Why unfamiliar face was in the Sheffield Wednesday dugout for their opening day draw at Charlton Athletic

Eagle-eyed Sheffield Wednesday fans may have noticed an unfamiliar face in the Owls dugout during their 0-0 opening day draw at Charlton Athletic on Saturday.
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The club announced the signing of new first team coach Simon Ireland on Friday in time for his involvement in the match. He joined the likes of Jamie Smith, Adriano Basso and Neil Thompson on the sideline as Wednesday earned a hard-fought point against one of their fellow promotion hopefuls.

Another face seen strolling around the Valley turf pre-match was Moore’s former Bradford City teammate Wayne Jacobs, who many had expected to be in contention for Ireland’s role.

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Jacobs was Moore’s assistant boss at West Brom and helped him out on from time to time during his time at Doncaster Rovers.

Sheffield Wednesday manager Darren Moore.Sheffield Wednesday manager Darren Moore.
Sheffield Wednesday manager Darren Moore.

The Owls boss made clear it was more a case of the latter at Wednesday and suggested he would not be joining the bench on a long-term basis.

Speaking post-match, Moore said: “He’s a real good friend of mine and we’ve known each other since 1999. He’s down here today just to help more than anything, it’s great to have him here and for him to spend the night in the hotel with the team.

“He’s having a couple of weeks holiday off work so I asked him to come down.

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“We had to ask permission from his wife! He enjoys it, so I’ve just brought him down today and it might well be that we have him there next week because he has two weeks off, he’ll probably be there.

“It’s great to have him with us.”