Why Sheffield Wednesday's indoor training dome sits deflated at Middlewood Road amid heavy snow

But images of the Owls’ six-figure inflatable training dome laying depressed at Middlewood Road have done little to dampen Wednesday’s focus on the job in hand and the pursuit of three points at Portsmouth on Saturday, with training routines adapted to ensure the best-possible preparation.

As confirmed by a jovial Darren Moore in his pre-Pompey press engagement, the training dome has been taken out of use at a time you’d suspect the squad would need it most – but The Star understands there is no puncture or issue with the dome itself, rather that it has been voluntarily deflated as a safety precaution.

Health and safety-trained staff at Wednesday made the call early this week when faced with the snow-heavy forecast, with fears a great deal of snow building on the roof of the structure would be a dangerous safety hazard.

It’s understood the decision is nothing out of the ordinary and though it is not ideal from a footballing perspective, it is a precaution that has been taken before in instances of heavy snow. The dome itself is mainly used by the club’s academy but has been utilised by the first team on occasion.

The club were unable to train on Friday and altered plans to set off early to Portsmouth – with a four-and-a-half hour drive expected to hit delays.

“You know what? The dome is deflated and it's gone down!”, Moore laughed, taking a lighthearted approach to how the club have managed a disrupted training programme.

“I'm looking out here now and so we do not have a dome at all because of the weather conditions so it hasn't been any use at all for us. It's something we'll have to look at really in future.

“Credit to the staff and ground staff. They all got together and managed to clear a decent sized area away and get some work done. But the overnight snow made it impossible to get the manpower to get it off so we could train again.

“We've had to use other measures to get in cardio. It's been disruptive but we have to be adaptable.”

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