Garry Monk on an empty Hillsborough and his next Sheffield Wednesday XI

Eleven Owls will line-up inside an empty Hillsborough in a couple of days’ time – a feeling he’s tried to replicate in the last week or so – but there will be no substitute for the real thing.

So how will his players react?

“The beauty of it is that we don’t know!,” he told The Star. “Judging on what I’ve seen from the players in the couple of practice matches we’ve had, and that was the point of it - to get used to that, to understand that that’s the way that football is for what will probably be the foreseeable future.

“It’s not just going to be these nine games, and we don’t know, but it’s likely to be going into next season as well whenever that starts…

“All you can do is prepare, and that’s what we tried to do last week. Get them out there and get that taste for it, and they dealt with it well.”

“We had two really good practice matches, and some really good things came out of it. That’s all you can do, and everyone is aware of what it’s going to be like. But how it is when you’re playing against opposition when there’s points on the line, that’s when it becomes more of a reality.

“I can see a different focus in a few of them that’s different from before and an attitude that’s different from before, and we’re hoping that all of that - along with our preparations - will stand us in good stead.”

While Keiran Westwood has a long-term shoulder injury and Sam Hutchinson is thought to be out of the picture, the only injuries being carried by the Owls are knocks to Sam Winnall and Josh Windass, giving Monk a healthy headache as he prepares to face Nottingham Forest.

With that in mind, The Star asked whether he’d made his mind up on his XI for 3pm on Saturday, but he admitted that he’s thinking from a wider perspective than that.

Monk explained, “We’ve got a couple more sessions, training today and tomorrow, so there’s still things that can happen in those couple of days.

“But if I’m honest with you, it’s not even about the first 11 for this game. We’re going to need the squad, and it’s going to be very difficult. It’s very unlikely that all the players aren’t going to be used, they’re going to be needed. We have one game now, then a break, then eight back-to-back.

“It’s not just about who starts this game against Forest, it’s about the whole nine games. Everyone has to be ready, and you’ll see changes throughout games.

“A lot of it will be down to freshness, and put it this way - the starting XI that starts against Forest isn’t going to start every single game. That’s the easiest way to say it.”

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Thank you, Joe.