New Sheffield Wednesday signing Michael Ihiekwe hungry for fourth promotion of his career

New Sheffield Wednesday signing Michael Ihiekwe is targeting a return to the Championship after switching from South Yorkshire rivals Rotherham United. The 29-year-old spent five seasons at the Millers – achieving promotion to the Championship on three occasions, including in his last season at the New York Stadium.

Ihiekwe was named in the League One team of the year and hopes to add a fourth promotion to his footballing CV with the Owls.

“I’m very much hoping I’ll be back in the Championship the following year,” Ihiekwe revealed in an interview with the Rotherham Advertiser.

“That’s the aim. Sheffield Wednesday have huge potential. I’ve joined a squad capable of winning promotion. The size of the club is huge and the fan base is massive. I know that from being around the area.”

Ihiekwe has been joined at Hillsborough by his former Rotherham teammate Michael Smith. Both signings were a real coup for a club with realistic aspirations of achieving promotion, and perhaps even challenging for the title next season.

Although Ihiekwe understands the anger aimed at him by sections of the Rotherham supporters, he insists that it was the best decision for him.

“There’s an element of sadness there. In any walk of life, when you’ve been somewhere for that long there’s going to be sad feelings about going,” Ihiekwe admitted.

“Listen, I’m a football fan myself. I’m a big Liverpool follower. I get where the Rotherham fans are coming from, I fully understand it. You can’t control how people are going to think about you.

“It’s football, I’ll move on and Rotherham will be fine without me. It’s on to the next challenge for me now. All I can say is that I didn’t take my decision lightly. I had to have a long, long think about it. It