First team addition, staff exit and ex-Owl starts international gig - Sheffield Wednesday notebook
The fixture calendar might be on pause but the changes keep-a-coming at Sheffield Wednesday.
There’s plenty going on at Sheffield Wednesday - as always. The international break may have put the football on the backburner for now but the winds of change keep blowing.
In this week’s Wednesday notebook, we take a look at documentary crews, staff changes, a new gig for a cult hero Owls one-season-wonder and the news you’ve all been waiting for... an update on the new media facility at Hillsborough.
Take a flick through the bits and bobs from The Star’s notebook over recent weeks.
Lights, camera.. action?
There were aspects to last week’s EFL Trophy win at Salford City that weren’t exactly up to blockbuster excitement - but the camera crews were bouncing about regardless as the Owls rolled into town to inform the Ammies’ highest-ever attendance in that competition.
The documentary crew following Wednesday around is still very much in motion but did not cover the Salford trip - though a crew was there to capture the clash. The crew were dressed in Salford clothing and it is expected that the footage will feature in the ‘This Is Salford’ YouTube series, which followed-on from the ‘Class of 92’ series of years gone by.
Wednesday won the clash 2-1 having come from behind. Salford are owned in the main by famous players of Manchester United’s glory years and though it is not crystal clear which of the ‘92’ lot were present at the match, it’s thought that at least Paul Scholes was there to watch on.
Academy figure to depart
After a period of staff coming and going in the last few months, another long-term background Wednesday figure has moved on from his position in the club’s academy, his last day at Middlewood Road passing earlier this month.
Jack Newbery was the Owls’ head of academy sport science for nearly four years, arriving after a stint with Bradford City in April 2023. He’s moved on to join ‘Kitman Labs’, a Dublin-based sports science firm that works as a third-party agency across some of the biggest leagues in world sport including the Premier League, the NFL and the NBA.
First team appointment pending
The analysis arm of the Owls’ backroom team is one to have seen some turnover in recent years and with things in a more settled place, the club are believed to be well on with the appointment of a new first team analyst to bolster the backroom team. Manager Henrik Pedersen made clear around the time of the appointment of assistant coach Matt Hamshaw that the club were considering the move, which will see a new ‘first team performance analyst’ join a team led by Richard Stirrup.
Applications closed on September 20 and a job advertisement read in part: ‘The successful candidate will deliver innovative, insight-led video and data analysis that enhances the club's understanding and application of its game model, providing detailed, actionable intelligence on upcoming opposition while using analysis to drive individual player development and maximise team performance.’
Ex-Owl starts coaching role
The trials and tribulations of Saido Berahino’s career are for studying. The now 33-year-old spent a solitary League One season at Wednesday under the management of Darren Moore and scored nine goals along the way. Stints in Cyprus, India and Slovenia have since followed and he’s not played since leaving Slovenian second tier side Tabor Seżana last year.
A hugely talented player who burst onto the Premier League scene with West Brom all those years ago, he switched international allegiance from England youth outings to his place of birth Burundi. He has taken up an assistant coaching role with the African nation and has reported for duty during this international break, watching on from the sidelines as his team lost out 1-0 to Togo last week.
Though he was not called up this time around due to injury, current Owls player Jordi Liongola is a Burundi international and looks likely to join up with Berahino in future rounds of international fixtures. Burundi will face Algeria in an AFCON qualifier on Tuesday evening.
Work continues
An extended international break has delivered opportunity to continue work behind the scenes at Hillsborough, with monumental improvements to infrastructure ongoing alongside more cosmetic changes.
Deeper infrastructural work goes on, but among the bits and bobs tackled in the break are cosmetic improvements to the players areas including the changing room, tunnel and so on. Some work had already been undertaken in those areas but things have accelerated with matches on pause - with senior club figures having spoken about the importance of player comfortability on matchdays.
Beyond that, a new ground floor media room and suite is understood to have been subject to major progress and should open sometime after the break. Media facilities in time gone by have been a source of embarrassment, with a national media title having run a piece shaming the half-hearted media offering as a sign of lack of investment back in 2023. The Star is told the new facility will be in-line with Premier League standards.