We’re ready for toughest season ever!
HOOPER’S UP FOR IT
GARY HOOPER reckons it will be harder than ever to climb out of the Championship.
But the Owls striker is still backing his side to make it third time lucky and end their agonising 17-year exile from the Premier League.
Wednesday have suffered a double dose of promotion heartache, losing in the play-offs in each of the last two campaigns.
And their hopes of going up this time around have been hampered by a lack of action in the transfer market through the summer.
Confetti
Midfielder George Boyd (right) –- hired on a free from Burnley – has been the only arrival as boss Carlos Carvalhal has been continually frustrated in efforts to bolster his squad.
While big guns like Wolves, Aston Villa and Middlesbrough have been throwing money around like confetti, the Hillsborough bank account has barely been broken into.
But that doesn’t faze Hooper – even though the former Celtic star, 29, insisted ahead of today’s season opener at Preston: “This will be the hardest Championship ever.
“There are so many teams who will be looking to get promotion – loads of big teams like Norwich, Villa, Birmingham, Derby, Sunderland and Wolves.
“But we can’t concern ourselves with what they do. We just have to focus on us and not worry about anyone else.
“And I think we have the squad to be successful. We always score goals and we have enough players who can make chances for the strikers.
“And when it comes to strikers, we have a strike force that has to be right up there with the best in the league. We have Jordan Rhodes, Steven Fletcher, Fernando Forestieri, Sam Winnall, Atdhe Nuhiu and Lucas Joao. Crikey, when I look at that lot, I might need to play on the wing to get a game! “You have to have that kind of competition for places if you are going to do well. “We just have to be consistent. If we do that, then hopefully it will be third time lucky in terms of promotion for us.” Carvalhal echoed Hooper’s sentiments, saying: “It gets more difficult every year to win promotion, but we will try to make it into the first positions. “There will be eight other teams who will be looking to achieve the same thing. “It will be a tough competition.”