Josh Windass drops Danny Rohl, Sheffield Wednesday promotion reveal | OneFootball

The forward has revealed his side's lofty 24/25 ambitions

Highlights

Josh Windass has outlined Sheffield Wednesday's ambitious promotion objective ahead of next season.

The Owls successfully fought off relegation to League One last term with the appointment of Danny Rohl, as he managed to keep them in the division by three points. Wednesday, who achieved promotion to the Championship by defeating Barnsley in the third-tier play-off final last May, had appeared destined for the drop when Rohl took the reins in October before pulling off a drastic turnaround.

Despite coming so close to suffering an immediate League One return, there's a strong sense of ambition at Hillsborough moving into the upcoming campaign and that has been echoed by Josh Windass.

The versatile attacker has scored 40 goals for Wednesday in four-and-a-half years and is a hugely popular figure among supporters, who had feared a departure as Birmingham City and West Bromwich Albion among other Championship clubs circled for a swoop with his contract set to expire.

However, Windass has since put pen to paper on a fresh deal with the club and is now looking ahead to next season, which he believes could culminate in promotion for Wednesday.

Josh Windass outlines Sheffield Wednesday's promotion ambitions for 24/25

In an interview with Rob Staton of BBC Sheffield, Windass made little secret about his side's targets in the 2024/25 campaign.

He explained: "I've said it before even when we didn't have this manager, a club our size - and I don't just say for fans to get happy about - should be challenging to win the league every single year in the Championship, when you see all the other teams going up like smaller clubs in comparison to us scale-wise.

"With this manager, our intention is to finish as high in the league as possible. That should be the mentality we all have, I've always had that mentality even when we've been down the bottom of the league, it's obviously not been a happy place to be when you're down the bottom.

"So my mentality and I'm sure all the boys' mentality is to try and get promoted this year, to be honest.

"Absolutely, we proved last year with the form table how good we were and this year we've obviously brought in better players, we've got probably the best manager in the league so that's a good recipe in my opinion."

Sheffield Wednesday can spring a surprise in the Championship next season

It may be somewhat far-fetched to realistically expect to see Wednesday challenging for the league title next term, even if there's a strong case for Rohl being the finest manager across the division. Nonetheless, Wednesday clearly have the recipe for success - as Windass himself points out - and that could just propel them towards play-off contention.

Jamal Lowe and Max Lowe both possess plenty of experience, know-how and most importantly, quality at this level and are two impressive signings that indicate Wednesday's upwards ambition, and the same can be said for ex-Southampton full-back Yan Valery. Those captures supplement the foundations put into place by Rohl, who, with a full pre-season and first summer transfer window under his belt, may just be able to take Wednesday to the next level. After all, Rohl has already improved them tenfold in the nine months he's been at the helm.

The window is approaching full throttle with plenty of clubs across the width and breadth of the division also upping the ante with their activity of late, so Wednesday must keep the arrivals coming if they're to keep chase with some of their rivals this summer and, in turn, next season. However, they could certainly be ready to ruffle a few feathers by the time August rolls around.