A dog's name, coffee and Tyson Fury: Takeaways from Josh Windass' Sheffield Wednesday documentary

Shot and produced by LensGo - the masterminds behind the club’s hugely popular ‘Inside Matchday’ series - the story follows Windass through the final stages of his recovery from a hamstring injury and the impact made on their ultimately successful survival bid.

The Star has picked out a handful of revealing insights into the club and Windass himself.

Injury woe

Windass missed February and March through injury and it was an absence that was felt - they went winless in four difficult matches before his return from a hamstring injury at QPR on April 6. The 30-year-old had suffered a minor issue in the weeks previous which had set him out, but a comeback was rushed and having played 90 minutes in a home defeat at Coventry City, it was a case of ‘too much too soon’ - of his own volition - and he was hauled off at half-time in the January 31 draw with Watford.

“It was probably too early,” he said. “I tried to play again against Watford out of stupidity or trying to help the team, one or the other! I felt it again a little bit, so I’m going to have to have a few weeks out and hopefully I’ll be back around the international break or just after.”

Food and Fury

It was revealed that Windass has enlisted the help and expertise of professional nutritionist Greg Marriott, who works with heavyweight boxing champion Tyson Fury among others. In a fascinating section of the documentary, Marriott explains that Windass’ diet plan alters when he is injured and describes him as ‘on a par’ with Fury with regard to discipline.

“When he’s injured it’s different, because obviously he can’t train as much as he would,” Marriott said. “When you’re injured it’s not the best because your food is for recovery and it’s not what you’d go for normally. He’s asking can I have this or that and I’ll have to say ‘Not quite yet’. Your food has to completely change. I’m in touch with his wife-to-be and it’ll be can he have this or that. Sometimes they’ll send me pictures of the meal they’ve done.”

An aptly-named dog

It’s no secret to anyone that followed Windass’ social media accounts that he is a dog lover. But the newest addition to the family has been given an apt name; Wembley.

“My missus got her after you know what,” he said.

Squad morale

A scene filmed in a Kelham Island coffee house shows Windass and close pals Liam Palmer and Barry Bannan, three of the members of Wednesday’s ‘coffee culture’ described as important by all three present. Di’Shon Bernard, Mallik Wilks and Callum Paterson are all also namechecked.

It’s the closeness of the group that helps them get through tough moments, it’s suggested. Windass described a welcoming changing room of which he felt like he’d been part of for ‘50 years’ when he joined the club in 2020.

“I’ve been playing with these two for four-and-a-half years,” he said, pointing towards the club’s captain and vice-captain. “You’ve got Dom Iorfa, you’ve got Cam (Dawson). We literally know each other like the back of our hand and we’re genuinely friends with people. I’ve never had that at other clubs I’ve played at that are actual friends, it’s usually people you play with. That helps going into tough moments.

“There are clubs and teams that don’t do anything like this. They’ll be quick to get home, finish training and go straight back to their missus or whatever it is. Here everybody spends quite a lot of time with one another which is good.

An honest chat

This is one hinted at in previous interviews by Wednesday manager Danny Röhl. In the lead-up to the Blackburn Rovers win in which Windass opened the scoring with a screamer, the German boss called him into a one-to-one meeting.

Windass said: “The manager pulled me in and said ‘I know you’re coming back from your injury, but now is the time where I need performances from you. I’m not saying it’s all down to him, but it gave me a little bit of a kick up the backside. He said ‘The excuse of your injury is now gone, so you need to get back to full match fitness, make the runs you make and play with the intensity you always play at.’”