After a rocky beginning to the season with Xisco Munoz that seemed to guarantee a swift drop back to League One, the Owls managed to secure their safety with a stunning comeback under Danny Rohl, ultimately finishing 20th in the standings.
Rohl signed a new long-term contract at Hillsborough in May, and Wednesday have had a strong summer window so far, offering hope that a potential play-off push could be on the cards this season and suggesting that the club have learned from some of their previous transfer mistakes.
While Owls supporters will be firmly focused on events at their own club, it will not have gone unnoticed that two of their former strikers, Jordan Rhodes and Ashley Fletcher, have both joined League One side Blackpool this summer.
Rhodes spent last season on loan at Bloomfield Road, and he has completed a permanent move to the club after his release by Huddersfield Town, while Fletcher has joined the Seasiders on a free transfer after his departure from Watford.
Both Rhodes and Fletcher endured incredibly frustrating spells in South Yorkshire, and as they link up together in Lancashire, Wednesday will be reminded of two of their biggest transfer disappointments of recent years.
Rhodes had established himself as one of the most prolific strikers in EFL history prior to his arrival at Hillsborough, and much was expected of him after he completed his move from Middlesbrough in February 2017, initially on loan, before joining permanently that summer for a fee of £10 million.
Given that Rhodes had scored 84 goals in 169 games for Blackburn Rovers in the Championship, as well as netting a number of crucial goals to help Boro to promotion to the Premier League in 2016, he should have been the man to score the goals to fire Wednesday to the top flight.
However, it did not work out that way, and after falling out of favour under Jos Luhukay, he spent the 2018-19 season on loan at Norwich City.
Rhodes scored nine goals in 40 games as the Canaries won the Championship title, but he failed to nail down his place in the team after his return to Hillsborough, and he was eventually released by the Owls in 2021 following their relegation to League One.
The 34-year-old scored just 20 goals in 112 appearances for Wednesday, which is undoubtedly a poor return given the significant fee they paid for him, and while some will argue that he deserved more of an opportunity, he will go down as one of the club’s most underwhelming signings.
After a tough second spell at Huddersfield following his Owls exit, Rhodes has rediscovered his form at Blackpool, and after scoring 15 goals in 32 games for the Seasiders last season, he will be hoping to maintain those standards after his full-time move to Bloomfield Road.
While there was significantly less expected of Fletcher than Rhodes, there is no doubt that his loan spell at Hillsborough last season was incredibly disappointing.
The signing of Fletcher raised a few eyebrows among Wednesday supporters given that he had scored just two goals in 35 games during his loan spells with the New York Red Bulls and Wigan Athletic over the previous two seasons, but as he was reuniting with his former Watford manager Munoz, there was hope that the Spaniard could be the man to get the best out of the 28-year-old.
However, Fletcher failed to find the back of the net for the Owls, and his last appearance for the club came in mid-February in the win at Millwall when he received two yellow cards in the space of a minute after coming on as a substitute.
Fletcher was released by the Hornets this summer, and after making the move to Blackpool, he opened up on his time at Wednesday, admitting that his loan did not work out and suggesting that the managerial change contributed to his struggles.
Owls supporters are unlikely to have much sympathy for that argument considering that Rohl was a big upgrade on Munoz, and many players improved significantly under his guidance, but it was clear that Fletcher is incredibly low on confidence, which will have made it difficult for him during his time at the club.
Fletcher will be hoping that he can reignite his career at Blackpool, just as Rhodes did last season, and Wednesday fans will be watching with interest to see how the pair perform at Bloomfield Road this campaign.
