From a seat on the Kop to a speech on debut: The Sheffield Wednesday story of Liam Shaw

The 19-year-old, a lifelong Wednesdayite, had his dreams of a first team debut torn away from him as Garry Monk was forced into a re-think after injury to Jacob Murphy.

But he didn’t have to wait long.

On for club captain Tom Lees 75 minutes into the Owls’ 3-0 win at QPR on Saturday, the youngster fulfilled a lifetime ambition. His story is only beginning.

“I’ve been training with the first team all this time, so to come on was a dream come true. I’ve been working towards it all my life,” he told swfc.co.uk.

“I’ve supported Wednesday all my life, I’ve had season tickets on the Kop, so to come on for the club makes it so much more special.”

Monk has instilled a new policy with young players having brought them into first team training on a more regular basis. It’s a policy Shaw says has stood him in good stead.

“You work your whole life to be part of the squad, you feel more like part of the team,” he said. “Being in the team meetings and things like that are unbelievable.

“In training, it’s a lot more pacey and there’s a higher demand, you can tell the difference to get up to that level, you can’t stroll through it.

“My teammates have been great, Atdhe Nuhiu is always giving me advice, obviously I came on at centre back but I normally play midfield, so he’s been advising me on how to defend, with him being a striker.

“And when I came on, Dom Iorfa was constantly speaking to me.”

There were laughs in the changing room aftr the game when senior players ‘tricked’ young Shaw into making a speech.

“At the end of the game the gaffer told us how good we were and said congratulations to Shawy on his debut,” he laughed.

“Everyone was shouting ‘speech’, I was a bit wary, so I stood up and just said ‘it’s been a pleasure’, and they were just cracking up. It wasn’t a big speech at all!”

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