Sheffield Wednesday’s grim season has returned a few cult heroes along the way - one of which is a lesser-spotted background figure who has been praised for his work in greatly improving a long-held club issue.

Head groundsman Lee Jackson arrived to the club last January amid years of struggle with the standard of the pitch at Hillsborough. The early months of the new year would routinely see Wednesday’s playing surface look ragged, with a number of different managers having spoken about the difficulties it posed their players.

Jackson arrived after a long stint with Manchester City and has overseen an improvement that has been hailed by players and supporters alike, despite the pre-existing issues that face the Owls in terms of the stadium’s layout, limited equipment and the volume of action the surface receives.

“Our biggest challenge is a very old, heavily shaded stadium with limited use of lighting rigs,” Jackson said. “Maintaining grass cover through the season is never straightforward.”

New pitch technology was installed as part of a ‘partial rebuild’ of the playing surface over the summer. Improvements to the facilities at the training ground took some time to bed in and delayed usage in pre-season due in no small part to the heat of last summer - but have received positive feedback from players despite wet and cold weather having forced some training sessions to be held at the stadium.

That has meant increased usage between December and February increased greatly. From time to time, training at the stadium has continued up until last week and Jackson is happy with how the pitch has held together.

“We had eight first team games and ten training sessions on the pitch during that period, and we’re around 10% up on usage compared to last season,” said Jackson. “We’ve kept more grass cover than many expected through that period, and recovery after use has been strong, especially considering the environment.

“There’s been a noticeable improvement overall, and that’s been recognised by players and staff who have been here a number of years,” Jackson said. “If you can get grass growing and maintain it in this kind of stadium, with limited lighting, it shows its value as part of the overall pitch management programme.”