Class is in session – Inside Sheffield Wednesday’s classroom as Owls put in work for promotion

The Owls are in a strong position going into the final stretch of the season. They’re flying high in the League One table, and with games in hand they are completely unreliant on everybody else – they know what they have to do.

But it’s not just the work on the training ground, or the minutes on the field, that count. There is so much more to the Moore Machine that has gone half a campaign unbeaten in 2022/23, and many of the battles begin in the classroom rather than out on the grass.

“It’s vital,” Moore tells The Star when asked about what happens inside the Owls’ Middlewood Road training facility. “On field and off field go hand in hand. It’s part and parcel of being an elite professional footballer - as much as you have to do work on the training ground, when you come in the classroom it’s learning as well.”

Not everybody learns the same, of course. And that’s something that the Wednesday boss and his impressive technical team in S6 make sure they cater for.

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He went on to say, “There are different learning aspects to each and every single individual, from looking at visually on the screen to somebody doing it physically on the pitch - it goes hand in hand.

“Some pick up learning motions better in the classroom, some on the pitch, some pick up both. They’re just as important as each other, and we’ve stipulated that ever since being at the football club.

“We make sure that the presentations are clear and concise for the players, and that they understand their roles and responsibilities expected when it comes to playing for this football club.

“There’s also individual learning for players when it comes to developing their own game… It happens as a collective - as a unit - but also individually.

“It all helps with the players understanding their individual roles and the collective role.”

Wednesday may be odds on for promotion, though Moore may not admit it himself yet, but they’ve dealt with plenty of diversity this season.

There have been injuries, and travel issues, and sickness. They’ve navigated postponements and inclement weather.

“The game is ever moving, success is a moving target - so you can’t stand still,” he insists. “Every single week you’re readapting and readjusting… There are different dynamics, and tweaks to the team, you have adjust to them. And we have done.”

So it’s not a rarity to see players sent home with work to do. The hours on training ground are crucial, but Moore wants his players to have a complete understanding of what he – and Sheffield Wednesday Football Club – expect from them.

“Sometimes we give them homework… They look into and then come back to us with it, and then we have a talk. That’s what we do – as I said, as we speak I’ve got one of my players up there that’s been tasked with some homework.

“He just wants to know the finer details of whether he’s doing things right or wrong, which is good. I’ll have that chat with him.

“There are different elements to it, but I think with homework individuals have got to go away and break it down, then come back with his views. Then you can adapt his views so they’re on the right page and they’re getting the right message for the team.

“It’s about roles and responsibilities for the team - it’s just not about individuals. It’s individual, but it’s affecting the team, and that affects the club.”

It’s been a process. Moore has changed so much in his two-year stint at Hillsborough, and the way the team have played – and won – games this season suggests a 100% buy-in to what their manager is selling.

Coming from behind was a problem, no longer. Seeing out games was an issue, no more. Goals from wide areas and set pieces was an Achilles heel so serious that if it had been cut out earlier then the Owls probably wouldn’t still be in League One at all.

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Moore’s done it with patience, and support, but it’d all be for nought if the lads that run out on the pitch every week didn’t commit to the process. They’ve done that, and you can tell.

For the manager though, there is always more work to do.

“They know and understand the level of detail that we need,” he says. “But we still work consistently to get better at it. There are always different grey areas, you just try and equip them as much as you can.”

The buy-in isn’t just within the ranks anymore, either. It’s felt for a while that something is growing in the blue and white half of the city, and Darren Moore is at the forefront of it all.

Big performances from big players in big games have set the tone and seen the Owls sit where they sit now, with their fate in their own hands and a first league title since 1959 a very real possibility.

Football matches are won and lost on the field, but it’s in the classroom, on the training pitches and in the mind where winners are truly forged.

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