[themaclad]

Carlos Carvalhal issued a passionate rallying call to everyone at Sheffield Wednesday ahead of the new season as the Owls head coach looks to banish any clouds that have hung around this summer. A disappointing lack of signings, a delay with the new kits and a general feeling of negativity has taken some of the buzz away from the start of a fresh tilt at promotion to the Premier League. On Thursday, Carvalhal met with the press ahead of the weekend trip to Preston, their opening match of the Championship season and it was clear that the Portuguese had something he wished to get off his chest. Without being prompted, the coach launched into a three-minute long speech whereby he called on fans to forget anything that has gone on in the summer and to concentrate on backing the team, making a promise that he, his staff and the players will 'fight very hard' to finally achieve the aim of promotion, He said: "I can start. It is time to focus on the Championship. It is not a time to talk too much about kits, stripes and the players that we don't have and the players that we wish. "It is time to talk about the players that we have and the things that are important. The most important thing to me and us is the badge. It is not important if we have more or less blue in the shirt or if Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo will come. "It is important we give confidence to the players that we have and that is the most important thing. We have to defend our badge at all the moment. I can promise the Wednesday fans when the season starts that we will fight from the first to the last second of all the games to work very hard to try and win all the games. "We can't promise direct promotion or play-offs. Nobody can promise these kind of things. We will fight very hard in all the games. We have to focus on the fundamentals and create a positive environment around the team and people, start to forget about the negative things and just talk about the positives. "If all of us do a little more compared to previous seasons, we can achieve a better position. It is my message to all the fans. We are looking forward to starting the competition."

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Palmer the only doubt from the wrond side of the Pennines