Sheffield Wednesday will come up against a recent former player on Sunday.

The return of Jerry Yates to Hillsborough will see him run into a number of familiar faces - though none perhaps as familiar as that of the caretaker boss whose time at Sheffield Wednesday didn’t even overlap with that of the forward.

Yates could well be chosen to lead the line for Blackpool on Sunday after his short loan stint with Wednesday last season earned him a degree of cult hero status thanks to tireless performances and memorable interviews in horror circumstances. The 29-year-old is understood to have been a cursory transfer consideration to the Owls during the summer, though nothing serious materialised as he instead made the loan switch to Bloomfield Road from Luton Town.

A polite word or two may be shared with teammates with whom he shared the battles of their crisis-driven campaign last time out - though he will likely share one or two more with the man who picked him up as a youngster to set him on his way into football.

Owls caretaker boss Matt Hamshaw coached Yates at Derby County but goes well further back with the forward, who he brought to the academy at Rotherham United some 16 years ago.

“I brought him through,” Hamshaw smiled in conversation with The Star. “I signed him at 13 after he got released by Donny Rovers, so I know his family well. I know Jerry really well. We played Luton last year and he gave me a lift back home!

“It'll be nice to see Jerry here. But he's a great kid and he’s done really well for himself. Obviously, he scored a few goals here last year. But I'll be doing my best to put him off doing that on Sunday.”

Wednesday are in something of a holding pattern following the sacking of Henrik Pedersen as manager last weekend. Though he is keen to continue on the coaching staff regardless, this weekend’s game could well prove to be the final of Hamshaw’s caretaker spell, with the former Owls player keen to further instil certain things into the camp as they prepare for life under a new manager. As a four-time promotion winner from League One, he knows more than most what is needed from a third tier side.

“Grinding results out is a big one and I think you have to go on long runs,” Hamshaw said. “I know it sounds dead simple, but you have to turn that losing position into a drawing one, you turn that drawing position into a winning one. The draws we've had, we need to turn into wins, really.

“If we nick a goal against Wigan, we nick a goal against Stockport, we nick a goal the other night and the table looks a lot different. They're the fine margins within this division. I know it's easy saying that after the event, we've missed chances in those games. It’s about being a bit more clinical than we have been.

“I've been brought in to kind of help on set pieces and we've got to be miles better in both boxes in that area. They're the things that I think we need to really improve upon. I think you've seen this season already the creativity, the goal-scoring threat that we have got in the team. It's about making sure that we get those players into the right areas to go and score those goals.”