The Owls did not have a proper pre-season campaign last year

Sheffield Wednesday will play local non-league side Hallam FC in a pre-season friendly this summer.

The Owls did not have a proper pre-season last year amid the uncertain financial picture at the club. They did not play a single friendly which fans could attend. A match against Mansfield Town was played behind closed doors on the training ground and the squad pulled out of a visit to Burnley after July’s wages were not paid, with Barry Bannan saying at the time that ‘enough is enough.’

As well as that, pitches were not ready so they had to practice on astroturf and Danny Rohl had not returned to take training. It left Wednesday seriously undercooked for the start of the season and ultimately led to several injuries throughout the campaign.

But manager Henrik Pedersen has already warned that pre-season will be a lot different this time as they aim to hit the ground running for the Carabao Cup first round which takes place between August 7-9. The first match of the new League One season starts a week later.

”We will have seven weeks until the first league game and six weeks to the cup game, and the first two weeks we don't need to play games, we just have to run,” Pedersen told The Star with a chuckle.

“Of course it will be tough for the boys. And normally after seven or eight training sessions the first week, they then need a rest and then the second week we will integrate games, but only 45 minutes.

“The third week we want to have 60 minutes, the fourth week we want to have more, and then we will build it up in this way. But we also need to train a lot, so we can be top, top fit, and then we need to learn to win football games again.”

Hallam FC has announced the friendly against Wednesday will take place at their Sandygate home on Tuesday, July 14 at 7.45pm. It remains to be seen what type of side Pedersen puts out for that one. The Owls boss has previously attended games at Sandygate as he tries to build-up his knowledge of the local football scene.

He said: “I am starting to have an understanding for Sheffield football and for grassroots and the community. I'm very interested. I like to go to watch Hallam, for example, with my family. I am starting to have a good understanding, but of course I cannot compare myself with people who have lived here their whole life. There is football everywhere in Sheffield and there are so many local teams in Sheffield. I have big respect for this community and all those clubs in Sheffield.”