Sheffield Wednesday might face significant changes if the club’s sale to the Storch family’s Arise Capital goes through.

Sheffield Wednesday fans are demanding change as the dreadful 2025-26 season comes to an end. The club was relegated to League One at the end of February and has been in administration since the end of October, but that lengthy process is now reaching a close, and Wednesday fans may begin to look forward to the future.

There is a lot of work to be done at the club. A new squad will need to be assembled for the club’s return to League One, and Hillsborough itself will require extensive renovations. And next season won’t be easier. The club is still expected to face a 15-point deduction for failing to pay unsecured creditors at least 25p per pound as a dividend from their administration.

However, there are other, seemingly less pressing, issues that the new ownership might exploit to signify the beginning of a new era, and it has been rumored that David Storch, who is leading Arise, is likely to replace the club’s emblem once his takeover is complete. Dejphon Chansiri, former owner of Sheffield Wednesday, introduced the current badge in 2016.”He respects the history of the club” –

Storch hailed after Sheffield Wednesday badge announcement

Football League World spoke with Patrick McKenna, our resident Sheffield Wednesday fan commentator, on the proposed changes to the club badge, and he is pleased with what this decision reveals about David Storch’s attitude toward the club: “That’s a huge win for himself and his consortium. It also demonstrates that he values the club’s heritage and the opinions of its fans.”

Patrick believes that the current Sheffield Wednesday badge is tainted by its association with the person who introduced it in the first place: “The entire changing of the badge under Chansiri was symbolic of his tone-deaf attitude, in which he didn’t care about the club or the fans, and he’d rather have changed it to something he liked.

“It’s a badge that no one really liked, and now it’s associated with his era,” he said. “Storch has come in, and he’s done some research, and he knows that this oval emblem is popular among the supporters. He’s obviously thinking it’s not a difficult task, and he can adjust it for next season.”

And, while Patrick recognizes that there are many more important jobs that need to be done at Hillsborough this summer, removing the badge associated with the club’s former owner will be well received by fans: “Obviously, there’s a lot more that needs to be done – a lot of major changes – but something like getting the fans on board, it sends the right message.” I really support these proposals, and I hope to see the old crest back on the shirts next season.”

Changing the badge is a chance to help set Sheffield Wednesday free from its troubled past.

Former owner Dejphon Chansiri reintroduced the current Sheffield Wednesday badge in 2016, shortly after taking ownership of the club. It was a throwback to the club’s 1956-1970 badge. When the badge returned, the club’s supporters welcomed it.

Times, however, change, and in the decade since its reintroduction, it has become associated with a period in the club’s history that fans would rather forget, so it’s no surprise that the club’s new owners would like to remove that association and replace it with a symbol representing a brighter future.

Getting this team back on their feet will be difficult. This season’s playing roster has been thin due to transfer embargoes and pay limits, and manager Henrik Pedersen’s future remains uncertain. Hillsborough was left to wither on the vine under Chansiri’s ownership, which means that a lot of work needs to be done to bring the stadium into the twenty-first century.

However, owning a modern football club is also a struggle for hearts and minds, and Sheffield Wednesday fans must be brought on board to give the club the best chance of regaining momentum. Changing the badge is a simple option that speaks volumes about breaking free from a troubled past and conveys a very clear message: the Storch family’s ownership will be about a better future and putting a painful decade behind them.