As we sit on the eve of Christmas Sheffield Wednesday are contemplating a new era after today parting ways with Carlos Carvalhal. I wasn't going to write this but having thought about it for the last hour or so I feel I should. I think it's right I put to words my thoughts on his departure.
A lot has been said and written about Carlos and firstly I want to say he has handled himself with tremendous class and dignity since he walked through the door at S6. He took to Sheffield quickly and became very much one of us. He quickly gaged what the fan base was about and realised the potential of out club. That first season was fabulous, there were so many highs, the obvious 3-0 win over Arsenal, the play off semi finals against Brighton, beating Cardiff in the penultimate game of the season to seal 6th spot. I could go on, last season despite some moans and groans, we got better, we won more games and finished higher and truly believed back in the summer we could kick on. Why didn't we? There are many reasons and at 9PM on Christmas eve I can't say I can be bothered to go into them. It's for another day. Overall Carlos' time has come to an end, the atmosphere at the end of yesterday's clash with Middlesbrough was pretty bleak. The boos and calls for Carlos to go was tough to hear to be honest. I personally said he should have gone after Norwich, not that I think changing the manager would have made a major difference to the season but just to try and change something and lift some of the apathy that is around the club at the moment. You could argue he could have gone before that and yeah maybe but for me it was after that game down at Carrow Road. Quite a few have said he should have gone in May after the play offs and I can see the arguments for that however I'm pleased we at least gave Carlos a chance, I'm pleased we rewarded relative success from his first two seasons.
As for who takes over that's for Mr Chansiri and others to handle, there are a few names floating about. Some interesting some definite ones to stay away from. All I'll say is I hope whoever it is get's the 100% backing from our fans, we can't afford to become a club that goes through managers season after season. I'd prefer it to be done relatively quickly but If we must wait for the right man then so be it.
Finally I'd just like to once again thank Carlos for his hard work, dedication and the footballing memories he brought. I'll miss him, I hope in time he'll be remembered as fondly as he should. The only negative is it didn't quite end the way we all wanted it to.
Thanks Carlos, all the best.
Thanks for reading
Tom
