Alan Biggs: Jose really is the Special One - Semedo at Wednesday, that is!

You spend four years playing for a club and you have four managers in that time. Crazy as it sounds, that’s what players call “normal” these days.
Jose SemedoJose Semedo
Jose Semedo

But for all four managers to admire you? Now that’s something exceptional.

It’s why Jose Semedo remains a special player at Sheffield Wednesday, even as a fringe choice this season. All his managers have appreciated him, so it’s interesting to know how he appreciates them – and discover that Carlos Carvalhal is his choice as number one.

Owls chief Carlos CarvalhalOwls chief Carlos Carvalhal
Owls chief Carlos Carvalhal

Well, he would say that, wouldn’t he? Except that the effusive Portuguese midfielder exudes so much sincerity and provides such insightful reasoning that you have no reason to doubt.

“I’m sure he’ll be one of the best managers Wednesday have ever had,” insists Semedo, discussing Carvalhal by comparison with Gary Megson (the manager who signed him), Dave Jones and Stuart Gray.

“All of them completely different. Gary Megson was very tough and loved the club; he was crazy for it. He built a very good team that went on to promotion. Dave Jones was nice and relaxed, so calm, and he gave that team a final click.

“Stuart Gray was relaxed but could be a bit of both, in the dressing room anyway.”

And so to the verdict on the current incumbent from Hillsborough’s longest-serving player: “Carlos Carvalhal is the top one right now - and the best of my career. He’s an expert in motivation, he combines everything.”

Which includes turning his genial personality on its head, as Carvalhal himself revealed here recently. Jose’s eye witness account as follows: “I remember once, when we played Middlesbrough. In the dressing room at half-time... Jesus Christ! He got mad, really mad.

“He doesn’t do it often, he’s very calm, but we know he’s capable of it and we hope not to give him room to do that!”

Carvalhal’s best trick is keeping so many players happy to the extent that Jose compares the togetherness to that infused by Megson during the League One promotion.

“The spirit is the same, the same feeling in the dressing room,” he says. “It’s a difficult balance, it takes a good coach to do that.”