Ben Tozer, who played over 600 games in his career, has labelled Sheffield Wednesday’s new manager Dave Challinor a “winner”.

The Owls announced that Dave Challinor would take charge of the club after the sacking of Henrik Pedersen following two defeats to teams near the bottom of the table.

His first game as Wednesday manager will be a FA Cup trip to League Two side Oldham Athletic. It’s a chance for the former Stockport County boss to show what his side will be about moving forward, as well as a chance for players to impress the manager outside of training.

The decision to appoint Challinor has caught the eye of not just those around the club but also people externally. That includes former EFL defender Tozer, who on the Essential EFL podcast was talking up the 51-year-old, alongside EFL expert Simeon Gholam.

Ben Tozer’s One Word Verdict of Dave Challinor

The former Wrexham defender was asked what he believes DC, whom he battled with when Challinor was in charge at Stockport, can bring to Sheffield Wednesday. Tozer was straight to the point when describing the former Bury player:

“He’s a winner. That’s the one word I’d use to describe him. He knows what it takes to be successful.”

Tozer went on to explain that he thinks it’s a good appointment by David Storch and his team:

“He’s just a winner, and I think it’s a really good appointment.”

Challinor’s First Games in Charge

Challinor is, some might say, blessed in the fact that his first two games aren’t in the league. They travel to Oldham on Sunday and then host Accrington Stanley on Wednesday night in the Jersey Mike’s Trophy. Tozer believes that’s a great chance for the new Sheffield Wednesday manager to set his standards early:

“I looked at their fixtures and their first couple of games is Oldham in the FA Cup, and they’ve got Accrington in the EFL Trophy.

“So for me that’s a perfect opportunity for him to go and set out his stall, tell the players in them two games they can make as many mistakes as they want, you know, but get to learn his ideas and get to do it in proper as opposed to in training.”

The 36-year-old’s colleague Gholam also discussed the tough run of league fixtures upcoming for the Owls and how that will tell people a lot, not just about Wednesday, but about League One:

“They’ve [Sheffield Wednesday] have got some fascinating matches ahead.

“There’s a four-game spell between the end of November and the middle of December where they host Reading and Luton, and they go to Oxford and Leicester.

“That’s going to tell us a lot about the division in general, not just Sheffield Wednesday.”

Two Game Mini Pre-Season – Opinion

The two cup games in a short space of time, on the back of a full week of training under Challinor, could be seen as a mini pre-season for the Owls.

Wednesday fans have seen clips of DC and his staff in action at the training ground, hard at work getting the players used to what they want. These two games are a great chance to test out what they’ve been doing and see who is cut out for what’s required.

It’s likely his first starting 11 on Sunday will be similar to what we will see in his first league game against Plymouth Argyle (should that go ahead). Then midweek against Accrington, it’s a chance for some rotation, giving those who haven’t played much football a chance to impress Challinor.

Winning the FA Cup is definitely not on the cards, but Challinor spoke in his pre-match press conference about his desire to avoid a potential banana skin in his first game in charge:

“I don’t imagine playing on a Sunday at 5.15pm would have been the case if they [TNT Sports] thought it was going to be a walkover.”

“So people will expect the FA Cup and what that brings and the potential of shocks. We’ve got to concentrate on the bits that we need to do.”