Why Ipswich Town pair owe a lot to Sheffield Wednesday’s management team

Because for Wednesday boss Darren Moore and first team coach Jimmy Shan, Saturday represents that not-so-unusual of things; a match-up against a player they had a hand in raising from academy prospect to senior contender.

In fact, in Saturday’s case, there could have been two. Midfielder Rakeem Harper is out on loan at Exeter City having been reared in the pair’s tutelage at West Bromwich Albion.

With that the case, wide man Kyle Edwards – also a Baggies boy – will get the Moore bear hug alone.

“We keep in touch with them,” Shan told The Star. “The most recent ones from our time at West Brom would be the lads at Ipswich, Jonathan Leko at MK Dons, Kane Wilson is at Bristol City, Jack Fitzwater at Livingstone, Sam Field at QPR.

“That was the last cohort we had really. Every single year we had three or four that were in or around it.”

Football coaches are busy people but Shan and Moore do their best to keep in touch with the players they have worked with at any level. Edwards is no different to those operating in non-league or those to have fallen out of the game altogether

“There's so many names that maybe weren't good enough for whatever reason to break into the first team at West Brom, but they've gone on to have wonderful careers and that's something we're very proud of,” Shan said. “We were blessed with a good group and we had a family feeling at West Brom.

“If I don't text one of the lads out of the blue, one of the lads will text me. There are loads more that have gone on to do really well in life; a few have gone to the US on scholarships and have built lives out there together with families and coaching companies or whatever. We deem that as a huge success as well.”

Edwards, a bit-part player often on and off the bench for the Tractor Boys this season, will be doing his level best to get one over on his old coaches and get his side’s automatic promotion dreams back on track after a difficult couple of months.

Moore and Shan, of course, will be hoping to further bury them. All’s well, the Owls coach says, in love and war.

Shan joked: “It's always good to see them doing well if they're not doing it against you, of course it is! I think there's a mutual respect.

“These lads aren't kids, they're young adults and they're appreciative of the time and effort we put into them to develop them as young players but it's them who pulled everything together to have a future in the game. That mutual respect is great.

“That real family feel was palpable and you go from coach to someone who moves on and progresses and gets older, it starts to shift to being a friend-like bond and that's the case with lots of people that we work with. We’re friends now, I guess. And that’s very rewarding.”