Alex Miller: Was there a man in football better served by the three-month break than Sheffield Wednesday manager Garry Monk?

They’d have gone back Boxing Day and to Stoke, and if possible, five minutes from the end of the game.

The drowning whirlpool that followed the two late goals conceded there and the subsequent meltdown is in many ways a thing of the past and Owls boss Garry Monk now finds himself with a new squad, further difficult circumstances to handle and one of the football league’s biggest rebuilding jobs on his hands.

But now, given the time to press pause, with key players back in the side and having broken the seal on an identity crisis that has haunted the club for too long, things just look a bit, well, clearer.

And that’s despite a disappointing 3-0 defeat to West Brom in midweek. It’s despite a first team that will likely look nothing like it does in a few weeks time. It’s despite a risk of a points deduction that could throw them into a relegation scrap or worse.

Against Albion, in sticking with a 3-5-2 despite a personnel crisis Monk laid himself bare. This, he said, is us now. In chasing the game where in previous months he may have battened down the hatches to avoid humiliation he showed a daring confidence in himself you feared was dimming as 2020 slowed to a halt.

We’re led to believe that the Owls boss is still yet to secure his future beyond the end of the season at Hillsborough and in many ways that’s to be expected given his side’s perilous run of just three wins in 14 league games this year. Slapped with a points deduction and relegated and he may well find himself the fall guy.

But the zip, confidence and renewed life in Wednesday since that three-month break has been enlightening far beyond the three results. Monk, he says, is building something that the club are behind in terms of both recruitment and outlook.

His demeanour with players looks more engaged, his body language matching theirs in enthusiasm and it all feels a touch genuine, not always the case with many managers.

Shifting to Zoom press conferences has changed the game somewhat but the tired, frustrated and trotted-out answers he so often offered journalists and therefore fans before have ceased. He seems more engaged, more personable, more ready to take on the world. He’s less guarded. You get the impression he might even be enjoying the odd call.

Contrast with the feel of the post-match press conference after that horrendous 5-0 defeat at Brentford and it’s like talking to a different bloke. For the first time an air of resignation seemed to have crept into his psyche when he said “Whether that’s me or somebody else” in response to the rebuilding job on at the club. That’s all gone.

There may not be a man in football who has been better served by the three-month suspension of football. Now the hard work really starts.

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