential, acknowledging the challenging period the club has faced but praised the players’ resilience and high-performance culture, specifically commending captain Barry Bannan’s contract extension as a boost for the team and fans.
Pedersen outlined his coaching philosophy, focusing on an effective, value-creating, and inspiring playing style that reflects the club’s identity and engages supporters.
He expressed confidence in the team’s preparation for their upcoming match against Leicester, the players’ readiness and the passionate support of the away fans, and hopes the team can repay with a strong performance.
Interviewer: Gaffer, you sit here today as the manager of Sheffield Wednesday. Tell us what that means to you.
Henrik: It means a lot, of course. I have been a part of this fantastic club now for nearly two years and to take over this job as a manager in this club, it’s meant a lot for me personally, it’s meant a lot for my family. Yeah, and I’m really, really looking forward to the coming time.
Interviewer: You mentioned that you’ve been here now for nearly two years. It feels like you’ve really taken this club to heart as well.
Henrik: For me, when Danny brought me in, I feel so well from the first moment. With this development we have had in the club and how we grow together with the fans, how we grow internally in the club, how my family grow socially in Sheffield, the boys in the school, my wife for work, she’s working from home. Yeah, we all love to stay here and that’s why, yeah, I’m really appreciate to be here as a manager. So, yeah, I’m happy.
Interviewer: You mentioned Sheffield there. It feels like you’ve really taken to the city as well. How much have you enjoyed life in Sheffield?
Henrik: I mean, enjoyed the Peak District. We love a lot. And when I have time, then we love to go there and to be there. Of course, my family have more time than I have. But generally, we love this culture that is in Sheffield. We’re all on the same level, we’re all the same, but we just make some different things, but there is space for everyone and I like this mentality.
Interviewer: It’s been well documented over the summer that you did have offers to go elsewhere in that time. Why did you decide to stay here?
Henrik: It has always been clear for me. There was other options, yes, but I always said to Isabella, my wife, that I go there now, but you know where I want to be. So when there was more options and this possibility came again, then I had no doubt. You’ve got vast experience in coaching at all levels of the game.
Interviewer: Tell us about your journey to get here.
Henrik: It has been a long journey. But the biggest injection I have got in my coaching career was my seven years in Red Bull. Here I learned a lot about football, of course, with Ralf Rangnick and how to organise a team on a high, high level. But I also learned a lot from Dietrich Mateschitz the owner of Red Bull, and how you build up a club. And he always said, there’s one thing you can never buy for money and this is the culture. Because culture you have to create through human. So it’s all about to get the right human in with the right quality, but it doesn’t help to have the right quality if you don’t have the right human. So it was one of the most important thing I got from Red Bull that how you develop a culture, but also how to learn to be a part of something that’s bigger than yourself. And everything what you’re doing is coming back to the club. So, yes, I learned a lot from the football side, but there was also a lot from the management side and from the strategist side, how you’re building up not only one club, but five clubs and a whole organisation. it was maybe the most the biggest learning period I have had as a coach. Then of course my time in Germany, my time in Norway, my time in Denmark. You grow as a coach, you grow as a human, you grow as a leader. And then when Danny asked me to come here, I had no doubt. English football and then Sheffield Wednesday, who is a big club in Denmark and with big, big tradition. And then it was a great possibility for me and then again, that’s why I’m really happy to sit here right now.
Interviewer: Now, we know that this has been quite a difficult few months for everybody associated with the club. How have you been dealing with the situation?
Henrik: I think when we stay in a situation like this, it’s always a test for the human. It doesn’t matter if you are a coach, you work in an office. It doesn’t matter. It’s a test for us as a human. And it’s always, which perspective do you give each day when you’re waking up in the morning? And for me, as a leader, as a part of a leader group, then I think I have a responsibility to see something the players or the other staff don’t always can see. And this is from the football side, but it’s most of all in a situation like this from the human side. And in this period now, can feel, tactics is important, but it doesn’t help know something about tactics if I don’t have a relation with my players or with the staff and I can feel where they are right now. And if they are not in the right mood, not mood is not the right word, but if I can feel they are not in balance, then it’s more important to use time for them to bring them back in balance than it is to speak about 4-4-2 or 3-4-3 because we need to bring the human back where they don’t act too much under stress because when we’re under stress we are in the past, we are in the future but all top performers are in the moment so to try as good as possible to find accept for the situation where you are right now as a human. It has been one of the biggest challenges for me because this is the basis for a good next training, it’s the basis for a next good game. And it’s also the basis, we know when we’re under pressure, we’re stressed, then sometimes we think too much to what I can get instead of what I can give. And the basis for top performance team is what I can give for every single player, every single staff member. So it has been one of the challenges but also a very interesting challenge for me.
Interviewer: The players this week released a statement and within that statement they spoke about how hard they’ve been working despite the things that have been going on off the pitch. Have you really seen that this summer? Is that dedication something that you’ve really seen on the training pitch?
Henrik: I have told the players many times in the last, how long time I’ve been here now, three, four weeks, that I’m really, really proud of our players. Because in a situation like this, and it’s difficult, you can always find a reason why to give up or why not to do things. But you can always, always find only one reason why you keep on doing things with high quality, with intensity, why you still keep, push your teammates in a positive way, why you help your teammates. And the boys have been a fantastic example for a high-performance culture in a difficult period. Because in the morning it could be a tough morning, then we are speaking, they are speaking, they are supporting each other when they are coming on the pitch. Some days, some players have used 20 minutes to bring everything away, to be in the moment, find accept, to make a performance. Other players have been there from the first when I whistle first time. But this energy in the group, how they have supported each other in these phases and the skills to be in period in a training, in a day where things are difficult, find accepting, grow in the session and then perform on a high, high level. And for this, I have big, big respect for the boys, how they have done it. So, we don’t have many players, but the players have a really, really good mentality, have a really good culture between each other. And for me, culture is two things. It is how you are beside the pitch and how do you perform. And I think they do it really well in both of them.
Interviewer: One sign of that dedication has been Barry Bannon extending his contract with the club. Just how pleased were you to see him do that?
Henrik: I’m really, really happy for Barry as a human, but of course also as a player on the pitch. And I think there’s a different level of this because the big picture, Barry is a cheerful Wednesday boy from in to out. And to have him as a part of us in the future, I think it means a lot for the fans because you can always trust Barry and it gives hope and clarity for the future that we go in that he believes in the direction and we can go there together. the players, Barry is a fantastic captain and that he chooses us again now, it also gives confidence, gives belief to the players and for the staff and for me personally. I use Barry a lot and it can be for tactical things, can be for leadership things, it can be for everything. I’m really pleased that he stayed here and I’m really looking forward to work with him for the next couple of times again.
Interviewer: In terms of coaching, over the summer you’ve had a lot of support from the guys in the academy, Andy Holdsworth, Giles Coke, Ben Ledger. How do you see your coaching team moving forward? Do you see that shaping up?
Henrik: First, for those guys, it has not been easy to come in and take over. A lot of responsibility. But also to those guys, they have done a great, great job. When I came in on the training camp and how they supported me and it’s for planning of the training, it’s for communication with the players, it’s for the games. So I think they have done a great, great job and I really appreciate what they have done for the players, what they have done for us, what they have done. So I’m really pleased with this. The next step is of course, I will also… integrate some new coaches from outside. So it will hopefully come in the next days and weeks.
Interviewer: You’ve spoken a lot about culture and I know it’s something that you’ve spoken about over the last few weeks as well. What does it mean to you here at Sheffield Wednesday? What do you want to see from your team in terms of culture?
Henrik: When I’m speaking about playing philosophy, I always speak about these three things that are very important for me. We need have a playing philosophy that has to be effective because we want to win football games. And this playing philosophy, we don’t have to use excuses not to be effective from the beginning, but try to know where we want to go. But the most important is where are we today? And how can we get the best out of our team with the compromise or with the idea where we want to go in the long perspective? But, for example, this week it’s about how can we establish a team that is prepared in the best possible way to make a top performance in Leicester on Sunday. And then there is a percentage part of this, there is with long term perspective, but there is no long term perspective where we make compromise to make a game plan to get points or win the next football game. And the second part for me is playing philosophy. It also has to create more value. And what do I mean? I mean that to win, yeah, we’ll all win, but we also need to have a playing style who develop our players to the next level. So we over time will be more effective for our result because we develop the players, but also to in the moment we have also a club who want to sell players for the financial part. So this is also a important part. And then the third part I always say we have to inspire and my goal is it doesn’t matter if you know something about football or not then when people come and watch a Sheffield Wednesday team then they can identify with the players who run on the pitch because it’s a working philosophy. It’s a clear strategy how we want to press, how we want to have intensity, how we work together on the pitch, and that means we have intensity in our pressing. But when we are losing a ball, it’s exactly so important to have intensity to win the ball back again. So for me, it’s very, very important that when people come in the stadium, that they can see a strong, strong team with a strong, strong identity, with a strong, strong culture. Because when you pay money to come in, then you’ll also identify, it doesn’t matter how the game is going, but there’s always a basic and this basic the fans always have to see from a Sheffield Wednesday team that we have done the best we can and then it’s fair sometimes people that opponents are better than us but hopefully we will step by step again win more and more football games.
Interviewer: You mentioned Leicester there, how are preparations going for the first game on Sunday and how much are you looking forward to being in the dugout for the first time?
Henrik: The boys have worked really, really well. And I can feel that the boys, also with the things that have been, that now they’re looking forward to play a football game where there’s consequences again. And not only training, training, training some few games now. Now everyone is looking forward to the game on Sunday. And I’m looking also forward a lot to stay on the sideline and be the best possible manager for my boss and support them in the best way to make a top result in Leicester. Of course I do.
Interviewer: And we have a sell-out away crowd going to Leicester as well. Just to end, have you got any messages for the supporters ahead of this game?
Henrik: Our away fans are always fantastic. I hope we can do the same with the way fans are doing. They are fans with intensity, are fans with positive energy and they are supporting us and each other in difficult periods in the game and the same the players have to do on the pitch also on Sunday. So we will do all what we can to give them back the good feedback and the good support they are giving us and then I think together we can make a top performance on Sunday.
