Henrik Pedersen spoke of his sadness at Wednesday’s relegation following today’s 2-1 defeat at Bramall Lane.
On the confirmation of dropping into division one, the Owls boss said: “This is a sad day for a club the size of Sheffield Wednesday to be relegated in February.
“But this was not a result of today, there is a much bigger picture as everyone knows
“We all feel the pain, the players, the coaches, all the staff at this great club. It hurts, of course it hurts, but this club can be great again, that is my message right now.
“We have 13 games to go and we will be giving everything representing this club right to the end.”
He added: “We must look forward now and I say a big thank you to our fans again today, we heard you throughout the game and this was fantastic.
“Everyone is sad for the fans, they deserve much better than this situation but I know we will come back.”
On the game itself, Pedersen said Wednesday had given themselves a mountain to climb after conceding two early goals but talked of his pride at the way they worked to get back into the game in the second half.
He said: “Again the boys showed that they will stand together. They worked very hard to get back into it and we invested a lot.
“It was not enough today but still made me proud.”
Our first post-relegation fixture comes at Norwich on Wednesday with Wednesday facing even more selection problems.
Gabriel Otegbayo will serve a one-match ban for his red card today and Liam Cooper looks set to be sidelined after limping off late in the derby clash.
Pedersen said: “Gab will be missing for one game and in the dressing room after this game Liam said his injury does not feel good. So although it is early to say for sure, he could be out for a few weeks.”
Olaf Kobacki, who recently returned from injury, looks like being out again for at least a month while Marvelous Nakamba was ruled out of the match with Sheff U after suffering a facial injury in training yesterday.
