New Sheffield Wednesday CEO sets out main targets

The new CEO of Sheffield Wednesday has said the club needs to be overhauled if it is to rebuild following relegation from the Championship.

David Bruce told an audience of the Sheffield Wednesday Supporters Trust that even though Wednesday had "the best ingredients of any football club in England", there is "a lot of work to do".

Bruce was revealed to fans at Hillsborough before the Owls' win against West Brom, after the takeover by American consortium Arise Capital Partners was completed.

He said his three targets for the summer will be to carry out repairs to the stadium, working on the playing squad and boosting the club's commercial revenue.

"There's quite a lot to do in every area you could possibly imagine," he told BBC Radio Sheffield. "But I'm coming in with an immense amount of optimism and excitement for the future."

Bruce's first job working in football was in the US, and he was instrumental to the expansion of the number of clubs in Major League Soccer (MLS).

He said the goal for his role at Sheffield Wednesday was "not to promise the earth", but for fans to know "they have got their club back".

"I want you to experience Wednesday and you see your football club in the things that we do. If we do that then we know we've got a big part of it right."

Bruce told the audience that "lots of money" was going into the stadium for things fans would expect.

"It won't be sexy, but at least we will have running water and Wi-Fi at the ground.

"We will be doing signage work, stuff on the training pitch, so that people can feel the momentum, and then the next thing will be working on the playing squad.

"We want to go to the market aggressively to get a team we can all be proud of."

Bruce said this would change the perception of the club, and that would enable it to attract better players.

"The third step is building a good commercial engine," he said. "We're not doing that to make you feel uncomfortable, but we've got everything to sell.

"The front of shirt, sleeves, kit assets, perimeter boards, premium spaces in the stadium, and that will all be key to us being successful in the transfer market."

After taking more questions about the future of Hillsborough and the way the club's executive team would be set up, Bruce invited fans to "join him on the journey".

"We want a rocking Hillsborough next season because if that place is rocking you'll feel better, the players will perform and we'll get out of this league quicker than we thought."