Drones, detail and demanding coaches: Inside Sheffield Wednesday’s Thursday morning training session

The Star have been given rare access to three days of their pre-season training camp and were there to witness their Thursday morning session.

Here’s a few things that were noticed about the near two-hour effort.

High standards

There’s no ‘easing-in’ at this level of professional football.

The morning session started with some fairly simple-looking possession drills to get the players warmed up. The pitches out in Portugal are a carpet but for obvious reasons they are firm and take the odd bobble.

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The skills on display were there for all to see but one or two less than perfect touches were given no quarter by Owls assistant Jamie Smith, who demanded quality from the very start of the session and made no secret of his drive for improved standards.

Sweeper keepers

As the session moved towards more possession-based drills, the goalkeepers got involved.

Moore’s preference for playing out from the back was made clear last season and his stoppers are going to be a big part of that.

All three – David Stockdale, Cameron Dawson and youngster Pierce Charles – looked confident with the ball at feet.

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After the session had ended and senior players had retired to the facility’s clubhouse for lunch, Charles stayed on for a good half an hour or so doing extra work with goalkeeping coach Adriano Basso – exclusively on distribution.

It’s an increasingly important part of a goalkeeper’s game.

All-action – no let-up

We arrived at the Owls’ training base expecting to see a pretty relaxed and slow-paced session as attention turns to preparation for their match against Bournemouth on Friday.

We were wrong.

It wasn’t an old-school grueller by any means and the session revolved around ball work. But the pace was set early and the intensity high; not exactly ‘Murderball’, but each time the ball went out of play or there was a break in the session, another ball was thrown in; no let-up in the Portugal sunshine.

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With Darren Moore still not quite at full fitness after his knee surgery, he watched on from the sidelines as Jamie Smith and Simon Ireland led the sessions. Wayne Jacobs drifted between shouting the occasional word of encouragement or motivation.

Smith and Ireland ruled with an iron fist at times, driving for the highest possible standards, and on the few occasions Moore spoke to the group, you could see he has the respect of the masses; the world seemed to stop and listen.

Technology rules

As the session was brought together for some matches towards the end, out came the drone.

It’s not wholly unusual for professional football clubs to use such technology these days of course. Clubs use an aerial view to analyse the positional play of their players and pick out where things can be improved.

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Moore’s Wednesday regime have embraced the use of drones and use an all-singing, all-dancing 4k model which was put into motion by first team analyst Richard Stirrup.

The footage will have been closely looked at by Stirrup and the wider backroom staff in a private – and mercifully air-conditioned – room off the side of the training facility.