Sheffield Wednesday have one clear objective for the remainder of the season, with Darren Moore tasked with keeping the Owls in the Championship.

A pre-season point deduction presented an uphill battle for the Owls, with Moore now arriving as the club’s third permanent boss this season with the brief of avoiding relegation.

It’s a far cry from what the club’s aim was back in 2015/16, when Carlos Carvalhal had Hillsborough dreaming of promotion back into the Premier League.

That season, Wednesday were beaten by Hull City and Mo Diame in the play-off final, falling agonisingly short of returning to the Premier League for the first time since 2000.

Play-off football was achieved again the season after, but Huddersfield Town beat Carvalhal’s side in the play-off semi-finals.

Nobody has come as close to delivering a promotion as Carvalhal in 2015/16, but where are the starting XI from Wembley now?

We take a look…

Westwood made 37 appearances for Wednesday in the Championship in 2015/16, helping the club to the play-off final and within 90 minutes of Premier League football.

The Irish goalkeeper remains with the club, albeit with his contract at Hillsborough now running down.

In total, Westwood has made 190 appearances for Sheffield Wednesday, playing for Jos Luhukay, Steve Bruce, Garry Monk and Tony Pulis since the Carvalhal-era.

He’s had his fallouts with a couple of those managers, but when he’s played has remained as consistent as he was in 2015/16.

This season, he’s made 12 appearances in the Championship for the struggling Owls.

The right-back at Wembley was Jack Hunt, who had also made 37 appearances in the Championship for Wednesday on their way to the play-off final.

Hunt would remain with Wednesday until the summer of 2018, playing a part as they backed up a play-off push in 2016/17 before eventually falling away to mid-table.

Then, it was time for Hunt to move on.

Currently, the 30-year-old is on the books with Bristol City across the Championship.

At Ashton Gate he’s made 99 appearances in the Championship, as well as a further six in other cup competitions.

Despite flirting with the play-offs, he’s never got as close to Premier League football as he did with Wednesday.

Like Westwood, Lees remains on the books at Hillsborough and has seen a lot since his outing at Wembley in May 2016.

Lees made 38 appearances the following season as Wednesday made the play-offs again, whilst he’s been a regular figure in the heart of defence under Luhukay, Bruce, Monk and Pulis.

In total, he’s made over 260 appearances for Wednesday in his career and will be hoping to add to that under Darren Moore now, with the aim of keeping Wednesday in the Championship.

He’s featured 26 times this season in the league for the struggling Owls.

Loovens was a hugely popular part of the squad as Wednesday went in search of play-off glory, with the centre-back also captaining the side at Wembley.

He had made 34 appearances for Wednesday in the Championship in 2015/16 and had forged a really good understanding with Lees at centre-back.

The former Celtic defender played regularly the following season as Wednesday finished in the top-six again, but his spell at Hillsborough would then come to an end in 2017/18.

Loovens moved on to Sunderland in League One, with the aim of helping them bounce back into the Championship, but he managed just 11 appearances for the North East giants and has since retired.

Pudil was on loan with Wednesday from Watford during the 2015/16 campaign, making 42 appearances across all competitions and then getting 86 minutes at left-back in the play-off final.

He scored two goals and registered three assists for the Owls that season and earned himself a permanent move to Hillsborough.

A further 72 appearances for the club followed and Pudil featured for the Owls regularly as they continued to challenge in the upper echelons of the Championship under Carvalhal, before he moved on to Mlada Boleslav in the summer of 2019.

The left-back is now with Czech side, Viktoria Žižkov.

Wallace was exceptional for Wednesday under Carvalhal and was a big reason that the club eventually got to Wembley.

In total, he scored six goals and registered eight assists that season, including a goal in each leg of the play-off semi-final win over Brighton and Hove Albion.

Again, the following season, Wallace impressed for Wednesday and notched up 11 goal involvements as play-off football was secured again.

Ultimately, like a lot of his teammates, failure to win promotion sparked the beginning of the end for Wallace at Hillsborough and he moved on in September 2018.

Fleetwood Town was his destination, with the winger going on to feature for St Mirren too before the pandemic.

Lee was magnificent for Sheffield Wednesday in the 2015/16 season, scoring seven goals across 52 appearances in all competitions.

That included a goal in the first-leg of the play-offs against Brighton, with the midfielder established as a firm favourite in South Yorkshire.

In total, he made 216 appearances for Wednesday and scored 22 goals before leaving the club as a free agent.

He’s now on the books with Bolton Wanderers in League Two and is impressing for the Trotters.

Lee has featured seven times for the Trotters and is yet to be on the losing side in a fixture, with the club moving into a play-off spot since his arrival.

Hutchinson made 30 appearances across all competitions in 2015/16 and complemented Lee well in the middle of midfield.

The aggressive former Chelsea player picked up a remarkable 14 bookings the season Wednesday reached Wembley, but despite his discipline, remained a real presence on that push for Premier League football.

After making over 100 appearances for Wednesday, Hutchinson joined Cypriot side, PAFOS.

However, his spell there was short and, back in January, Wednesday swooped to re-sign the midfielder.

The 31-year-old midfielder has made nine appearances since returning and is part of the squad looking to avoid relegation now.

This was Bannan’s debut season at Hillsborough, with the midfielder a key cog in Carvalhal’s side that nearly crashed into the Premier League through the play-offs.

Since then, Bannan’s influence on the side has only grown whether that’s been under Carvalhal, Luhukay, Bruce, Monk or Pulis. He’s moved into a more central position and dictates play on his left foot.

When he ticks, Wednesday tick too.

The Scotland midfielder is now the club captain and will have a huge say in whether Wednesday stay in the Championship this season following the appointment of Moore.

244 appearances and counting as an Owl.

Forestieri settled into life at Wednesday in 2015 and thrived under Carvalhal. The fans loved him and, in truth, he was the main reason why they were in contention for promotion that season.

In total, the forward scored 15 league goals and registered six assists for Wednesday in 2015/16.

However, he failed to inspire them to victory over Hull and that proved to be the case for the rest of his career in South Yorkshire.

Forestieri was popular, but he never got Wednesday over the line and he slowly faded away before eventually leaving in 2020.

In total he managed 134 appearances for Wednesday and scored 40 goals.

He’s now with Udinese and has a goal and an assist in nine Serie A appearances this season.

Hooper struck 13 goals and registered five assists in 2015/16 and clicked with Forestieri to give Wednesday a real presence in attack.

Unfortunately for the former Celtic striker, he never matched that goal tally and injuries really impacted his later years with the Owls.

Hooper, now 33, is currently with Kerala Blasters in the Indian Super League and has nine goal involvements in just 18 appearances this season.

Since leaving Hillsborough, Hooper has also had a spell in the Australian A-League, where he featured for Wellington Phoenix and scored a respectable eight goals in his sole season with the club.

Carvalhal inspired Wednesday to Wembley and got them into the top-six the following season.

However, things soured for him in 2017/18 and with a play-off push faltering, he was on his way out of the club around the festive period.

A job in the Premier League presented itself in the form of Swansea City, but Carvalhal suffered relegation there before returning to Portugal.

He’s had a spell with Rio Ave and is now with Braga.

He’s still got a close eye on Wednesday, though, and was seen commenting on Darren Moore’s appointment earlier this week on his personal Twitter page.